Well it is almost time for
the next muster; this time in Branson. In the last few years this meeting of
old friends has been our vacation. We look forward to it as we have for no
other event. Here is hoping you feel the same way.
I have been moving again and
in 100 plus degree weather; at age 79 that is not an easy chore. I have had
some health issues that have complicated the process. As a result the content
of this issue may be a little skimpy.
Pease bear with me and I
will try to get back on track.
As we know from past
experience we cannot lose with Branson as our meeting place and especially with
Lloyd and Norma Crosby at the helm. If you have not made reservations yet
please do so soon; that will be an assist to them in making plans and
arrangements. See the notice of the meeting place in the text of this issue.
1
See you all there.
Don C. Marler
New Address: 4209 Aspen Ct.,
Pineville, La. 71360
Email: doncmarler
@gmail.com Cell: 409 594 8221 H. 318 640 0110
*****
Hello,
My name is
Kaylyn Sadler. I am writing to you to see if
you could post something for me. I am currently looking for anyone who
had served during the Vietnam Era with my grandfather BM 3, Gary Edwin Miracle.
He never talked much about his time in service, except to my father- who
was in the Air Force, and my husband Brien who is a
Navy Submarine Chief. My grandfather passed away a few years ago on
September 29, 2009. If anyone knows anything about his time in Service in
the UDT, I would greatly appreciate it if they could get in touch with me.
They can send me a message at kaylyn_sadler@yahoo.com. Thank you for your time, and if you need any
other information, please let me know.
Sincerely,
Kaylyn Sadler
*****
Who remembers what June 25th, 1950 is noted for?
The Korean War started on that day with North Korean Communists jumping
the 38th parallel and invading South Korea...
That's tomorrow (Monday) my friends...Let's all drink a toast to the Frog
Boys who participated in that "Forgotten" war and wish them long life
- Tomorrow will be the 62nd anniversary.
From Phil Carrico
2
Re: Frogfoot Weller
Read the article
about Dad. It was Frogfoot, not Frogfeet,
and he only had 3 son’s, Alle,
Don, and Robert were kids of his other 2 wives. He also had 8 grandchildren and
1 great grandchild from me.
Thanks
Don!
*****
Mack
Boynton just had his 94th birthday.
Franklin Anderson
Best
of everything to Mack; is he our oldest member. We should all look as young as
he.
*****
For
an account of Bill Dawson the last survivor of UDT Class 001 go to:
http://kitup.military.com/2012/07/picture-seal-bill-dawson-class.html?ESRC=navy-a.nl
I was unable to find his age on
the above site but he looks spry in the photo.
He was a part of
the first Naval Combat Demolition Units in the early 40′s. Here is a link
with a picture of him and others, dated 1944.
http://www.navyfrogmen.com/NCDU.html
Sent to us by
Franklin Anderson.
*****
The
Naval Special Warfare Command and SEAL teams celebrated their 50th anniversary.
*****
Memorial Day
Tribute To The Editor
This is my Memorial Day
tribute to you, my brother. You have done a magnificent job with the Frogman
website. The site is beautiful and very professionally done. I am extremely
proud of you for taking on this project when our teammate, “Popeye” Belcher,
just couldn’t keep it going for medical reasons. It was just meant to be that
it lives on because of your
3
professional touch and devotion to it.
In actuality, I am proud of you for a lot of reasons on a personal level as
well – but this was certainly a project that would have never existed or
evolved into what it is today if it weren’t for you and Belcher. I think I can
take the liberty to say in behalf of all U.S. Navy Frogmen, thank you for
keeping the memories alive and well. Sincerely,
Robert “Flags” Berry.
Thanks Robert. My face would
be turning red but the summer sun has already taken care of that. Remember that
the appearance of the magazine is largely due to the magic of Pam Russell’s
keyboard.
*****
The
50s Frog Reunion for 2012 will be in Branson, Mo. September 22 thru 26 at the
Clarion Hotel.
Rate: $84.00 / day
Reservation
Contact: 1 800 725 2236
Email: INFO@CLARIONHOTELBRANSON.COM
Webpage: www.clarionhotelbranson.com
Frog contact person: Lloyd Crosby. Ph. 417 887 0386
Email:
vendit52@sbcglobal.net
*****
Vern Studer, (Class 8,
Coronado) passed away on
4
*****
VIGNETTES OF WWII UDT IN THE PACIFIC
In the
last two issues of Fifties Frogs Magazine
this series of articles taken from HISTORY OF COMMANDER UNDER WATER DEMOLITION
TEAMS
HISTORY OF
UNDERWATER DEMOLITION
The personnel of what later was to be designated as Underwater
Demolition Team
On 28 February orders were received directing the
outfit to the new Demolition Base on Maui, T.H. via rail to Camp Shoemaker,
then via the USS MATSONI-- to Pearl Harbor, Oahu, T.H. Here the men were
stationed for two weeks, awaiting the completion of the Maui base. Even when
the outfit did arrive at the base, it had to help complete the construction
before entering into its advanced training. During this program the units were
amalgamated into two divisions which early in April were formally commissioned
Teams FOUR and
The Team was organized into one headquarter and four
operating divisions, each consisting normally of three officers and sixteen
men. With modifications this system was later adopted by all teams. As such the
team continued training during April and May. At that time there was no
organized training staff, so Team
5
In April, Lieutenant Commander Kauffman learned of
the part his team was to play in the operation against Saipan
on 14 June. A brief description of the physical set-up of this operation
follows: The Second and Fourth Marine Divisions were to land on the west coast
and leeward side of Saipan at 0830 15 June Saipan time. Varying from 900 to 1800 yards off the landing
beaches was a barrier reef with a lagoon inside of it. The Second Division was
assigned four 700 yard long beaches designated from north to south as Red Two,
Red Three, Green One, and Green Two. The Fourth's beaches started about 700
yards to the south of the above beaches. Team
Another meeting at Pearl Harbor in which Admiral
TURNER stated that a detailed hydrographic survey was to be made by Demolition
teams sent Lieutenant Commander KAUFFMAN hurrying back to Maui to devise an
efficient method of making such a survey. The notorious string reconnaissance
was subsequently developed. It has many faults but no better method has ever
been suggested.
Still another innovation adopted for all future
teams was the use of destroyers, and in this particular instance the Battleship
CALIFORNIA, for actual fire-support in a simulated operation. This was voted
the most beneficial part of the Maui training, as it served the two-fold
purpose of accustoming the team to gunfire and the support ships to firing over
the swimmers' heads.
It may be mentioned that communications among the
team personnel and between the team and the support ships was very poor.
Although this situation was somewhat improved with practice, it was not until
the latter stages of the war that the teams learned how to handle their radios
properly.
Though Lieutenant G. LESLEY, a Marine Liaison
Officer, attached to the team in May, it was learned that one on the primary
desires of the Marines was to know where LVTs could
beach. This initiated Amtrack training into the Maui
agenda. An adjunct to this was an increased emphasis upon channel blasting
through coral reefs. 6
On 29 May, the team loaded its sundry gear aboard
the USS GILMER (
All the way to Roi-Namar,
the officers held continual conferences establishing standard operating
procedures for all imaginable eventualities. During the two-days on this
island, the team practiced with DUKWs and on the
proper way to blast a ramp on the edge of a reef for--LCMs.
Immediately upon leaving here for Saipan on 9 June,
briefing of the men was instituted. During this final lap of the journey, a
compromise was reached regarding whose crew should handle the small boats. It
was decided to allow the ship's crews take over around the
At this point a general description of the operation
plan shall be given. The four beaches assigned to Team
7
The operation of the two platoons on the Red beaches
was different than that of the two Green beaches. On the Red beaches it was
believed the swimmers would not have time to go all the way into the beach and
back and do a thorough reconnaissance job on the way. Therefore, each Red beach
had six advance reconnaissance men on three f1ying mattresses. These three
units for each beach were to go in directly to a position 300 yards off shore
and spaced about 200 yards apart. They were to anchor their flying mattresses
and start their reconnaissance at that point. The other swimmers were to go in
to the same point 300 yards to the beach and turn around and return. Of these
swimmers there were seven pairs per platoon with 100 yards between them. The
two men in a pair were to remain approximately twenty-five yards apart. One on
them was to go over the side with a reconnaissance reel, attach the bitter end
to the buoy and anchor at a designated position, then start swimming in a
straight line perpendicular to the beach, writing down the depths of water
every twenty five yards and every place where there was a strong change in
depth particularly in pot holes. The other man would zigzag about twenty yards
from the line man but stay even with him, his primary job being to locate mines
and other obstacles. When they reached the 300 yard line, the line man was to
anchor his reel on the bottom, both men to return zigzagging.
On the Green beaches there was no advance
reconnaissance party. The same use of pairs of swimmers was to be made and a1l
swimmers were to go in to 300 yards of the beach. There the odd-numbered units.
were to take the slate away from the even-numbered
units, and while the odd-numbered units with both sets of information proceeded
out again, the even numbered units
Would swim into the beach. This was done so that
even if the men in close were killed, their information would be brought back
to the
The men were dressed as follows: Swim fins, swim
shoes, swim trunks, four plexi-glass slates three
inch by ten inch, two pencils, waterproof first aid packet, a knife, life belt,
dive mask, gloves and knee pads. The platoon leaders who were to be on the
flying mattresses took 536 radios, 630
8
binoculars, and helmets. The
Commanding Officer was on a flying mattress with Alex PAIGE 92 his seeing eye.
The Executive Officer remained in the LCPR and all orders to the team were
issued by him or by the Commanding Officer through him. Every man and officer
on the team went in on the operation. Each landing craft had one boat officer,
one UDT coxswain, one
was done in order that men
doing night demolition work could go into the reef, locate any one buoy and
know exactly where the other buoys were. To assist in picking up stragglers,
one rubber boat for each beach was sent in to cruise off the reef, with one man
in it and an outboard motor. The plan called for fire support as close to the
waterline as possible without getting our own shells in the water. No swimmer
was to go with 100 yards of the water line until Roger plus sixty minutes. All
swimmers had to back outside the 100 yard line by 1030. During the period
between 1000 and 1030 the fire support ships were to move their fire a little
further inland and intensify it. The aviators were to make intensified strafing
runs along the beach to keep the Japs in the fire
trenches and machine gun posts down and the swimmers were to make the dash from
the 100 yard line to the water line and back. At 1130 when the landing craft
returned to the ship, the division officers would get all of their information
together and chart it, and the other team commanding officers were to meet on
the GILMER and prepare a joint dispatch to send back to the attack force.
So much for the plan. This is what actually
happened. The advance group including the fire support and the teams arrived
off the west coast of Saipan in the early hours of
the morning. It moved slowly in until at 0800 it was about 5000 yards off the
beach. It was a beautiful day: Bright sun, clear sky, and fairly calm sea with
just enough breeze to make a' out a two foot surf at the edge of the reef which increased to three
by about 1100.
Plans had been made ahead of time for the captain
and executive officer of the GILMER to con the landing craft into the exact
spot. The GILMER was off the northern end of the beach about 4000 yards, when
at about a quarter to nine the enemy started a fairly intensive return fire at
the ship, the
9
GILMER being immediately straddled fore and aft and
also straddled on either side. The shell that landed aft wounded two men of the
crew. At the same time the main fire support ship, California, received a
direct hit in the control tower from guns on the northern flank which
unfortunately somewhat diverted its attention from the team and henceforth
decreased its fire efficiency.
Jumping the gun a little, and leaving the ship at
0850, the four landing craft immediately fanned out and headed for that
important spot where they were to begin dropping the swimmers. When the boats
came within 500 yards of the reef they were taken under fire by the Japs and zigzagging became more wild
than before. The boat officers, however, fortunately and very much to their
credit kept their minds on one thing--the control point, and no boat missed
that point by as much as 100 yards. In order to space the swimmers 100 yards
apart a small buoy was dropped along with the first swimmers. This buoy had 100
yards of line on it and every time this buoy came alongside the buoy denoting
the sP9t where the last pair of swimmers was dropped another pair was put over.
The boats completed their run to the southern edge of their beach and then
headed out to sea between 500 and 1000 yards off the reef. They cruised back
and forth the length of the beach, while the boat officers used binoculars in
an effort to spot returning swimmers or wounded swimmers in order to rush to
their rescue. From time to time the landing craft approached too close to the
reef edge and the Japs turned them back with mortars
which fortunately never found their mark. The swimmers started coming back to
the landing craft at about 1045 with the exception of one or two who made it
earlier. As soon as they were spotted on the reef the landing craft would head
for them zigzagging all the while and pick them up as close to the reef as
possible. Pickup methods consisted of throwing a Jacobs Ladder over either side
and bringing the landing craft to a stop beside the swimmer, who then half climbed
and was half pulled into the landing craft by other personnel aboard. At any
time while the PRs were stopped it was fully expected
that the Japs drop mortars into the boat.
As the men swam in towards the beach, the platoon
leaders on their flying mattresses went back and forth in front of them trying
to make certain that the lines went directly into the beach. It became
immediately obvious that the flying mattresses were being used by the Japs as targets. Four of the flying mattresses were hit by
enemy fire but in three of the cases the men
10
aboard were not injured.
Unfortunately, Robert CHRISTIANSEN, SF1c, one of the finest and best liked men
on the team was killed instantly when hit while on a flying mattress with
Ensign Bill RUNNING. On the way in several of the reconnaissance reels jammed.
Some of these were abandoned and others patched up in order to continue the
reconnaissance. There is no doubt that carrying the reels was a definite
hindrance to the swimmers and a constant source of grief; however, almost all
of the men with reels carried out their mission exactly as planned. In two
cases reel men got a little off in either direction and crossed the line of
another man; however, this was easily spotted and correctly charted.
The most important event of the day which was to be
the heavy air support between 1000 and 1030 never happened. This combined with
the fact that the California was so afraid to fire her shots into the water
that she was putting the main point of her impact full 500 yards inland, left
the team in a most unfortunate position as it neared the beach. Japs could be clearly seen standing up in their fire
trenches just back of the water line, firing rifles and machine guns at the
swimmers. The Commanding Officer attempted to turn the swimmers around in his
area 100 yards from the beach but in spite of that some of the men got in as
close as 30 yards from the waterline.
All of the officers and men appeared to the
commanding officer to be absolutely calm and to have a complete disregard for
their own safety. The men claimed afterwards, however, that they were as far
from being calm as they had ever been in their lives. Quite a few of the men
had mortars go off underwater near them and six of the men, ENG, RENBARGER,
LAFOREST,
About 1400 the Commanding Officer of Team SEVEN
reported aboard the GILMER where the two Commanding Officers and the division
officers had
11
a conference to draw up a
joint dispatch to send back to the attack force. They then went aboard the U.
S. S. LOUISVIILE where Admiral OLDENDORF approved the dispatch before sending
it off. The officers of the team spent the entire night making copies of the
chart.
The plan for D-Day called for Lieutenant Commander
Kauffman to go aboard the flagship to Admiral HILL where General WATSON was
also stationed. Also Ensign MARSHALL reported to Admiral TURNER; Ensign ADAHS
to the Marine Tank Commander; and Ensign SUHRLAND to the DUKVJ Commander. The
most important information the team had, concerned its route for the tanks
which differed from that of the Marines. Their original route would have been
disastrous. Team
That night the GILMER, which was inadvertently in
the outer screen, en- gaged five Japanese AKs. Although hit eight times itself, she managed to sink four
of them while a destroyer sank the fifth. Later this became known officially as
the Battle of Maipi-Point, for which the ship’s
captain, Commander JACK HORNER, deservedly received the Silver Star. Japanese
prisoners rescued were put aboard an AFA the next day.
On D plus 2, the team succeeded in firing its shot
of the channel in
spite of strafing from Japanese
planes. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Commander KAUFMAN had reported to the force Beachmaster, Captain ANDERSON, for duty. At 0530 every
morning he reported aboard the SC 714 for further assignment. Captain ANDERSON
referred to team
12
28 June, D plus 1.3. the
team experimented with Japanese anti-boat mines. The best method found to blow
them up was to wire a half-pound block of
It was obvious at this time that a great argument
was brewing as to what beaches the Marines would hit on TINIAN, so a brief
description of the island is necessary at this point. It lay just south of
SAIPAN with a narrow two mile channel between the two islands. Tinian is about fifteen miles long and about two miles
across. On the northwest side there were two small beaches designated as White
One, and White Two separated by about 1200 yards. Also on the west coast but
near the southern end of the island were the Red, Green and Blue beaches which
lay just off Tinian Town and which were obviously
excellent beaches for a landing except that the troops would have to start
street fighting immediately on the landing; moreover, there was high ground on
either side of the landing beaches. In spite of the good harbor immediately
available the Marines felt that their losses would be quite high if they used
these beaches. The White beaches on the other end had the advantage of being
comparatively free of overlooking high ground and in addition, they could be
reached by our own artillery from on Saipaon.
However, they were very exposed and would become completely unusable in
conditions of even medium surf. In addition they appeared to be only about
sixty yards wide (White One) and 120 yards wide (White Two). Also the reef
conditions appeared to be very poor for LVTs and it
was found that the fact that the beach at the water's edge dropped sharply
about three or four feet in places might make it completely impossible to use
any of them. In addition, due to the trees and foliage immediately behind the
beach it was impossible to tell from the aerial photographs whether the exits
from the beaches were usable. The team commanding officer attended most of the
conference at which Admiral TURNER and General SMITH discussed this problem and
suspected that the team was going to be sent in on a night operation; so he
asked the executive officer and other officers of the team to start drawing up
plans for such a contingency. Finally on 7 July, Team
13
were to go in on the side of the
beaches to attempt to locate exits.
The Commanding Officer of the Marine reconnaissance
battalion, Captain J. JONES and his officers, one of the top battalions of that
already great outfit, were contacted on 9 July, (Jig minus 15). As both
Commanding Officers realized the difference of methods employed, they decided
to hold a rehearsal in Magicienne Bay, Saipan the next night. Guards were placed to observe the
men, and mines were placed off the beaches to see if the men could discover
them. Unfortunately everything went wrong, so not too much good came of the
rehearsal. Each swimmer was provided, however, with a water-proofed penlight)
which was an aid in picking him up.
The night of the actual operation, 10 July, was
beautiful and clear. The team was using four officers, one of whom was
Lieutenant Commander KAUFFMAN and eight men. At this point, the GILMER's radar and gyro went out of commission,
necessitating the party's being guided in by
directional flashlights. Previous information indicated that there would be a
current of about one-half a knot just off the coast running south; however, it
was discovered later that it ran north. The rubber boats proceeded as planned:
Group Able heading north for its position 500 yards off White One Beach, and
Group Baker heading south to the same position off White Two. At this point, a light fog descended causing
the boats to go in too closely. Group Able never did locate the beach, nor did
Group Baker think it was on the right one. A reconnaissance of this latter one
and its approaches was made, nevertheless. As the current was going in the
wrong direction, many swimmers missed their boats on the way out. Not until
0430, consequently, were all of them retrieved. The ensuing conference brought
out the fact that Group Baker had reconnoitered White One instead of Two and that Group Able had moved further north.
After conferences with Admiral HILL and General
SMITH in the afternoon, it was decided to make a reconnaissance that night of
White Two only. The
On the basis of the information gathered on these
two nights, the high command decided to land on the White beaches. On 13 July,
Admiral HILL
14
requested that Team
During the next week many ideas were hatched as to
the best method of getting the powder in. The two decided upon were, one, to
lash 1000 pounds of explosive to a long tube and, two, to load a rubber boat
braced with boards on its deck with another 1000 pounds. In each case the
conveyers were to be towed into the beach by a swimmer who had reached shore
with a line. Ensigns SUHRLAND and ADAHS had worked out their own method of
dealing with the mines. Working from opposite ends of the beach dressed
entirely in white, each would lash half-pound blocks of
The night was a miserable one. Heavy seas and surf,
whipped higher by squalls, resulted in having to commence from two far out. As
the landing craft were using underwater exhausts, this further cut down their
speeds, already reduced by having to tow the cumbersome equipment. Not until
2300 did the craft reach a point 2000 yards off the beach, then the rubber
boats commenced their trip. A heavy squall scattered the little fleet. Finally
at 0230, Lieutenant Commander KAUFFMAN ordered all explosives jettisoned, so
that at least a final reconnaissance could be conducted. This showed that no
new mine field had been laid. It was felt that without the special exhausts and
if the landing craft had been brought further in that the mission would not
have failed. Although the team was bitterly disappointed, the results next day
cheered it somewhat. Out of the two Marine divisions which landed on jig day, there
were only five casualties, as the Japanese had not expected the landing to be
made on the White beaches. As team
Soon after this, team
15
R. P. MARSHALL became the Executive Officer of the
team, along with THREE and FOUR, quickly received the Navy Cross; the other
officers received Silver Stars and the men received Bronze Stars.
The team was reorganized, as it had now only eleven
officers and sixty- four men. Hardly had everyone returned from his ten day
inter-island leave than the team was ordered to participate in the Yap Island
operation. On 14 September, the team boarded the U.S.S HUMPHREYS (
In this operation it was planned to hit the beaches
on the eastern or Leyte Gulf side. Seven teams were
to be employed: THREE, FOUR,
Team
16
Next stop was Noumea where
the team went ashore for two weeks for a well
earned rest. While here, the team
members officially received their Silver and Bronze Stars. It was with regret
that Team
On 27 December, Team
Teams
On 9 January, the Troops landed unopposed. The
following day, Team
17
fired on this team's men, but
this was immediately rectified. The report turned in indicated that the river
could handle craft up to LCMs, but did not advise use
of the beaches for there were sand bars, and the exits were inadequate. At
1600, on that afternoon, Team
Arriving at Ulithi on 28
January, the team was transferred from the HUNPHREYS to the receiving ship,
Admiral CONTZ, AP-122, on 10 February. Ten days later, embarked onto the U.S.S.
MISSISSIPPI, Team
Reassembling at Fort Pierce, Florida, in early May,
Team
Arriving off the Japanese home islands, Team
Then from 11 October to 13 October another
reconnaissance was conducted with the advanced units of the 10th Army Corps,
this time of the Mitsuhama water front area in
Shikoku. The purpose of the plan was to find suitable landing and storage
areas, and a report to this effect was later turned in.
18
Immediately thereafter, the HOBBY headed for San
Diego where the team was disembarked and assigned to the Naval Amphibious Base,
at Coronado. Here on 23 October, 1945, Team
Readers Comments: Your comments are welcomed.