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 Author  Topic: PT and Alamo scouts
TED WALTHER

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of TED WALTHER   Send Email To TED WALTHER Posted on: Jun 1, 2009 - 8:12am
Drew;
UPDATE: at another website that lists Hell ship voyages:
http://www.west-point.org/family/japanese-pow/ShipsAlpha.htm
it states that Uruppu Maru left Palau on 9/5/44 and made Davao/Manilla on 9/8/44 with 5 POW's on board. So the fate of the 3 men from UDT 10 occurred sometime after this, either in Manilla or on another Hellship bound for Japan.
TED



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Gustavo Martinez

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message   Posted on: Jun 1, 2009 - 10:07am
Russ

I´m reading an Osprey Publishing's book : US Special Warfare Units in the Pacific Theater 1941-1945 , from page 43 up to 45 you can read about Alamo Scouts , in a diagram describe a "typical Alamo scouts team 1944" :
Team leader (lieutenant), Second in comand, Radio operator, Demolition man , and two Boat men/scouts.

Thanks again





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Drew Cook

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Drew Cook  Posted on: Jun 1, 2009 - 4:02pm
Ted,

Thanks for the additional info on the missing men of UDT-10 and their fate. I was always interested in the UDTs since I was a kid, but I also knew they (like another area of my childhood military interest, fighter pilots) were an area of the military I could never -- as someone who was very nearsighted and wore glasses, even though I could "swim like a fish" -- be a part of (Draper Kauffman's WWII service nonwithstanding!).

When my family moved to St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands in early 1965 (I was 11 & 1/2) , I did get to interact a little with some of the guys of UDT-21 there, who were the coolest, most easy-going and self-assured guys I'd ever seen. I still remember them giving me some "Freddie The Frog" stickers that I put on the covers of my school textbooks.


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  TED WALTHER

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of TED WALTHER   Send Email To TED WALTHER Posted on: Jun 1, 2009 - 6:53pm
Drew;
That is a great story! You probably did not know it then, but I bet you met Master Chief Ev Barrett and Master Chief Tom Blais, also maybe a guy nicknamed Boom Boom or Tis? I have been a member of the Fraternal Order UDT/SEAL since 1991, However, I am a Boat Guy. Barrett and Blais are living legends in the teams, and ST. Thomas was where the East Coast BUD/S Dive phase was held. Most of the East Coast BUD/S instructors were from UDT 21 or UDT 22. can yu remember some nicknames?
take care,
TED


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Drew Cook

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Drew Cook  Posted on: Jun 3, 2009 - 2:19pm
Ted,

I don't remember anyone's names from that time -- I was just an awed 11 & 12-year-old who got to be around them a few times.

I have vague memories of my Dad, shortly after we moved to St. Thomas, taking me down to the old Sub Base (that general area on St. Thomas was simply called "Sub Base" when we lived there, and probably still is), where the UDT's quarters were, in the old WWII barracks at the base of a big hill, and watching the guys wash their orange-and-white-paneled main parachutes with fresh water and hang them up to dry. We also watched them fill their scuba tanks from a compressor. There was a long wooden pier at the Sub Base where submarines (I guess they were UDT-training subs -- late-war WWII or 1950's pre-nuclear boats) still docked -- we went on a few "open houses" through a couple of those subs in the early years on the island. You can see the Sub Base area in the movie "The Frogmen" -- it stands in for the Japanese base at the end of the film.

I also have a vague memory of encountering some of the guys on the waterfront near my Dad's boat business. I think this was when they gave me the "Freddie the Frog" stickers. I remember that they wore green USMC-type fatigues and caps, but had a round patch on one of their shirt pockets. They were like very, very cool older brothers to me.

Another memory of that time is that there was still talk of a large bar fight -- it had already become a local legend -- that had occurred recently (before we moved there? Just after we moved there? I don't know)between just a few of the UDT guys and a much larger number of Marines, in which the UDT guys totally wiped the floor with the Marines. Apparently, the UDT guys had girlfriends who were barmaids in the bar, and the Marines had gotten a little fresh with them. This was talked about by my Dad and other adults in awed and respectful tones, with much shaking of heads, and comments like "Those UDT guys, they're something else!"

The UDT guys would do exhibition jumps into the harbor during Carnival week, aiming to hit the centers of large, yellow-painted floating innertubes. They would occasionally zip around the harbor in a couple of landing crafts, and once in a while, when I'd walk down the waterfront after school towards my Dad's business, I'd see a column of white water rise from the rock shoals just outside the harbor mouth, and then, as the column started to fall, I'd hear the delayed "boooom!" -- the UDT was practicing blowing up the rocks again.

A good friend of my Dad's (and our family) was Joe Vogel, who ran a diving instruction/tour business on St. Thomas since the early 1960's. I think Joe was in UDT-21 during the '50's. Joe has a brick in the UDT/SEAL Museum walk, and I think he also has a paddle board hanging from the ceiling of the museum (it's labeled "Vogel," anyway).

Ahh, memories.




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Nuge210

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Nuge210   Send Email To Nuge210 Posted on: Jun 9, 2009 - 3:46pm
Drew,

Could you email me at slnuge@verizon.net

I have a couple questions.

Thanks, Steve

Steve Nugent

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Alamo Scout

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message   Posted on: Jun 17, 2009 - 3:53pm
Hello guys,

Gus (Area51), please email me at Zee61@Aol.com. I need some info about you and your boat. Also, we need a photo of you (digital scan) for the oral history on the Alamo Scouts.

Going to Germantown, TN on Monday for a day of research. Will look for additional 497 info. Everyone have a great reunion!

Lance

Lance

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  TED WALTHER

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of TED WALTHER   Send Email To TED WALTHER Posted on: Jun 18, 2009 - 12:50pm
LANCE;
JUST WATCHED "WARRIORS" ALAMO SCOUT EPISODE, IT WAS EXCELLENT. IT WAS ALSO GOOD TO SEE DALE DYE IN ACTION AGAIN.
TAKE CARE,
TED


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Alamo Scout

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message   Posted on: Jun 22, 2009 - 2:28pm
Ted,

Thanks. It was a lot of fun. Bill Littlefield is great--and Terry Schappert the host--he's very passionate about what he does. Take care.

Lance

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