Naked Warriors

Naked Warriors They were equipped only with swim fins, face mask and a slate board with a lead pencil on which to record intelligence gathered ... their only weapon was a knife (thus, nearly defenseless or ‘naked;’) they were part of the Underwater Demolition Team. The Pacific Underwater Demolition Teams originated at Waimanalo Beach in December, 1943. (A ‘Naked Warrior’ monument commemorates their training at Bellows.) The concept for development of an improved “Naval Guerrilla/Counter-guerrilla Warfare” capability within the US Navy was delineated in a March 10, 1961 Navy memorandum of recommendations. The same memorandum stated that, “An appropriate name for such units could be ‘SEAL’ units, SEAL being a contraction of SEA, AIR, LAND, and thereby indicating an all-around, universal capability.”

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