|
1st Marine Raider Support Battalion held an event giving U.S.
Marine Corps Forces, Special Operations Command personnel the
opportunity to learn about the involvement of World War II Raiders
in the war and their legacy that lives on at Camp Pendleton, Calif.,
Sept. 29, 2017. World War II Marine Raiders played a large role in
the success of World War II, on and off the battlefields.
Many in attendance know of the World War II Raiders’ victories on
the battlefield, but their aid off the battlefield is less known.
With the establishment of the Office of Strategic Services came the
creation of the OSS Special Maritime Unit Operational Swimmers, also
known as the country’s “first frogmen.” The Raiders’ facilities and
training methods became the foundation of the operatives’ training
and preparation for the war.
|
Erick Simmel, left, Office of Strategic Services Maritime Unit
descendant and historical expert on World War II special operations
forces, presents a lecture alongside the last living frogman from
the Office of Strategic Services Maritime Unit, Henry Weldon, on
Camp Pendleton, Calif., Sept. 29, 2017. The lecture was given to
Marines from 1st Marine Raider Support Battalion, U.S. Marine Corps
Forces, Special Operations Command, in order to reinforce the
historical wartime legacy of the Marine Raiders in World War II.
(U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Bryann Whitley)
|
The assistant operations officer for 1st MRSB introduced Erick
Simmel, the battalion’s guest speaker who would lecture on the
history of the OSS Maritime Unit. Accompanying Simmel at the lecture
was the last living OSS Special Maritime Unit operative, Henry
“Hank” Weldon.
In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt
reorganized the Office of the Coordinator of Information into the
Office of Strategic Services, after U.S. entry into World War II.
OSS founder Maj. Gen. William J. Donovan, a World War I hero and
Wall Street lawyer, restructured the organization to similarly match
the British Special Operations Executive and Secret Intelligence
Service operations.
“The intent was to create an elite
agency with units created for conducting guerrilla warfare as well
as collecting and sabotaging intelligence behind enemy lines,” said
Simmel, an OSS Maritime Unit descendant and historical expert of
World War II special operations forces.
One of the many units
created were the frogmen. These men received an extraordinary
waterman-operative skillset to use during World War II operations.
The men who made it into the unit were the first swimmers sent to
attend the Marine Raider Training Course at Camp Pendleton in the
fall and winter of 1943-1944. These men were trained in both Marine
Raider skills and underwater demolition techniques.
The
purpose for both training courses was to prepare the operatives for
reconnaissance, underwater demolition, infiltration and exfiltration
by sea and intelligence gathering. Though equipment, tactics and
techniques have changed over the last 70 years, today’s Raiders and
the OSS frogmen emphasize the same skillsets in training
After the lecture, the Raiders were introduced to weapons and
equipment used during that time period at a series of static
displays. Amongst those displays were images of the frogmen and
Raiders collaborating with allied British forces.
British special operators also participated in the frogman
training pipeline, developing their skills under the tutelage of
Raider instructors. Along with attaining new training, British and
U.S. forces exchanged information on warfare tactics, technology and
logistical concepts to use against German forces. The training
consisted mainly of techniques needed for infiltration by sea.
Instructors for this course consisted of World War II Raider
officers and enlisted personnel, who trained the frogmen in mock
attacks designed to test harbor defenses. In one exercise scenario,
combat swimmers were tasked with successfully breaching America’s
maritime harbor defenses.
“They gave us a bunch of dummy TNT
at high tide, dropped us off about a half-mile offshore and told us
to plant it all along the coast while our commanding officers kept
watch,” said Weldon. “One of the commanding officers said he thought
he saw something, but they didn’t see us. When daylight came, the
tide went out and all you could see was the dummy TNT all along the
shore.”
|
A group photo of the Office of Strategic Services Special Maritime
Unit Group A frogmen from World War II on Santa Catalina Island,
Calif., December 1943. Erick Simmel, OSS Maritime Unit descendant
and historical expert on World War II special operations forces,
presented a lecture alongside the last living frogman from the OSS
Maritime Unit, Henry Weldon. The lecture was given to Marines from
1st Marine Raider Support Battalion, U.S. Marine Corps Forces,
Special Operations Command, in order to reinforce the historical
wartime legacy of the Marine Raiders in World War II. (Courtesy
photo quality enhanced by USA Patriotism!)
|
This ability to get in and out without detection, allowed
the World War II Raiders and Navy frogmen to be two of the
most effective fighting forces of World War II. The skills
learned from the World War II Raiders and used by the OSS
Special Maritime Unit A swimmers proved the value of their
direct action operations behind enemy lines during World War
II.
As World War II came to a close, President Harry
S. Truman dissolved the OSS and its Special Maritime Units.
The lineage and legacy of the first frogmen carries on today
in elements of U.S. Army Special Operations Command, U.S.
Naval Special Warfare Command’s SEAL community and the
modern Raiders of U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Special
Operations Command.
By U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Bryann Whitley
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2017
The U.S. Marines
|
Comment on this article |
