That said, here is an account of what UDT 10 did from the website http://www.specwarnet.net/americas/UDT.htm :
UDT-10 and the USS Burfish SS-312 performed reconnaissance on the Islands of Peleliu and Yap in August of 1944. This was the first time Navy special forces deployed from a submarine. Indecision on the part of Navy high command created a need for more information on the two islands in order to determine which of the two was more suitable for invasion. Peleliu was scouted successfully on August 9. On the 16th, Yap was scouted, also successfully. On the 18th Gagil Tomil was scouted and a barrier reef was immediately found. Leaving the boat and one member behind, four members swam ahead, although one later returned, unable to handle the strong currents sweepingg the reef. The three remaining members were never seen alive again, and intercepted communications later indicated they had been captured by the Japanese troops manning the island. No record of them was ever found and it is thought they were put on a boat back to Japan that was subsequently torpedoed by an unknowing American submarine. Due to the information this team gathered, the island of Yap was deemed too costly and was bypassed; without reinforcements the Japanese garrison on the island withered until the end of the war.

The invasion at Luzon in the Philippines was another large operation, with UDT’s 5, 8, 9, 10, 14, and 15 participating.

Activated: June, 1944
Deactivated: February, 1946
History:

Members of UDT-10 participated in the only submarine operation by UDT in WWII. While deployed on SS-312 USS Burfish five members of UDT-10 scouted the waters and shores around Peleiu’s southeastern tip on 9 August, 1944. On 18 August they performed a reconnaissance of Gagil Tomil’s northeast coast and found a barrier reef. Two members of UDT-10 and one from the Underwater Demolition Training and Experimental Base were captured and executed after being tortured.

While attached to USS Rathburn APD-25, UDT-10 scouted approaches to Angaur beaches September 14th & 15th. East beaches scouted the 14th were found to be clear of obstacles and lightly defended but subjected to heavy currents. North beaches the next day were clear of obstacles and defense and no further action was required of them. Following this Rathburn headed for Ulithi, where they were tasked with clearing and marking five beaches for assault within three days. UDT-10 reconnoitered the Falalop and Asor beaches beginning September 21st and the following three the next day. No obstacles or enemy forces were found. Afterwards members assisted the Beachmaster with landing operations. Ulithi became a main US Naval base for the remainder of the war, being a ring of small islands forming a protected anchorate neary 180 square miles in size and having the capacity to hold up to 1,000 large ships at once.

UDT-10 assaulted “Red Beach” at San Pedro Bay between Palo and San Ricardo during the landings in Leyte Gulf on October 19th, 1944. On January 7th, 1945 UDT-10 scouted Blue Beach in Lingayen Gulf and destroyed natural and manmade obstacles with demolitions. Performed a nighttime reconnaissance mission without incident two weeks later on January 26th. Landed at San Nareiso on Luzon on the 29th of January and found no opposition. Created a forward training base for UDT’s on Guam in Feburary of 1945, then rotated to the Maui base in May. Sent back to the US in June and all team personnel given leave until July 1, at which time the unit reformed at Fort Pierce. Shortly thereafter the war ended and UDT-10 stayed on to help disestablish Fort Pierce until it was deactivated in February of 1946.

Also check here http://navysealmuseum.com/heritage/history.php

British Combined Operations veteran LCDR Wooley, of the Royal Navy, was placed in charge of the OSS Maritime Unit in June 1943.
Their training started in November 1943 at Camp Pendleton, moved to Catalina Island in January 1944, and finally moved to the warmer waters in the Bahamas in March 1944. Within the U.S. military, they pioneered flexible swim fins and facemasks, closed-circuit diving equipment, the use of swimmer submersibles, and combat swimming and limpet mine attacks.

In May 1944, GEN Donovan, the head of the OSS, divided the unit into groups. He loaned Group 1, under LT Choate, to ADM Nimitz, as a way to introduce the OSS into the Pacific Theater. They became part of UDT-10 in July 1944. Five OSS men participated in the very first UDT submarine operation with the USS BURRFISH in the Caroline Islands in August 1944.

He very rarely talked about his war service, we are now shocked to learn that he was part of the “Guardian Spies”. I would love any information about what duty stations and what UDT 10 in the Pacific actually did in the war.

A interesting note on history that didn’t make it in the books. He did tell us that he remember’s General Douglas MacArthur’s water landing “Famous Return” in the Phillipines. He told the family he was standing by and saw MacArthur and the “press corp” stage the landing three time’s before the Press got their shots. (I mean no disrespect to those MacArthur fans out there).

I love this site, and think it is important that this history is not forgotten.

There were “special” units in WW2? Well, Duh! Guys like the 1st Special Service Force weren’t organizing natives to fight (knives indeed) but rather that was done by members of the Office of Strategic Services NOT the Office of Special Services. http://www.history.army.mil/bo.....70-42c.htm Special Services who by the way entertained the troops. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/.....5F468485F9

Here is a Life magazine article on Special Forces from 1956 http://books.google.com/books?.....38;f=false the same year that then-Senator Kennedy unsuccessfully bid for Vice-President. Check out the guys on page 44 wearing their unauthorized green berets while in front of Flint Kaserne (where I used to be stationed).

And I don’t understand this need that you have to beat up on Barry Sadler based on rumors without hard evidence. It’s alleged that he was training contras. He was more current with being a novelist than anything else. In fact the only reason we’re talking about Barry Sadler is because a previous poster thought that he as a Staff Sergeant in the Army had somehow “created” Army Special Forces. Enough!

So, to quote the Firesign Theater, “Everything you know is wrong”.

And if you want to count things prior to Kennedy, there were all manner of “Special” named units in WWII. Some even wore green berets. What we NOW consider to be the “Special Forces” were established by Kennedy: “Special” used to refer to singular assignments, like organizing the local primitives to fight the Japanese with knifes while the U.S. military was still unable to get there. (Some actually were quite successful.) Kennedy made it developmentally elite.

The thing I’d like to know more about is the original 1952 Green Beret mission of “Psychological Warfare.” This CAN’T have been like ‘Men who Stare at goats.’ (Can it?) That would mean quite a change in mission.

Anyway, Dave, assumming you read the site again, try to find out for sure about your Uncle’s metals, and let us know. Mr. Sterner is a recognized figure for documenting this, so help him out. If the local newspaper got hold of the full story, they’d have published quite an obituary.

doug@homeofheroes.com

http://www.homeofheroes.com/

He also was badly injured in Feb 1945 while aboard the USS Gamble was hit by two 250lb bombs in the middle of the night while off the coast of Iwo Jima, in support of the invasion, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Gamble_(DD-123).

Since he was bunking in a room next to one of the boiler rooms, the explosions fractured the bulkhead that separated him from the boiler room and the escaping steam burned him badly over about 40% of his body and he was picked up unconscious from the water shortly afterward. This put him in a hospital for quite a long time. He suffered pain from the scars for many years.

My Uncle was a great man and I’m very proud to have known him. Also it’s interesting that a quick search on Yahoo turned this article up in less than 5 minutes.

And getting shot in the head in a taxi in Guatemala in 1989 really wasn’t all that embarrassing to anyone I knew at the time.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/.....index.html

Which brings up another possiblity for the enigmatic Mr. Cook; he might have been a travelling mendacite, speaking publicly and granting interviews. I remember some years back one of the network news shows went to a Memorial Day event to interview the Medal of Honor winner that was a sort of Grand Marshall—and then they did their homework. The guy carried a counterfeit medal to show people and as in the story at the link, ‘Put on a production.’

I’m surprised a political campaign didn’t vette this Strandlof. But not all news outlets do any fact checking, especially not Fox, who said in court they didn’t think it mattered if it was true or not just because they call it “News.” As Mr. Sterner points out, the real point is credibility. Just as it’s tough for the Green Berets to have their big spokesman turn mercenary, and get killed in an embarassing manner because of it.

Meanwhile, the mystery of Earl Cook deepens.

(Hopefully the system will work this time.)

And yeah, I keep thinking about that $1.95 arc welder. “Plugs into a light socket.” Whatever happened to that? Did it put welding in the hands of maybe a few people it’s best kept OUT of the hands of? I’ll take one of the $9.95 engines, too. To think BOTH will be made in America by more or less skilled individuals out of the PROPER materials. Oh, the things they could once run out and buy. You could even get books on making furniture out of composites as a ‘Home Industry Opportunity.’

http://www.thesealteams.com/history/

http://www.navysealmuseum.com/heritage/history.php

By the way, Army Special Forces were “created” back in 1952 and NOT by Kennedy. JFK just backed an expansion and formally authorized wear of the Green Beret.