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US Special Forces
(Click on the graphics for links to sources and additional information)
Part 111 - NAVY SEALs
"When you're called upon to do anything, and you're not ready to do it, then you've failed." — Guidance given by Commander W.H. Hamilton to Lt. Commander Roy Boehm when Boehm was given the task of organizing the first SEAL unit.  WHO ARE THEY: Elite Naval Special Warfare teams trained for specialized "Sea, Air and Land" missions.
NICKNAME: "Frogs." MOTTO: "The only easy day was yesterday." UNIFORM: Distinctive Trident insignia, showing Neptune's scepter crossed with the anchor and a pistol, an American eagle with its head bowed. ORIGIN: Evolved from the Naval combat demolition units and underwater demolition teams that cleared obstacles at beaches for Allied invasions during World War II. SPECIALTIES: Sabotage missions to destroy enemy bridges, roads, obstructions, communications lines, and what's known as "surgical application of force." Origins are in the water, from oceans to rivers, but also adept at clandestine reconnaissance and rescue operations on land. GEAR: Rigid, inflatable boats; modified, miniature submarines called SEAL Delivery Vehicles or SDVs; explosives, including hand-held limpet mines that can be attached to a ship's hull underwater and detonated once a diver swims safely away. In the Persian Gulf War, they used Desert Patrol/Light Strike Vehicles, modified off-road racing vehicles, to race across the desert. EXTREME TRAINING: To "drown-proof" the SEALs, they must learn to swim underwater with their hands and feet bound. With such training they're known as some of the best combat swimmers in the world. WORKING GROUPS: Work 16-member platoons, but special missions can involve just a handful of men. EXPERIENCE: Surveyed harbors in Cuba, 1962; Vietnam and Southeast Asia, 1962-1971; recovered astronauts from Gemini and Apollo missions, 1964-1970; Grenada, 1983; Panama, 1989; Iraq, 1991; Kosovo, 1999. HOME BASES: Little Creek, Va; Coronado, Calif. HOLLYWOOD'S VERSION: "Navy Seals," 1990; "G.I. Jane, 1997. BOOKS: "Navy SEALs: A History of the Early Years," by Kevin Dockery, 2001; "First SEAL," by Roy Boehm and Charles W. Saaer, 1997; "Brave Men, Dark Waters," by Kelly Orr, 1992; "Combat Frogmen," by Michael Welhan, 1989. — Scripps-Howard News Service.
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Hear my voice, America! Though I speak through the mist of 200 years, my shout for freedom will echo through liberty's halls for many centuries to come.
Hear me speak, for my words are of truth and justice, and the rights of man. For those ideals, I have spilled my blood upon the world's troubled waters.
Listen well, for my time is eternal ----- yours is but a moment.
I am the spirit of heros past and future.
I am the American Sailor.
I was born upon the icy shores at Plymouth, rocked upon the waves of the Atlantic, and nursed in the wilderness of Virginia.
I cut my teeth on New England Codfish, and I was clothed in southern cotton.
I built muscle at the halyards on New Bedford whalers, and I gained my sea legs high atop the mizzen of Yankee clipper ships.
Yes, I am the American Sailor, one of the greatest seamen the world has ever known.
The sea is my home and my words are tempered by the sound of paddle wheels on the Mississippi, and of the song of whales off Greenland's barren shore. My eyes have grown dim from the glare of sunshine on blue water, and my heart is full of star-strewn nights under the Southern Cross.
My hands are raw from winter storms while sailing down around the Horn, and they are blistered from the heat of cannon broadsides while defending our nation.
I am the American Sailor, and I have seen the sunset of a thousand distant, lonely lands.
I am the American Sailor
It was I who stood tall beside John Paul Jones as he shouted, "I have not yet begun to fight!"
I fought upon Lake Erie with Perry, and I rode with Stephen Decatur into Tripoli Harbor to burn the Philadelphia.
I met Guerriere aboard Constitution, and I was lashed to the mast with Admiral Farragut at Mobile Bay.
I have heard the clang of Confederate shot against the sides of Monitor.
I have suffered the cold with Peary at the North Pole, and I responded when Dewey said, "You may fire when ready,Gridley," at Manila Bay.
It was I who transported supplies through submarine infested waters when our soldiers were called,"Over There."
I was there when Admiral Byrd crossed the South Pole.
it was I who went down with the Arizona at Pearl Harbor, who supported our troops at Inchon, and patroled the dark deadly waters of the Mecong Delta.
I am the American Sailor and I wear many faces. I am a pilot soaring across God's blue canopy, and I am a Seabee atop a dusty bulldozer in the South Pacific.
I am a Corpsman nursing the wounded in the jungle, and I am a Torpedoman in the Nautilus deep beneth the North Pole.
I am hard and I am tough.
But it was my eyes that filled with tears when my brother went down with the Thresher and the Squailus, and it was my heart that rejoiced when Commander Shepherd rocketed into orbit acove the earth.
It was I who languished in a Viet Cong prison camp, and it was I who walked upon the moon.
It was I who saved the Stark and the Samuel B. Roberts in the mine infested waters of the Persian Gulf.
It was I who pulled my brothers from the smoke filled compartments of the Bonefish, and wept when my shipmates died on the Iowa and the White Plains.
When called again, I was there on the tip of the spear for Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
I am the American Sailor
I am woman, I am man. I am white and black, yellow, red and brown. I am Jew, Muslim, Christian and Buddhist. I am Irish, Filipino, African, French, Chinese, Indian and Australian Aboriginal.
And my standard is the outstreched hand of Liberty.
Today, I serve around the world; on land, in air, on and under the sea.
I serve proudly, at peace once again, but with the fervent prayer that I need not be called again.
Tell your children of me. Tell them of my sacrifice,
and how my spirit soars above their country.
I have spread the mantle of my nation over the oceans, and I will guard her forever.
I am her heritage, and yours.
I am the American Sailor
MUCM J. Wallace, USN
The Navy Seal Prayer
Dear FATHER IN HEAVEN,
If I may respectfully say so sometimes you are a strange God. Though you love all mankind, It seems you have a special predilections too.
You seem to love those men who can stand up alone who face impossible odds, Who challenge every bully and every tyrant ~
Those men who know the heat and loneliness of a calvary. Possibly you cherish men of this stamp because you recognize the mark of your only son in them.
Since this unique group of men known as the SEALs know calvary and suffering, teach them now the mystery of the resurrection ~ that they are indestructible, that they will live forever because of their deep faith in you.
And when they do come to heaven, may I respectfully warn you, Dear Father, they also know how to celebrate. So please be ready for them when they insert under your pearly gates.
Bless them, their devoted Families and their Country on this glorious occasion.
We ask this through the merits of your Son, Christ Jesus the Lord, Amen." By Reverend E.J. McMalhon S.J. LCDR, CHC, USN Awards Ceremony SEAL Team One 1975 At NAB, Coronado
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The "Navy Hymn" is Eternal Father, Strong to Save. The original words were written as a poem in 1860 by William Whiting of Winchester, England, for a student who was about to sail for the United States. The melody, published in 1861, was composed by fellow Englishman, Rev. John Bacchus Dykes, an Episcopalian clergyman.
The hymn, found in most hymnals, is known as the "Navy hymn" because it is sung at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It is also sung on ships of the Royal Navy (U.K.) and has been translated into French.
Eternal Father was the favorite hymn of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and was sung at his funeral in Hyde Park, New York, in April 1945. It was also played by the Navy Band in 1963 as President John F. Kennedy's body was carried up the steps of the U.S. Capitol to lie in state. Roosevelt had served as Secretary of the Navy and Kennedy was a PT boat commander in World War II.
The original words are:
Verse 1: Eternal Father, strong to save,
Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,
Who bidd'st the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!
Verse 2: O Christ! Whose voice the waters heard
And hushed their raging at Thy word,
Who walked'st on the foaming deep,
And calm amidst its rage didst sleep;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!
Verse 3: Most Holy Spirit! Who didst brood
Upon the chaos dark and rude,
And bid its angry tumult cease,
And give, for wild confusion, peace;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!
Verse 4: O Trinity of love and power!
Our brethren shield in danger's hour;
From rock and tempest, fire and foe,
Protect them wheresoe'er they go;
Thus evermore shall rise to Thee
Glad hymns of praise from land and sea.
There have been alternate verses. These and their authors are: |
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And when at length her course is run,
Her work for home and country done,
Of all the souls that in her sailed
Let not one life in thee have failed;
But hear from heaven our sailor's cry,
And grant eternal life on high!
Author/date Unknown |
O Father, King of earth and sea,
We dedicate this ship to thee.
In faith we send her on her way;
In faith to thee we humbly pray:
O hear from heaven our sailor's cry
And watch and guard her from on high!
Author/date Unknown |
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Lord, guard and guide the men who fly
And those who on the ocean ply;
Be with our troops upon the land,
And all who for their country stand:
Be with these guardians day and night
And may their trust be in thy might.
Author Unknown (1955) |
God, Who dost still the restless foam,
Protect the ones we love at home.
Provide that they should always be
By thine own grace both safe and free.
O Father, hear us when we pray
For those we love so far away.
Hugh Taylor (date Unk) |
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Creator, Father, who first breathed
In us the life that we received,
By power of thy breath restore
The ill, and men with wounds of war.
Bless those who give their healing care,
That life and laughter all may share
. Galen H. Meyer (1969)
Adapted by James D. Shannon (1970) |
Eternal Father, King of birth,
Who didst create the heaven and earth,
And bid the planets and the sun
Their own appointed orbits run;
O hear us when we seek thy grace
For those who soar through outer space.
J. E. Volonte (1961) |
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Eternal Father, Lord of hosts,
Watch o'er the men who guard our coasts.
Protect them from the raging seas
And give them light and life and peace.
Grant them from thy great throne above
The shield and shelter of thy love.
Author unknown |
Creator, Father, who dost show
Thy splendor in the ice and snow,
Bless those who toil in summer light
And through the cold antarctic night,
As they thy frozen wonders learn;
Bless those who wait for their return.
L. E. Vogel (1965) |
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O God, protect the women who,
In service, faith in thee renew;
O guide devoted hands of skill
And bless their work within thy will;
Inspire their lives that they may be
Examples fair on land and sea.
Lines 1-4, Merle E. Strickland (1972) and
adapted by James D. Shannon (1973)
Lines 5-6, Beatrice M. Truitt (1948) |
Lord God, our power evermore,
Whose arm doth reach the ocean floor,
Dive with our men beneath the sea;
Traverse the depths protectively.
O hear us when we pray, and keep
Them safe from peril in the deep.
David B. Miller (1965) |
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Lord, stand beside the men who build,
And give them courage, strength, and skill.
O grant them peace of heart and mind,
And comfort loved ones left behind.
Lord, hear our prayers for all Seabees,
Where'er they be on land or sea.
R. J. Dietrich (1960) |
Eternal Father, grant, we pray,
To all Marines, both night and day,
The courage, honor, strength, and skill
Their land to serve, thy law fulfill;
Be thou the shield forevermore
From every peril to the Corps.
J. E. Seim (1966) |
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Lord, guard and guide the men who fly
Through the great spaces in the sky.
Be with them always in the air,
In darkening storms or sunlight fair;
Oh, hear us when we lift our prayer,
For those in peril in the air!
Mary C. D. Hamilton (1915) |
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William Whiting (1825-1878) was born in Kensington, England, and educated at Chapham and Winchester. Because of his musical ability, he became master of Winchester College Choristers' School. While best known for Eternal Father, Whiting also published two poetry collections: Rural Thoughts (1851) and Edgar Thorpe, or the Warfare of Life (1867). He died at Winchester.
John Bacchus Dykes (1823-1876) was born in Hull, England, and by age 10 was the assistant organist at St. John's Church, Hull, where his grandfather was vicar. He studied at Wakefield and St. Catherine's College, earning a B.A. in Classics in 1847. He cofounded the Cambridge University Musical Society. He was ordained as curate of Malton in 1847. For a short time, he was canon of Durham Cathedral, then precentor (1849-1862). In 1862 he became vicar of St. Oswald's, Durham. He published sermons and articles on religion but is best known for over 300 hymn tunes he composed. He died in Sussex at age 53.
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Upholding the Honor and Integrity of the US Navy SEALs with memorials to our fallen comrades and links to businesses run by REAL SEALs
Please visit the cyberSEAL's web site. This site is dedicated to the REAL OPERATORS - men whose personal sacrifice and perseverance through what is arguably the toughest military training in the world has earned them the right to the title "US Navy SEAL".
Here we memorialize our fallen comrades and honor the contributions they made to our proud heritage and reputation.
Here we provide links to businesses owned and operated by real Navy SEALs in a wide variety of disciplines. We also provide links to assorted writings, and other items of interest by and about real Navy SEALs.
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