Every once in awhile... I get a very cool verification in a sea of phony ones... >>>I’m looking for service info on my Grandfather Blake M. Walker of the Scouts and Raiders in WW2. Anything you can get and send me would be appreciated.>>> ...Blake M. Walker was a UDT Ensign in WW II. Blake served on UDT Team Five which is easily Googled and has a unique history of bold service. viewoftherockies/UDT5.html Blake also participated in AMPHIB ROGER. The details below of Amphib Roger are written by a Team Mate of Blakes... I hope that helps... I would have liked to have known your grandfather... Don Shipley... As the war progressed and got more involved in the South Pacific and China the War Department and the Navy started a training program in Fort Pierce, Florida to help in that particular situation. It was called Amphibious Roger and only 5 units were trained as the war ended. I was in Amphibious Roger #4 and it consisted of 4 months training, as I have outlined below. I have not included the rigorous training which began with Hell Week and if you passed this then we had specific training as noted but also kept up the physical activities. We trained with 30 and 50 caliber machine guns, Thompson machine guns, bazookas, rifle grenades, hand grenades, booby traps, underwater instructions in hand to hand combat also on land judo, boxing, wrestling, rubber boats, kayaks and surf boards. During long day and night sessions we had to swim in the ocean wearing green fatigues and paddle rubber boats up to 3 miles. Other times one hour calisthenics, run a mile, 2 hours wrestling and judo, swim again in green for an hour. Radio instruction, signaling and stealth infiltration at night. After courses in knife fighting and knife throwing, bayonet fighting, photo interpretation, tumbling, rope climbing, obstacle courses, blinker signaling and more swimming. 300 yds free style, 50 yds on our back, tow a man 50 yds, swim underwater 45 feet, float for 15 minutes and swim another 300 yds in greens. We learned to handle ½ lb TNT charges. (Nitro gave us awful headaches.) Primacord, explosive hose, 15–20 ft long, 4″ in diameter and filled with granulated TNT. Got our first supply of Composition C2 & C3 plastic. Wonderful stuff. Used Bangalore torpedoes, MX20 TNT packs (in canvas bags), phosphorus grenades and 55 lb TNT cratering charges. Between “these fire in the hole” sessions we had instruction in semaphore, night scouting, amphibious reconnaissance, map reading, along with classes in Chinese language, history and culture and information on the Nationalist Chinese and Communist Armies. We infiltrated Army, Navy and Coastal Guard stations leaving calling cards on bunks and tables saying you are dead!! Near the end of our training we left Fort Pierce and for a week with all our necessary supplies we avoided being detected and wading around and through swamps day and night (don’t forget alligators and coral and rattle snakes). We captured the little town of Okeechobee and scared hell out of them. Had a hard time convincing them we were friendly. Found out the War had ended 4 days ago. Class 4 last one. 5 stayed & cleared up training area.
Posted on: Mon, 29 Dec 2014 00:28:14 +0000
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