A WWII Underwater Demolition Team veteran,
Marvin Cooper,
has written a marvelous book,
"The Men From
Mr. Cooper tells the story
of UDT's role in the war, weaving the chronology of events with details offered
by the men who were there. Mr. Cooper has generously allowed us to reproduce
excerpts from his book on this website. The following selection is Underwater
Demolition Team THIRTEEN's experience at
By February 1945, most of the Philippine Islands
were in American hands.
The next target of the United States Navy and the
Marine Corps was Iwo Jima - a small volcanic island about 750 miles south by southeast
of Tokyo, Japan.
The research for this manuscript did not reveal
what intelligence information the Navy had on
If they knew if or not, the Marines faced about twenty-two thousand fanatical Japanese. Some of them were the legendary Imperial Marines. Over twenty thousand of those Japanese would die, and over six thousand Marine and Navy personnel would be killed in the capture of those less than six square miles of real estate.
Back in December, 1944, on the
The core personnel for Teams 11, 12, 13, and 15 all
came from Training Class 7 of Fort Pierce. Team 15 left
Teams II, 12, and 13 were originally scheduled to be
assigned to the
Both Team 12 and Team 13 had veterans of Team Able in their personnel. Team 13 had seven enlisted men, two chief petty officers, and their Executive Officer, Lieutenant Donald Walker, all from Team Able.
Team Twelve was assigned to the USS Bates and
Team Thirteen was assigned to the USS Barr and on
The convoy moved close by the Japanese held
The Barr and Bates, with Teams 13 and 12 aboard, were just comfortably anchored down in the calm waters of Ulithi's inner lagoon, when whom should appear but their old buddies from Class 7, Team Fifteen. With Team Fifteen aboard the USS Bull, was Team Fourteen.
The two teams arriving from the
Team Thirteen on the USS Barr and with the aid of the Barr crewman ringed the fantail with 50 caliber machine guns. These guns would probably have little effect against suicide planes, but at least they would add to the curtain of fire. The team had a man from Team Able, and a former Seabee, named Raymond LeBlanc who was a welder, and he was responsible for much of the welding necessary on the gun mounts. Unfortunately, after the gun mounts were in place, Ray was welding over the side in another project when a wave from a passing boat struck his electric welding equipment. Ray went into the water and drifted under the ship before his teammates could rescue him from the opposite side of the ship. He either died by electrocution or by drowning.
For a few days, the men from the four teams kept in condition by swimming, taking rubber boats into one of the small islands, and searching for sea shells along the shallow coral beach approaches. Many of them examined a Japanese two man suicide submarine lodged on the reef between two islands. The submarine appeared to have been accidentally grounded on the reef sometime in the past.
Before the teams left
Ulithi, they were
briefed on the
On February 10, the bombardment force for the Iwo
Jima Operation left Ulithi. Under the command of Rear Admiral "Spike"
Blandy, the fleet included a flotilla of minesweepers, six Underwater
Demolition Team APDs in the UDT command, six battleships, twelve LCIG gunboats,
five cruisers, sixteen destroyers, and twelve aircraft carriers. (This listing
of the battle group was taken from the book, "
Blandy's group stopped at
Underwater Demolition
Team Thirteen drew
the first assignment. On the north end of
The Japanese did not quite approve, and mortar fire started falling in the area of the LCPR and the dispatched rubber boat. The Japanese also opened up with shell fire of 5 inch or above on the Barr. The Barr moved rapidly towards the island its 5-inch gun blazing at the spotted locations of enemy fire. Behind the Barr, the USS Pensacola plastered the north end of the island with its full battery of 8-inch guns.
The rubber boat crew bravely moved into the waves crashing about the rock, while heavy caliber machine-gun fire struck around them. The crew installed the light and successfully returned to the LCPR, and on back to the Barr. The only casualty was Ensign Charles Hamman, who received a leg cut on the sharp edges of the rocks.
The following morning, February 17, D-2, was designated
the time for the Underwater Demolition Teams to open the beaches of
These daylight
reconnaissance
missions were to be made against the strongest fortifications of the Pacific
War. For this reason fire support was to be the heaviest of any UDT operation.
The plan was to start the heavy shelling at the high water mark and move inward
to the center of the island. The Navy gunners were cautioned against dropping
shells in the water to avoid making the water so murky that the swimmers could
not see the bottom. All the beaches on the east and west were on the narrow
waist of
The bombardment group lined up early and commenced the softening up bombardment of the east beaches. The battleships were positioned the furthest from the beach, next were the cruisers, and then the destroyer line. Close in were the LCIG gunboats with their tremendous rocket fire.
The four teams worked side by side. Team Thirteen
with its ten swimmers had the south beach, labeled
The four UDT teams would work as one team through both the morning and afternoon missions. Their beaches side by side would cover all the suitable landing beaches on the small island.
The fire support for the Underwater Demolition Teams was awesome. Battleships, cruisers, and destroyers were positioned to rain a withering fire upon the eastern slope of the island. And in close the twelve LCIG gunboats would pour a continuous flow of rocket fire on the enemy gun positions. Through experience in previous operations the Navy had learned that to have successful daylight beach reconnaissance missions into heavily fortified beaches, this fire support was necessary.
Like a wave of landing craft, LCPRs from all four teams moved inside the line of LCIGS, and started to receive fire from the shore. With throttles wide open the LCPRs turned and moved parallel to the beach dropping swimmers one by one. Mortar fire and machine-gun fire rained down and around most of the reconnaissance craft until they moved out beyond the line of LCIGS. So far no boats were hit and there were no casualties.
Things were different on the LCIG line. The Japanese poured everything they had from 8 inchers on down at the twelve LCIG gunboats. Eleven of the twelve were hit and disabled by gunfire, one was sunk, and many crewman were killed and wounded. Some of the casualties were UDT people who were acting as spotters on the ships. In less than a half an hour, the flotilla of gunboats were too badly mauled to continue their support. This was the worst disaster for their group during the Pacific War.
The following is a direct quote from the book
"
"473. is sinking rapidly and will have to be towed from the beach."
"438. Bow gun is knocked out."
"457. We are taking water."
"469. We have had several hits. We are taking water."
"449. Request doctor. Have injured aboard."
"457. We are sinking."
"469. We are taking water fast."
"441. Our engines are out."
"471. We need medical assistance in a hurry. Where do we go?"
While the gunboats were being annihilated, the men
from Team 12, 13, 14, and 15 swam into their assigned beaches braving mortar,
machine-gun, rifle fire, and very frigid water. Their last swim had been at
Ulithi in 85 degree water, but at
The reconnaissance swimmers wondered what happened to the LCIGS. When they were swimming to the beach they heard the tremendous salvos of rockets screaming over them as the gunboats unleashed their bombardment potential. Less than an hour later the LCIGs were gone from the scene.
The reconnaissance of the west beaches was scheduled
for the afternoon of February 17. The devastated LCIGs were out of the plan.
Hall Hanlon conferred with fleet commanders about a change of strategy. The
show must go on, but what about the protection of the swimmers without the LCIG
gunboats? As the entire bombardment force moved to the western side of
The change in plans resulted in a delay of time. The
swimmer drop was delayed from 1430 until 1630, which meant that swimmer
retrieval might be as late as 1730 (
The swimmers were dropped at the newly scheduled time. The wind had increased, and the cold water had waves that were showing white caps to add to the discomfort of the swimmers. All swimmers were instructed to stay outside of the surf line when they approached the beach. The beach was steep and the waves were breaking very close so the swimmers could easily measure the water depth, check for mines and obstacles, and record the possible location of gun positions.
As the swimmers returned to the swimmer retrieval line, some problems developed. The wind had increased, the sea was running high with larger waves. Some swimmers were slowed with cramps from the cold and some had strayed from the area assigned. This resulted in swimmers being retrieved by LCPRs of another team. Regardless of the confusion and the darkening hour, all swimmers were retrieved and returned to their own ships.
The intelligence information received was excellent for all beaches. A few anti-boat mines were found and destroyed, there were no obstacles found; the approaches were deep and clear, and the beaches all had steep ramps to receive landing craft. The information was accurate and complete, but there was one problem that developed that UDT could not effect or control. Each swimmer had brought back a small tobacco bag of sand, so experts could analyze for stability to landing vehicles, amptracks, and tanks. The swimmers collected their sand samples in the surf waters as instructed, but it was discovered too late that the sand in the surf constantly exposed to water was not the same consistency as the sand along the dune lines. This resulted in problems later when heavy equipment was moved from the water line to higher ground.
According to the research
materials for this
manuscript, only one swimmer was lost and two or three UDT men died on the
ill-fated LCIGS. The bombardment force at
The Bull, the Blessman,
the Bates, and the Barr with their UDT crews feeling of a job well done, moved into screen duty
far out from the island as the night closed on
On the morning of
February 18, Team
Thirteen received word that their first accomplishment had been undone. The
Japanese had managed to destroy their navigational light off the north
With no beach demolition work required, the UDT teams had no assignment except Team Thirteen's second mission on the north shore to replace the light. The following morning would be D-Day and the destroyers and APDs with falling darkness moved into their screening position several miles out to sea from the island.
The Blessman with Team Fifteen aboard was cruising their screen position when at about 2120 (
The USS Gilmer, the UDT command ship, with Captain Hanlon and Commander Draper Kauffman aboard, was in the area of the Blessman, and when alerted of the bombing, the Gilmer moved quickly to assist the Blessman. Commander Kauffman had the Gilmer drop its LCPRs, and then he led a boarding party to survey the damage. The fire had spread back through the troop quarters and was near the fantail. The fantail's steel deck was becoming hot and beneath it lay the tetrytol. Team Fifteen survivors were pulling water from the ocean with buckets, attempting to fight the fire.
It was decided to bring the Gilmer along side of the Blessman, so the Gilmer's pumps could be used to fight the fire. It was a gamble because if the tetrytol exploded, both ships would be gone. After the Gilmer started using its pumps, it still took nearly two hours to extinguish the fires. But it was accomplished and the tetrytol remained cool.
The wounded were transferred to the Gilmer. The survivors and the dead remained on the crippled Blessman. The following morning the surviving Team Fifteen members were transferred to the USS Newberry, a transport. That same morning there was a burial service for the dead, and they were buried at sea.
Team Fifteen buried eighteen teammates that morning, and twenty-three were badly wounded. The crew of the Blessman had similar casualties.
Team Fifteen survivors went back to
The following morning was D-Day. When the men of Teams 12, 13, and 14 awoke that morning, they learned of the deadly toll suffered by their sister team. Many had seen the glow of the burning Blessman over the horizon, but the death count was not known until morning. When the demolition men walked out on the decks of their APDs, they were amazed. As far as they could see, there were ships. The transports carrying the Fourth and Fifth Marine Divisions, Seabee Battalions, Beach Battalions, and others had arrived during the night. It is a sure thing, that the Japanese, when they awoke that morning, would now know for sure what was coming their way.
Men in the three surviving Underwater Demolition Teams had one more responsibility, and that was to lead the first wave of assault landing craft into the beaches. Each team would lead the wave into the beaches that they had reconnoitered. Research for this manuscript did not reveal who led the landing craft into Team Fifteen's beach. It could have been some of the team's survivors, but probably it was volunteers from the other teams.
At first it looked like the UDT work was over. The
first few waves of assault boats went to the beach with only a minimum amount
of resistance by the enemy. But this was Kuribaysashi's plan. Kuribaysashi was
the Japanese commanding officer to the
After the
Captain Anderson contacted Captain Hall "Bull" Hanlon, the UDT commander. When Hanlon relayed the request to each team's commanding officer, Hochuli of Team Twelve volunteered his team. Team Thirteen's Vincent Moranz was reluctant, and radioed back that his men Team Thirteen were not salvage people. It is said that Bull Hanlon roared back that he wanted nothing salvaged, but he did want that beach cleared.
All three of the
surviving teams
worked through the days of February 20 through the 25th to clear the beaches of
the glut of wreckages. Team Twelve seemed to take the lead, probably because of
the extrovert attitude of Hochuli. Team Twelve was the first on the beach with
an LCPR loaded with tetrytol. The team loaded a wreck on the beach with tetrytol
and then blew it into small pieces. Shrapnel from the exploding wreck rained
down on
Unable to blast the wreckage without endangering the Beach Battalion personnel, the teams used LCIs and mine layers to tow them to sea. The UDT men would swim in the surf and connect cables to the wrecked boats, and the LCIs would pull them into deep water. If they sank, fine; if not, the UDT men would plant charges in their bottoms and sink them. The three teams worked for six days and cleared over 200 wrecks from the beaches. This was done under fire, and many of the wrecks accumulated during those six days. After Suribachi fell under the attack of the Fifth Marine Division, and the east coast of Iwo was cleared northward by Fourth Marine Division, the landing beaches were finally out of range of the Japanese mortar launchers.
Team Twelve action must have been outstanding, because the team was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for its service during the operation. Teams Thirteen and Fourteen received nothing. Team Thirteen and possibly the other two teams transported several tons of their tetrytol to the beach. The explosives were used to replace depleting supplies of Marine explosives stocks. The Marines used the tetrytol to drop into the caves which the Japanese were using.
A Team Thirteen crew with two Fifth Marine sergeants, on February 23, made a reconnaissance mission into the south face of Suribachi. The crew went in with rubber boats to determine the possibility of a Marine assault on Suribachi from the sea. The Marine sergeants negated the plan when they examined the steep face of Suribachi from the south.
Two days later, the Marines took Suribachi, and many of the Underwater Demolition men saw the flag flying on its summit. To the Demolition men, this was a satisfying sight. After all, the UDT was the first targets of those gunners hiding in the caves of Suribachi.
There was one other assignment for UDT at
Underwater Demolition Teams Twelve, Thirteen, and
Fourteen left the
There were 21 Underwater Demolition men killed,
26 wounded, and 1 missing at
When they left