Posted on 01/28/2015 10:13:26 AM PST by w1n1
In 1942, America didn’t have special-operations units. To solve that problem, the U.S. government turned to its Office of Strategic Services, or OSS. At the time, no technology for underwater combat swimming existed in a military-operational form in the American arsenal.
The OSS Maritime Unit (MU) would have to develop it and the teams needed to use it, overnight — with a whopping budget of $500. The rest of the story here.
SEALS. It is NOT possessive.
Wow, what a headline blunder.
oops
The show I watched had descendants and relatives of some of the unit's men. They participated in similar training to what their grandfather's and uncles went through. This included jungle warfare. They also told the story of the men who fought and died to help end the war. Many of the documents that were read as part of the show were official documents/diaries either kept by the men, or the government. Most Australians did not know that the team even existed.
I have to say I was brought to tears by many of the readings. Operation Rimau was a disaster, and all who participated were captured and put to death. If anyone is interested in Australia's WWII military history, I highly recommend looking for the series on a torrent site, or checking out the network's web page on the unit:
A guy that owned a local gun shop near where I lived when I was growing up was a UDT ‘frogman’ during the Korean War. He was among the first SEAL members. He had some truly amazing stories to tell, but still never divulged MUCH information, only generalities.
My favorite was where he said that during the Cuban Missile Crisis, he and some others were sent to a resort in West Virginia. They were all wondering why in the hell they needed to be at a country club/resort in the mountains of WV. When they arrived, they found out what the place REALLY was. lol (they were to provide security should Kennedy need to go there)
He said they were told to show up in plain clothes, and ask for a certain room to the person working the front desk, and that prompted them to call someone who came and met them to take them where they needed to go. It was pretty cool. Don’t remember much else about it.
Why are they called SEALs instead of UDT, UDT existed until 1982. With SEALs created in 1962 and existing simaltaneously with UDT for two decades.
Here is WIKIs take on UDT.
“When the U.S. entered World War II, the Navy realized that in order to strike at the Axis powers the U.S. forces would need to perform a large number of amphibious attacks. The Navy decided that men would have to go in to reconnoiter the landing beaches, locate obstacles and defenses, as well as guide the landing forces ashore. In August 1942, Peddicord set up a recon school for his new unit, Navy Scouts and Raiders, at the amphibious training base at Little Creek, Virginia.
In 1942, the Army and Navy jointly established the Amphibious Scout and Raider School at Fort Pierce, Florida. Here Lieutenant Commander Phil H. Bucklew, the “Father of Naval Special Warfare”, helped organize and train what became the Navy’s ‘first group’ to specialize in amphibious raids and tactics.
Pressure to further implement human intelligence gathering prior to landings heightened after Marine Corps landing craft were damaged by coral reefs during the Battle of Tarawa in November 1943. Aerial reconnaissance incorrectly showed the reefs were submerged deep enough to allow the landing craft to float over. Marines were forced to abandon their craft in chest deep water a thousand yards from shore, helping Japanese gunners inflict heavy U.S. casualties. After that experience, Admiral Kelley Turner, Commander of the 5th Amphibious Force, directed that 30 officers and 150 enlisted men be moved to Waimanalo ATB (on the “big island” of Hawaii) to form the nucleus of a reconnaissance and demolition training program. It is here that the UDTs of the Pacific were born.”
Every gun store in America has a former SEAL working behind the counter who “can’t talk about it.”
lol
This guy actually was the real deal. He had pics of himself in places and other rock solid evidence. If not for that, like you, I’d suspect that he was just full of it.
” a UDT ‘frogman’ during the Korean War. “
As a kid in the Fifties, I remember a movie about the Frogmen. Anyone recall that movie, and it’s name?
“Every gun store in America has a former SEAL working behind the counter who “can’t talk about it.””
My old barber was a Seal, Nam vet. Something messed with his head.
Captain: "Drill, I gotcher next assignment here."
BtD: "Siryessir! What is it?"
Captain: "Well, Drill, that there's the most heavily defended beach in the world, with mines, machine guns, artillery, deadly obstacles, piranha, barracuda, and sharks with laser beams on their heads and laser beams haven't even been invented yet."
BtD: "Right, sir! And I'm gonna run a battleship close in and blow the heck out of it, right?"
Captain: "Nope. You got a swimsuit and a mask and these here flippers. Now go plant some dynamite and bring me back some pretty seashells while you're at it."
OK, that's only a fantasy. Nobody would be crazy enough to actually do that, right?
Hypothetically speaking, if one wanted to verify the authenticity of some John Doe’s claim to having been a SEAL ... how would one go about doing this?
Ask him “What color is the boathouse at Hereford?”
THE FROGMEN, 1951, Richard Whitmark
Thank you! Gotta find it!
That is a Classic!
Would it not be SEALs. No need the capitalize the last s.
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