First SEALs (37 page)

A
LPHONSE
T
HIELE
—
Thiele returned to New Jersey and the gas station business he had left behind. He married Walkiria Terradura, the beautiful partisan he had met in Italy, and they started a family. Later they moved back to Italy.

R
ICHARD
K
ELLY
—
Kelly returned to his prewar career on Madison Avenue. He started a family and also wrote adventure stories in the 1940s and '50s for a popular magazine known as
The Blue Book
.

T
ED
M
ORDE
—
Morde never did return to Honduras or provide verifiable details about the Lost City of the Monkey God. After the war he continued working for the U.S. government for a time as a special adviser to the Egyptian premier and ambassador. Never one to settle for the boring life of a bureaucrat, Morde later got involved in the television and film news industry, serving as the president of Spot News Productions and founding his own production
company called Ted Morde, Inc. Morde married a model named Gloria E. Gustafson, and the couple had a son and a daughter.

He was found hanging in his parents' shower on June 26, 1954. Although the medical examiner said he had committed suicide, others theorized that he may have been murdered.

C
HRISTIAN
L
AMBERTSEN
—
After the war, Dr. Lambertsen continued his work with the U.S. Navy, resuming his pioneering development of the LARU. He established the crucial link between the Maritime Unit and the Navy's UDT program and became known as the father of combat swimming and diving. For the rest of his life he would continue advising the U.S. government on various scientific matters. He held positions on a wide variety of boards and committees, including several run by the National Research Council's Committee, the National Academy of Sciences' Space Science Board, the Office of the Secretary of the Navy's Oceanographic Advisory Committee, the Smithsonian Advisory Board, NOAA's National Undersea Research Center Advisory Board, and NASA's Environmental Sciences Review Committee, Lunar Base Planning Group, Radiation and Environmental Health Working Group, and several others. At the same time, he pursued a career as a professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and also founded the Environmental Biomedical Stress Data Center at the same institution. The university continues to hold an annual Christian J. Lambertsen Honorary Lecture each year.

Lambertsen's list of awards is nearly as long as his résumé and includes military recognition, such as the U.S. Army Legion of Merit, the Meritorious Civilian Service Award and Military Oceanography Award from the Secretary of the Navy, the Department of Defense Distinguished Public Service Award, the U.S. Coast Guard Distinguished Public Service Award, the U.S Special Forces Green Beret Award, the U.S. Special Operations Command Medal, and the U.S. Chief of Naval Operations Citation. The U.S. Army Special Forces Diving Center in Key West, Florida, is named after Dr. Lambertsen.

In his civilian life, he received the Pennsylvania Alumni Award of Merit, the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching, the UDT-SEAL Association Lifetime Achievement Award, and various awards from NASA, the Aerospace Medical Association, the Undersea Medical Society, the Marine Technology Society, the Underwater Society of America, the New York Academy of Sciences, and the Navy Historical Society.

After a long and full life committed to science, medicine, and public service, he died in 2011 at the age of ninety-three.

H. G. A. W
OOLLEY
—
Commander Woolley had a profound impact on America's underwater activities after World War II when he consulted with the U.S. Navy. In June of 1945, General Donovan personally recommended Woolley for the Legion of Merit in a letter that read as follows:

It is recommended that the Legion of Merit, in appropriate degree, be awarded to Commander H. G. A. Woolley, D.S.C., Royal Navy, for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services to the United States.

Prior to July 1941, Commander Woolley arrived in the United States for services with the British Admiralty Delegation. As the result of cables exchanged between this country and our Ambassador in London, the latter advised that a Presidential representative should confer with Commander Woolley who would be able to inform him of British plans and forces available in the event of operations being necessary to seize the Atlantic Islands. Commander Woolley was interviewed by the Representative and subsequently by the President.

At the suggestion of the President, it was requested that Commander Woolley might be appointed officially to advise United States Service Departments on British Combined Operations questions. This was approved by the British Chiefs of Staff in Washington and London and the United States Chiefs of Staff were informed officially of his appointment and availability on 23 July 1941.

From this date until February 1942, Commander Woolley was in close touch with the United States Marine Corps (particularly with officers of USMC Headquarters and with the Fleet Readiness Section) and was able to provide considerable information regarding British plans, operational technique, equipment, etc. on matters with which the United States amphibious forces were currently equally concerned. He also was sole alien observer at the large scale amphibious landing exercise at New River in August 1941 and attended many discussions and represented the British view on technical and organization problems which arose in the exercise. Subsequently, he attended a large scale landing exercise at Virginia Beach in January 1942 and took part in the ensuing discussions. These included an address before the staff of the Ground Forces.

In connection with Army forces, Commander Woolley was consulted regarding possible future operations against Dakar and was specially commended for an address on Combined Operations to Military Intelligence Divisions in November 1941.

In February 1942, Commander Woolley was replaced by a British Inter-Services Committee of which he was to have been a member. However, at this time he was borrowed by the COI, from the British at the consent of Field Marshall Dill, to brief the former on British Combined Operations organization and particularly British small raiding forces (Commandos) in connection with discussions on this subject between COI, the President, and the Secretaries of War and Navy.

On completion of the foregoing work, in May 1942, at the request of COI, he was placed under the orders of Colonel Goodfellow, chief of Secret Operations, and directed to establish and conduct a base for training of agents in clandestine maritime operations (infiltration by sea, sabotage of shipping, etc.). This work was carried out very successfully. When the Colonel commanding the British para-military school subsequently visited the United States at my request, he ment [
sic
] and gave a most favorable report in comparison with the similar British school.

Commander Woolley originated the idea of the development of
underwater swimming apparatus for use in sabotage operations and supervised the development of the Browne and Lambertson [
sic
] apparati. The Browne apparatus was subsequently adopted for use by the Navy Department. He also originated and supervised development of new type 2 man and 8 man folbots which have been of considerable value to OSS and of which some 300–400 have been ordered and delivered for British use because they were much better suited for operations than any similar material developed in England.

He also originated the idea of the use of an inflatable paddle board. This and the first flying mattress were developed under his supervision. The latter was further developed under his successor and has also been adopted and used by the Navy Department.

At the end of 1942, he was sent on a tour of Marine Corps and Army Training Camps to study new training methods and equipment with a view to his appointment as Training Instructor of OSS Operational Groups.

At my direction, he then formed the Maritime Unit of OSS on the basis of an operating, planning, training and supply Branch to meet OSS Maritime requirements in the Field. Detailed plans were prepared for all theatres and the first unit was selected, trained and dispatched to the Eastern Mediterranean and carried out valuable service in establishment of caïque and similar services.

Commander Woolley proposed and was given permission to [organize] the first OSS Special Commando Swimming Unit. This was subsequently transferred to the United States Navy in the Pacific and has performed valuable operational services. He also arranged with the Navy Department for three Sub chasers for OSS in London for use by Norwegians in Norway Ferry Service. These were instrumental in the accomplishment of most valuable service. He also recommended use of fast surface craft to facilitate OSS operations and obtained approval for the inclusion of 12 such craft for OSS use.

Commander Woolley arranged for training of the first operational groups at Camp Edwards. [Liaison] was affected between Commander Woolley and the Naval Combat Demolition Unit. He visited
Fort Pierce in this unit's initial stages and assisted in the preparation of training programs and in advice on equipment and procedure.

During the whole period February 1942 to September 1943, Commander Woolley's services were devoted entirely to the C.O.I., subsequently the Office of Strategic Services. He was unsparing in effort and highly commended by his associates from time to time for the many successful results obtained.

It should be remembered that Commander Woolley selected camp and training sites in California and Nassau and advised on training programs for swimmers at these locations. In the case of Nassau he made all arrangements with British authorities and was of great value in liaison. On behalf of OSS, at their direction, he took charge of a British Small Raiding forces mission and rendered valuable service in the demonstration of their equipment and technique to OSS, War and Navy Departments. The Navy Department has since ordered quantities of the equipment demonstrated.

At Commander Woolley's suggestion, the Navy Department became interested in the possibilities of attacks by swimmers against harbour defenses and requested the use of OSS swimming groups for experimental tests and exercises. The swimmers were successful and the exercises were of considerable value. The Navy Department especially expressed thanks for Commander Woolley's work in this connection (op 30–3N 4 Serial 005930 of 8 January 1945).

Commander Woolley also supervised development of a wooden surface craft submersible. He made himself familiar with intelligence on enemy sneak craft and was frequently in consultation with Navy Department on such matters.

In May 1945, when the Navy became seriously concerned regarding Japanese attacks with sneak craft, OSS was asked to make a comprehensive film report on this subject for use in the field to aid in defensive measures. At the request of the Navy Department, Commander Woolley was appointed to the project and on the 11th of May loaned to the Navy Department to proceed to Europe to obtain
specimen enemy craft, operators, etc., so that they could be closely studied. This project has been given high priority by the Navy Department. Commander Woolley was imminently successful on this mission and has been highly commended by the Navy Department for this work.

It is considered that Commander Woolley has rendered unusually meritorious service of an exceptional nature to the United States Government and that he merits consideration for a suitable award in appreciation of his services.

The entire service of Commander Woolley, both prior to and since the service upon which this recommendation is based, has been honorable.

This recommendation is based upon my personal knowledge and from official records on file in this agency.

The recommendation was approved.

After the war, Commander Woolley decided to become an American citizen and returned to Hollywood, where he resumed his screenwriting career. He also started a family.

W
ARD
E
LLEN
—After sustaining serious burns while serving his country in Italy and providing crucially important service to the Maritime Unit, Ellen was mustered out of the OSS. There is no record of his postwar activities.

F
RED
W
ADLEY
—
He initially returned to the California Beach Patrol and then moved to the Santa Monica Police Department. He passed away in the 1960s of a heart condition.

H
ANS
T
OFTE
—
The Copenhagen native continued his work for the U.S. intelligence community for many years, serving first as a troubleshooter for CIA Director General Walter Bedell Smith. He later collected intelligence and supported guerrilla activities for the United States in the Korean War and then accepted several
missions to Latin America. After years of valuable service to his country, in 1966 he was dismissed from the agency for keeping classified documents in his apartment, something
Tofte said was “customary.” He died of heart failure in 1987.

L
LOYD
S
MITH
—
For his heroic efforts behind enemy lines, Smith earned the Distinguished Service Cross in acknowledgement of his role in rescuing the nurses from Albania. He was also decorated for his activities on the “Eagle” mission, also known as “The Brenner Assignment,” which is also the title of another book by Patrick K. O'Donnell.

After the war, Smith hung up his cloak and dagger and became an accountant. He settled in northern Virginia and started a family.