UDT Frogman

U.S. Navy Underwater Demolition Teams (UDT) — "Frogmen" · USN · 1943-1983

The Underwater Demolition Teams were born of hard lessons at Tarawa: beginning in December 1943 at Waimanalo, Hawaii, the Navy trained swimmers to chart reefs, blow beach obstacles, and guide landing craft ashore, drawing first blood at Kwajalein on 31 January 1944. Stripped to trunks, fins, and mask, the UDT men earned the nickname "Frogmen," and after the war they adopted the cartoon amphibian on this patch — Freddy the Frog, cocky in a sailor's Dixie cup, cigar clenched in his teeth, a red stick of dynamite in his fist. Freddy became Naval Special Warfare's longest-serving mascot, riding on team jackets and ball caps through Korea, Vietnam, and the Apollo splashdown recoveries. In May 1983 the last UDTs were redesignated SEAL and SEAL Delivery Vehicle Teams, but the frog endured as the community's emblem of its own origins.