Underwater Demolition Team UDT Frogman Patch

The frog on this patch has a dive mask on his face, fins on his feet and a charge in his hands with the fuse already burning, which is about as close to a UDT job description as thread gets. The Underwater Demolition Teams were the Navy's frogmen, the swimmers who went in ahead of the landing craft to chart the beach and blow the obstacles out of the way. They came out of the November 1943 fight for Tarawa, where landing craft grounded on the reef and Marines drowned wading for shore. Rear Admiral Richmond Turner ordered teams that could scout a beach and clear it before the next assault. Those swimmers are the forefathers of today's Navy SEALs.

Lieutenant Commander Draper Kauffman was picked in May 1943 to build the training, and the first Naval Combat Demolition Unit class started at Fort Pierce, Florida, in mid-July 1943. UDT-1 and UDT-2 were formed in Hawaii in late 1943, largely from Seabees, and went to work at Kwajalein in January 1944. UDTs 5, 6 and 7 worked Saipan and Tinian, UDTs 12 through 15 swam the beaches of Iwo Jima on D-minus 2 under heavy fire, and about 1,000 men from eight teams made Okinawa the largest UDT operation of the war. In Korea, UDT 1 and UDT 3 scouted the mud flats and channels ahead of the Inchon landing, and UDT divers cleared mines at Wonsan under fire from shore batteries. SEAL Team ONE and SEAL Team TWO were commissioned in January 1962, and in May 1983 UDT-11 became SEAL Team Five, UDT-12 became SDV Team One, UDT-21 became SEAL Team Four and UDT-22 became SDV Team Two.

The patch is 4 inches round on white twill with a dark merrowed border. UNDERWATER arches across the top and DEMOLITION across the bottom in heavy dark brown letters. Between them strides a green, spotted frog in a gray helmet and a green dive mask, swim fins on his feet, one red-banded charge over his shoulder and another at his chest with the fuse sparking red. The mask and fins are the frogman half of the name, and the lit fuse is the demolition half. It has an iron-on backing and takes a needle just as well if you want it sewn on.

The early teams trained at Kihei on Maui in 1944 in dive masks, swim trunks and a Ka-Bar knife, and that is where the picture of the naked warriors comes from. By the end of World War II, 34 teams had been formed and teams 1 through 21 had deployed. Years later UDT 11 and UDT 12 met every Mercury, Gemini and Apollo capsule at splashdown, fixing the flotation collar before the hatch was opened. Every SEAL and SDV team that came out of the 1983 redesignation carries a UDT number somewhere in its family tree.

Put it in a shadow box with an old team photo and a pair of fins, or on the vest you wear to a frogman reunion. It makes a good gift for a son or grandson who grew up hearing about Coronado and Little Creek. A frog, a mask and a lit fuse.