Lois Rybka-Dysard of Ghent never knew the significance of her father's World War II combat duty until a military historian looked at a box of medals, read the veteran's DD 214 discharge papers and saw a unit patch on one of his uniforms.
John Mullen of Troy, the historian and president of the Rev. Francis Kelley Society at St. Joseph's Church, Troy, a military honor society, became excited as he noted the artifacts and documents, especially the unit's "Black Devils" Red Arrow patch: It indicated her dad, Army Tech. Sgt. Andrew J. Rybka, had served with one of the toughest and most elite combat units in the war.
Rybka was a highly trained soldier with the 1st Special Service Force, the forerunner to the Army's Special Forces, Green Berets, Delta Force and Seals. He earned more than a pocketful of medals while serving in combat with the unit called the Black Devils Brigade.
The commando unit comprised 900 specially selected U.S. Army soldiers and 900 Canadian Army soldiers, Mullen said. The commandos were mostly handpicked lumberjacks, farmers, miners and others.
First, the American and Canadian soldiers underwent months of tough training at Fort Harrision, Montana, and the rugged terrain of the Rocky Mountains as well as in Canada, where they learned how to parachute, climb mountains and cliffs, ski, fight in hand-to-hand combat, and use special weapons and knives, as well as practicing beach landings.
By 1943, the strike force was ready for action anywhere. Their first mission was a successful counterattack on Japanese troops, who had invaded the Aleutian Islands, Alaska. Afterward, the strike force was sent to Europe, where the Black Devils dislodged German soldiers from impregnable defensive positions in the Italian mountains.
Rybka and other commandos then went to Anzio, Italy, where they donned camouflage and blacked their faces with boot polish before going on important recon missions behind enemy lines. Rybka and other Black Devils often surprised the enemy during night raids. The Black Devils often left the Red Arrow unit patches with a warning — "The worst is yet to come" — written in German on corpses.
An allied soldier found a German officer's journal. In it, the German wrote, "The Black Devils are all around every time we come to the line, and we never hear them come." That's how the Black Devil nickname came about, Mullen said,
On June 4, 1944, the Black Devils commandos breached the gates of Rome to become the first force to liberate that city. The strike force also landed on islands near the French Riviera and had a role clearing out German forces from southern France.
In 2015, the Black Devils survivors received a Congressional Gold Medal, the nation's highest civilian honor, for their World War II bravery.
Rybka earned a Bronze Star, a Purple Heart, an Army Good Conduct Medal, Combat Infantryman Badge, Army Airborne Wings, World War II Ranger Diamond, a European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with Bronze Arrowhead, indicating one landing under enemy fire, a Silver Star indicating five combat campaigns (Naples-Foggia, Anzio, Rome-Arno, southern France and the Rhineland), a World War II Victory Medal, an Army of Occupation Medal, a New York State Conspicuous Service Cross with Silver Cross device, a New York State Medal for Merit with three Silver Shields and a New York State Conspicuous Service Star.
Rybka, a former Fort Orange Company employee and a Postal Service retiree, died in 2003.
