On December 12th, 1941, General Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered Major Quintin Maxwell, the Army’s leading expert on commando/unconventional warfare, to form a small special operations group to be designated as the 1st Special Missions Unit. Eisenhower informed Maxwell that he wanted a unit able to “take the war right to the enemy in a big way”.

The orders specified that Maxwell was to recruit “no more than 12 individuals” from the current pool of Army draftees. These men were required to be “in excellent physical shape, highly skilled and highly motivated… able to take on any mission in any environment at any time.” Maxwell focused his efforts on members of the Army’s Airborne and Ranger units- interviewing and recruiting men who could operate in an environment outside the conventional Army. His twelve recruits consisted of soldiers considered “hardcases - undisciplined, disrespectful of authority and uncontrollable”- men not suited for the conventional Army but well suited for Maxwell’s brand of unconventional, commando warfare. They were the twelve toughest, undisciplined fighting men in the United States Army.

After 12 weeks of intense training under Major Maxwell, this group of twelve hardcases were forged into an elite fighting force capable of taking on any mission, no matter how impossible, and succeeding. Many in General Eisenhower’s staff were unconvinced that this “group of hooligans and young punks” could be as effective as Maxwell’s reports stated. In order to prove his unit’s capabilities, Maxwell invited Eisenhower and his staff to see for themselves first hand during a training exercise. Maxwell’s unit preformed so effectively that there was no doubt about their ability to take on the impossible and succeed. Impressed, General Eisenhower referred to them as “The deadliest twelve men I’ve ever seen- Thank God they are on our side!” Thus the legend of “The Deadly Dozen” was born.