USN WW2 UDT Group

[aaf8]

I recently purchased this on Ebay..primarily because I liked the citation and I know UDT items are pretty rare. The seller added a US Army Bronze Star and I'm not entirely sure that the wet suit is correct for the period. Any thoughts?

[Tonomachi]

I believe what you have is a version of an early dry suit utilized by UDT during the 1950s and 1960s. What I don't see is the flapper valve on the chest but the back flap used to get into the suit looks the same which is held tightly together with a brass clamp. I've never seen one in person only photographs like the ones below. In these photos you can see the flapper value on the chest and I believe there is a second one just behind the head which I believe is used to allows any trapped air to be exhausted from inside the suit under pressure. You can just make out the monster brass clamp on the back of the frogmen who are prone on the rubber raft. In cold weather UDT wore warm clothing under these dry suits. Great find by the way.

[aaf8]

Great info! Thank you

[pararaftanr2]

Tonomaci,

I believe the two photos you provided as a reference date from early 1944, show UDT team 23 and were taken at Ft. Pierce, Florida, so would pre-date the 1950s and 1960s.

[aaf8]

It's my understanding that the rubberized bag was actually developed to keep water away from radios used during landings. The suit appears to be WW2...

[doyler]

The bag is just a standard water proof bag and came in various sizes.

[Tonomachi]

Tonomaci,

I believe the two photos you provided as a reference date from early 1944, show UDT team 23 and were taken at Ft. Pierce, Florida, so would pre-date the 1950s and 1960s.

You could be right as I don't remember where I copied these photographs from for my reference. My understanding of frogmen during WW2 was that they did not wear any wet or dry suits only swim trunks, web belt with minimal equipment, slate board and coral shoes. They rejected swim masks as they felt it would reflect the sun and give away their position in the water to the enemy as well as swim fins for another reason having to do I believe with leg cramping and the wrong type of civilian swim fin they had tested. Now the wartime OSS Maritime Unit was experimenting with all types of underwater equipment during WW2 and near the end of the war they worked with and shared their experiences with UDT until they were eventfully merged with UDT-10. I always through that the use of wet suits and early scuba type equipment by UDT came afterwards post WW2.

[BigDogMilitaria]

 

A friend of my family was a member of UDT 24 during the War. My Dad shared this post with him, this is what he sent back :

 

 

""We had a suit like that but it seems it was used for only two purposes, a photograph and for cold water. I never saw the suit again. Used to invade an island in Japan is very possible. When the war ended we were headed to either Oregon or Washington State for cold water training and then the invasion of Japan, Sendai in particular. As I recall it was a loose fitting rubber like compound to be worn over other "full underwear type clothing". While I was still in UDT they were not issued to us but probably would have been prior to the invasion. UDT #7 was a pretty early team. Mine was UDT 24. As I recall I think they went to #31. You may find more on the internet.

 

I may have a British picture of a British UDT person walking in front of a group of Civilians wearing such a suit. It was on the cover of a U.S. Navy magazine. I will attempt to find it

 

 

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