Letters and Such From Walt Howell:

The event is described in Orr Kelly's book, Brave Men Dark Water, as is the October 1972 rescue of Norris that earned Mike Thorton his Medal of Honor (per email from Alan Price, Class 17, UDT-12 COR).

Letter from Pete Dicroce:

Thank you for your thank note. I gave my brother, Lou DiCroce, your address but he has no way of getting his bio to you. A teammate named Dewitt H. Evans was writing a book on Lou but it never got finished. He lives in Virginia. I’m going to give my brother your phone number. He likes to to talk on the phone. You can get info from him there. I’m sending you a little of what I have on him. He did six tours in Vietnam as a Navy SEAL.

Pete - 60 years-old at Training Class 21 Reunion

I have a few articles you might like and some pictures. I would appreciate it if you could return them to me (see photos elsewhere) Thank you Don. I plan to attend my 50th Reunion in Little Creek in 2009 (long way off). I was on LST 1178 Wood County on 4-17-61 at the night of the Bay of Pigs invasion Cuba. I was ready to go ashore, alone, no ID or weapons, in another mission to pick up survivors. But, at the last minute, the mission was called off.

My classmate Terry Thomson was also there. He was in another detachment. He just passed away last August, (see departed shipmates).

DiCroce Wins Masters Events

Fort Lauderdale’s Pete DiCroce, 57, of the Plantation Swim/Dive team, a Masters national platform diving champion won four individual SPORTS Sun Sentinel, December 4 1995 swimming events at the Hall of Fame Masters Challenge. DiCroce won the 50 and 100 breast-stroke, 50 freestyle and 50 backstroke events in only his third Masters swim meet. Sharon Robi

DiCroce of the Fort Lauderdale Diving Team won his seventh national title in six years at the Masters Diving Outdoor Nationals in Pasadena, CA. DiCroce won the platform title to earn All-American honors. DiCroce was also second on 1 and 3 meter springboard.

2002 & 2004 National Platform Diving (1 Meter)

AT 56, HE’S STILL CRAZY TO COMPETE

"If somebody lives a different way of life than the norm, then he’s crazy," said Fort Lauderdale’s Peter DiCroce, 56, one of the top divers in the United States Masters Outdoor National Invitation Diving Championships today through Sunday at the ISHOF Aquatic Complex.

"It doesn’t bother me at all when people call me Crazy. I don’t think I’m really nuts in the brain too much or too lost up there. I just try things out of enthusiasm more than other people. I see something and say I can do that. The whole thing with diving is you have to listen, learn and try. When it gets to a certain point in diving people don’t want to try, fear enters. I don’t have a fear factor."

Probably the result of conditioning in his early days as a demolition expert and frogman for the United State Navy, "and almost being blown up and nearly killed with bombs and explosives". or the spear fishing off the Bahamas and fighting off sharks.

"It’s not a fear factor, it’s a matter of survival, the way I’ve done all my life," he said. His lifestyle is something of a Jules Verne novel.

DiCroce lives on a 65-foot wooden schooner on the New River. He bought the "junker" for $10 and completely rebuilt it. He recycled wood he found floating in canals or in dumpsters. ."Why go to the store and buy new?" Everybody buys new. Old is good. I’ve built my boat out of boatyard dumpsters."

Photo of boat to be published here

His sink is made from a giant clamshell from the South Pacific. His tables are made of logs, driftwood and seashells. He grows herbs, fruits, and vegetables in a small garden near the dock. He’s proudest of the prize watermelon he’s nurturing, grown from a seed in a pot.

DiCroce has no credit cards, health insurance or full time job. Most of the time he works for barter, trading his services as a carpenter and repairman for diving lessons, pool time and incidentals.

He hasn’t been to a barber in 32 years. He cuts his own hair. The last haircut he paid for was 75 cents.

Compared to the life he has led, diving is one of safer ventures. The two time defending national champion and Masters All American will compete in the 1 and 2 meter springboard events and the 10 meter platform this weekend.

DiCroce has had more than his share of challenges. He bought his schooner in 1973 and sailed to the Bahamas to go treasure hunting. He found a little treasure, so instead he tried free diving 100-120 feet with no tanks and spear fishing. "I was spearing fish and selling them. I had a nice little business." He said. "I made a pretty good living."

DiCroce learns by watching and doing. He was a swimmer at the Patterson YMCA when he asked his coach if could dive too. With no coaching or instruction he followed another diver up the ladder and did an identical dive. He never finished lower than third in any swimming or diving meet.

Today, he is coached by Tim O’Brien Fort Lauderdale and Paul Brightfelder of Plantation Central Park.

Even the most serious times of his live he made into a challenge.

At 20, DiCroce joined the Navy as a Frogman for Underwater Demolition Team. He was at the Lebanon crisis in 1958 and the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961. He later earned a degree in physical education from Florida State.

"It’s not how much I accomplished, it’s just the taking part that I enjoy the most.