AMPHIBIOUS
SCOUTS AND RAIDERS
Before there were Navy SEALs or Underwater Demolition Teams
(UDT) or Naval Combat Demolition Units (NCDU), there were Scouts and Raiders.
Formed as a joint Army-Navy beach recon unit
eight months after Pearl Harbor, the first
S & R boat crews underwent intense training at Amphibious Training Base (ATB)
Little Creek in Virginia before deploying to North Africa where they earned
eight Navy Crosses. This was just the first of many war-time missions for the
versatile Scouts and Raiders.
Sterling Baker was one of these
men.
In January 1943 the Scouts and Raiders School moved to Fort Pierce, Florida. Until December of 1943 when the
school became all-Navy, the instructor cadre and the trainees were both Army
and Navy men. The training course included running, swimming, obstacle course,
log PT, hand-to-hand combat, and classes in Signaling, Radio, Gunnery, etc. According
to John "Barry" Dwyer in his comprehensive book SCOUTS AND RAIDERS,
"When LT Draper Kauffman was sent to Ft. Pierce in July 1943 to form the
first NCDUs, he adopted and condensed the S & R PT course in what his men
called "Hell Week", which evolved into the physically and
pyschologically demanding ordeal known as BUD/S, Basic Underwater Demolition / SEAL Training, which must be survived by
anyone wishing to become a Navy SEAL."
The first ten volunteers
for S & R were big, athletic men from the Navy's Physical Training Program
headed up by Commander Gene Tunney. Among them was Phil H. Bucklew who would
earn two Navy Crosses and go on to become the recognized 'father of U S Naval
Special Warfare'. Another S & R veteran, Richard Lyon, would become Rear
Admiral and the first designated Special Warfare Officer to attain flag rank.
Today Admiral Lyon is mayor of Oceanside, California.
After North Africa, the
Scouts and Raiders participated in landings in Sicily, Salerno, Anzio, the
Adriatic, Normandy, and Southern France. They also served in the Pacific on a
variety of assignments, as Beachmasters, UDTs, and even helped train Nationalist
Chinese guerrillas for operations against Japanese forces.
By the time World War Two ended in September 1945, over 1200 men trained and
operated as Scouts and Raiders. After the war they were disbanded with some of
the men joining UDT. SEAL Team TWO veteran Rudy Boesch, who went on to become
the longest-serving enlisted man in the Navy at over 45 years, and the longest
serving SEAL, retiring as a Master Chief Boatswain's Mate, began his
career as a member of Amphibious Roger #5, the last Scouts and Raiders training
class.
The men who were Scouts
and Raiders were well educated (Class 8 was made up of 52 Ensigns!), exceptionally
athletic, adventuresome trailblazers. Some gave their lives to the war effort;
others have succumbed to life's natural conclusion. There are many former
Scouts and Raiders who are alive and well and stay in touch with one another
regularly, thanks to the efforts of their teammate, N. Joe Lee, Jr., Class 7
graduate. Joe produces a newsletter and maintains a current directory.