Fifties Frogs Magazine Vol 2

Pg 4

The Time Teams One and Three Really Got Pissed by Phillip E. Carrico
 

Home
Message Board

Questionnair

Vol 1 (index)
Vol 2
(index)

Stories by Carrico
Book Review
Biographies
In Memory
Addresses
Letters
Update/Corrections to Vol 1 

Vol 3 (index)
Vol 4 (index)
Vol 5 (index)
Vol 6 (index)
Vol 7 (index)
Vol 8 (index)
Vol 9 (index)

Vol 10
(index)
Vol 11
(index)

Contacts
Search (all volumes)


 




It was early 1950, probably late February or March when this chubby fellow from Hollywood came out to the Silver Strand where we were training. Said he was writing a script for a movie they were going to do on U.S. Navy Frogmen.

Well, that got our attention. The fellow stayed with us for about three weeks. I mean he slept in the barracks, went to chow and even drank beer with us at Pop's bowling alley next door to the Amphib Base.

He got to see all the training, even to swimming under ships tied up in San Diego harbor and placing dummy bombs on the hulls. He went out on a drop and pickup, did night sneak and peeks with us, even came along when we did night rubber boat drills through a ten foot surf. The fellow might have been out of shape but he was game.

After three weeks, he said he had all the material he needed but before he left he promised that when they confirmed the actors and found the funding, he would make sure they used us as extras.

To say the least, we were a happy bunch. The guys were writing their girls and Mamas saying, "I'm gonna be a movie star"...

However in late June, the North Korean Communists jumped the 38th parallel and started steamrolling down through South Korea and our occupation forces there. Suddenly, we had something more important than being a movie star to think about.

continue

[ top ]

continued

Team Three had a squad in Japan when the fighting commenced. They were quickly joined by Teams One and Team Three got there in August. During this time , back in the states, Hollywood had confirmed the actors, found the funding and was ready to start shooting.

When they found that Team One and Three was in Korea, since they could not wait, they went ahead and shot the film using an east coast team as the extras.

Talk about some mad froggies.-.you never saw the like, they were more upset with Hollywood than the Communists.

However, everything turned our well. When the Teams returned to Coronado in Spring of 1951. they learned the first preview of the movies, "The Frogmen" would be shown to them at the Amphib Base in Coronado. This gala event happened on Monday, August 28th, 1952. Richard Widmark, who starred in film, was in attendance with his wife and he mingled freely with the guys and even had a
beer with them in the EM Club.

Over the years, the bitterness of missing our chance to be a movie star has diminished, but a spark of anger will always be there. —CARRICO

Author:
Carrico  photo, Sasebo, 1950, 20 yrs old

[ top ]