They often operated at night, deploying from boats and helicopters to carry out short direct-action missions like ambushes, hit-and-run raids, personnel recovery, intelligence collection and reconnaissance patrols. Later in the conflict, 12-men SEAL platoons rotated in and out of deployment in South Vietnam, honing their battle skills and launching their reputation as an elite special ops force. Vietnam War–1965-72ĭuring the Vietnam War, the newly created SEAL teams-called SEALs for their ability to operate in the environments of Sea, Air and Land-were initially tasked with training indigenous South Vietnamese forces to operate as maritime commandos. The UDTs were one of the most heavily decorated combat units in the war, earning 750 Bronze Stars, 150 Silver Stars, one Navy Cross and several Presidential Unit Citations. In all, some 3,500 UDT “frogmen” served during World War II, taking part in almost every major amphibious operation in the Pacific a total of 83 were killed. Navy’s Underwater Demolition Teams (UDTs) performed reconnaissance, surveyed and cleared the beaches for the landing of some 450,000 U.S. Before the invasion of Okinawa on April 1, 1945, the crucial last step in the Allies’ island-hopping campaign toward mainland Japan, nearly 1,000 members of the U.S. military turned to the Navy’s special operations forces to gather intelligence and navigate the islands of the South Pacific ahead of Allied invasions. Invasion of Okinawa–1945Īfter the loss of more than 3,000 Marines in the Battle of Tarawa in November 1943, the U.S. This 52 percent casualty rate represented the bloodiest single day in the history of Naval Special Warfare. Of the NCDU personnel on Omaha and Utah Beaches, a total of 37 were killed and 71 wounded all casualties were the result of enemy action, not mishandling of the explosives. The NCDUs at Omaha Beach were awarded the Presidential Unit Citation, one of only three presented for military actions at Normandy. Approaching under heavy German fire, the demolitionists used explosives to clear the way for the massive invasion of some 5,000 vessels, 11,000 planes and more than 150,000 Allied soldiers and sailors. On June 6, 1944, some 175 members of Naval Combat Demolition Units (NCDUs)- predecessors of the Navy SEALS–were among the first invading forces to arrive on the beaches of Normandy.
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