First SEALs (22 page)

On the same day as the Sagu Island mission, another MU officer assisted in a similar underwater reconnaissance effort on Ramree
Island. He and another OSS operative also gathered intelligence on both Ramree and neighboring Cheduba Island that proved valuable to the Allies. Two admirals with the Royal Navy thanked the men personally for their services and “
expressed a desire to use the facilities of the [OSS] again.”

The MU continued to work very closely with the British throughout this time. On another occasion Booth and four other swimmers using their rebreathers surveyed a British minesweeper that had sunk after running aground. They were able to provide a detailed report to the Royal Navy commander, who “
expressed his appreciation and satisfaction.”

In February, MU swimmers, including Booth, took on a vital reconnaissance mission. Utilizing their kayaks, they penetrated deep up two of the coastal rivers to determine their feasibility as an invasion route. They successfully “
obtained hydrographic and coastal intelligence of value to Allied forces, and later used in planning of invasion of Burma mainland at this point.” They also encountered Japanese patrols. They not only avoided detection, they “also learned of [the Japanese] tactic of maintaining sentry platforms on banks of chaungs.” The mission required the swimmers to spend long stretches of time in their kayaks, at one time paddling for sixteen hours straight.

A
FTER THE
B
RITISH LAUNCHED
two spectacular raids on Japanese shipping in Singapore Harbor in 1943 and 1944, sinking several enemy vessels, OSS put out requests for additional swimmers to target Japanese shipping. The MU chief in Southeast Asia noted, “
This area abounds in reconnaissance and similar raids, which can best be carried out by swimmers and that enthusiasm exists in Allied High Command relative to the possibilities.” Accordingly, the OSS sent another swimmer group to the region in October 1944: Operational Swimmer Group III (OSG III). The combat
swimmers arrived first in Ceylon. The group included many former members from L-Group in London, such as Gordon Soltau.

OSG III conducted missions in Burma and in Sumatra. One operation, dubbed “Sugarloaf 2,” sent operatives to an island off the west coast of Sumatra to conduct reconnaissance of a site for a possible Allied airfield. The swimmers worked closely with OSS's SI group, utilizing British submarines to put agents ashore, often in rubber boats, on islands swarming with Japanese troops.

Many of the British subs used to transport the MU men on missions were nothing more than rotting tubs that should have been headed for the scrap yard instead of embarking on covert missions. For instance, the
Severn
lost her port engine, followed by the radar, refrigerators, and air conditioning, while en route to the mission pinpoint. The MU operatives aboard the vessel had to endure spoiled food and temperatures averaging 120 degrees Fahrenheit. In a scene that could have been ripped from the film
Das Boot
, they also endured “
a siege of depth charging by the enemy.”

The MU also conducted “prize crew” operations, a euphemism for “snatching” local natives and their boats to glean intelligence on Japanese troop strength in the native's home area. The OSS illegally pressed some Sumatrans into service as agents working for the OSS, and sent them through a “rugged training course” in Ceylon.

One series of operations that involved an eclectic group of natives pressed into service by the OSS was known as the Caprice Missions. Launched from a British submarine, the small group of local agents infiltrated a tiny Japanese-held island off the east coast of Sumatra by rubber boat. They went by code names. For example, “
Johnny” was a former member of the Dutch Army, and “Redja” was a native Sumatran who had lived in New York for a time and “jumped ship from the luxury liner
Marnix
in New York City.” “Biden” was a fisherman before the war, and “Tdar” was a “paddy [rice] farmer.” However, shortly after going ashore, the Japanese captured them. OSG III immediately put plans in motion to get them out.

M
ANY OF THE
MU
operatives thrived on the dangerous missions. Walter Mess summed up the feelings of many operatives when he explained, “
You are not alive, unless you are living on the edge. And living on the edge like these swimmers and the rest of those men, you are alive. I mean you are
alive
.” He added, “I think that was the most fun I had in my life.”

*
It's probable that the Navy took away the equipment after Choate, citing equipment failures and a lack of training, refused to go on a reconnaissance mission that the Navy had ordered UDT 10 to undertake. OSS's MU chief in Washington disagreed with Choate's assessment and said that the men were trained for exactly that type of recon mission. The incident went all the way up the chain of command to Donovan and almost led to Choate's removal.

Hollywood dentist Jack Taylor, then a lieutenant commander, was a lifelong adventurer, expert swimmer, sailor, pilot and—arguably—the first SEAL. Taylor did it all—Sea, Air, and Land operations—swimming above and below the water and parachuting behind enemy lines into Austria.

One of the only Americans to survive Mauthausen Concentration Camp, Jack Taylor spent months at the work camp, during which he was under the constant threat of execution. The Germans routinely worked their prisoners to death, and hundreds died every day from starvation alone.

Commander H.G.A. Woolley, a British Navy veteran of World War I and a Hollywood screenwriter, advised the OSS on amphibious special operations throughout World War II. A true visionary and “out-of-the-box” thinker, Woolley's leadership served as the mainspring behind the Maritime Unit (MU) and America's first underwater combat swimmer program.
(National Archives, courtesy of B. Danis)

All photos from National Archives unless otherwise noted.

Doctor Christian Lambertsen (later known as “Dr. Scuba”) personally models the rebreather he developed. Lambertsen pioneered rebreather and SCUBA technology and is credited by many with coining the iconic acronym. When he invented the Lambertsen rebreathing device, he was a medical student at the University of Pennsylvania.