For nearly 30 years during the Cold War, some of America's top soldiers toiled in secret.
Their missions, always classified, are still largely unknown and absent from the history books.
But Thursday, on Fort Bragg, those soldiers were publicly honored for their service and sacrifice.
Detachment A Berlin Brigade was a clandestine unit of about 90 Green Berets based in West Berlin. They wore civilian clothes, spoke fluent German and stayed on high alert 24 hours a day.
Officials with U.S. Army Special Operations Command dedicated and unveiled a memorial stone for the unit at Meadows Field Memorial Plaza.
They also formally cased the unit's colors - the flag used to identify the detachment - for the first time.
The ceremony was attended by dozens of veterans of Detachment A, as well as leaders from the Fort Bragg special operations community.
"No force of its size has contributed more to peace, stability and freedom," Army Special Operations Command officials said.
Lt. Gen. Charles T. Cleveland, commander of Army Special Operations Command, said the memorial was in a place of honor.
As a captain, Cleveland trained in West Berlin with members of Detachment A. On Thursday, with the Army Special Operations Memorial Wall as a backdrop, he said it was an honor to oversee the ceremony unveiling the memorial, saying the unit was held in high regard.
Detachment A has a proud legacy, Cleveland said, and faced "untold risk - fraught with uncertainty."
From 1956 to 1984, Detachment A was involved in some of the most sensitive operations of the Cold War, even as the country teetered on the brink of World War III, he said. Its members created techniques that are still in use today.
All the while, the men were surrounded by the Soviet Union at all times.
"Detachment A was literally in the eye of the Cold War hurricane," Cleveland said.
"Well done," he added. "You are truly without equal."
The men of Detachment A were specially chosen Special Forces soldiers. Many were immigrants from Germany or eastern Europe, brought in for their cultural expertise.
"They were very brave men and took on some tough missions," said retired Maj. Gen. Sidney Shachnow, who commanded Detachment A from 1970 to 1974.
Veterans of the unit described a tight-knit group that was constantly aware of the threats around them.
"We all knew it was a suicide mission," said Bob Charest, a retired master sergeant who served with Detachment A from 1969 to 1972 and 1973 to 1978.
Charest said the unit effectively operated 110 miles inside enemy lines.
If war had started, he said, they would have easily been wiped off the face of the earth.
In a history of the unit written by Charest, he outlined the unique and diversified team.
"Detachment A was a highly trained, one-of-a-kind unit," Charest said. "No one knew much about it during its existence."
They carried non-American documentation and identification and trained at the highest standards, Charest wrote.
The men carried out secret missions to sabotage railways in the early days of the Detachment and later focused on anti-terrorist, sniper and swat combat.
The unit also participated in Operation Eagle Claw - the failed attempt to rescue hostages held by Iran in 1980.
"We were the Delta Force of Europe," Charest wrote.
Detachment A also helped the CIA, and its equipment reads like it comes from a James Bond novel.
"One-shot cigarette-lighter guns, vials filled with metal shavings for destruction of turbines, noise suppressed weapons for elimination of specific targets," lists Charest.
Veterans of the unit said Thursday's ceremony was special, and a unique opportunity to publicly honor the little-known detachment.
"We never got credit for anything because we didn't exist," Charest said.
Retired Lt. Col. Eugene Piasecki, the detachment's last commander, said the unit was so secret that officials didn't know who he was when the unit began turning in equipment ahead of its deactivation in 1984.
Piasecki said closing the unit was the saddest day of his life.
"I knew when I closed the door I would no longer serve in a unit like that," he said.
In the years since the end of the Cold War, Detachment A has been unclassified, but until recently, one mystery remained.
Where were the unit's colors?
The blue flag that represented Detachment A was unique from the start.
Originally, the unit was denied colors because of its secretive nature. But Detachment A officials appealed to the Berlin Brigade -which technically did not have the authority to issue colors - and was approved. That relationship is why Detachment A's flag is infantry blue as opposed to Special Forces green.
When Detachment A was shuttered in 1984, the colors went missing, Piasecki said.
The flag's whereabouts remained a mystery to most Detachment A veterans until November, when it was discovered at a local Special Forces Association chapter.
On Thursday, the flag was officially cased by Piasecki and Army Special Operations Command Sgt. Maj. George Bequer.
The colors were then presented to Cleveland, who said they would find a place of honor within Army Special Operations Command.
The memorial, featuring the image of a crumbling Berlin Wall, was the culmination of a nearly year-long effort, officials said.
Jimmy Spoo, a retired chief warrant officer 4 who served in Detachment A from 1981 to 1984 and most recently spurred efforts to build the memorial, said Army Special Operations Command's memorial plaza was an incredible tribute and it was only fitting to add a memorial to the detachment.
Dozens of Detachment A veterans made donations to pay for the memorial and excess money - about $2,000 - was donated Thursday to the Green Beret Foundation, a charity that helps Special Forces soldiers and their families.