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UDT-14 beach photo - small group
My cousin, William Arthur 'Bill' Harrison - Kneeling w/ballcap, 2nd row, 2nd from the left.
Three names written on Bill Harrison's original photo are Calvin Little, A.M. Tomikel, and Raymond Gallo.

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Underwater Demolition Team 14
4th Platoon
Maui, Territory of Hawaii 1944
Officer-in-Charge: Ensign Henry K. Henley


COUNTING FROM THE LEFT SIDE OF PHOTO
Read list below from the top down = LEFT to RIGHT
Nicknames are shown as (Name)


TEAM MEMBER CURRENT STATUS IS SHOWN AS:
(D) DECEASED  (U) UNKNOWN     (L) LIVING


... This listing updated 10 May 2000 ...
Thanks to Mrs. Goodwyne for forwarding this info.
Please send updates, corrections or status changes to me and I will plug them in here.
ROW
PLACE IN ROW - NAME - CURRENT STATUS
FRONT
Frank Castellanos (Cass) Los Angeles CA.(U)
Charles V. Costo (Casey) Word W. VA.(U)
Raymond Gallo (Little Snail) Phil. PA.(U)
Kade A. Cousins (Big Snail) SC. (U)
Leonard Diveley (Porkey Pig) Lemay, MO.(D)
MIDDLE
Fabins S. Elmore (Ghandi) Los Angeles, CA.(D)
William A. Harrison (Stretch) Connorsville, IN.(D)
Harold C Lucas (Little JO) Cayce, SC.(D)
A.M. Tomikle (Slope Head) Fairmont, W.VA.(U)
Calvin W. Littles (Comrad) Memphis, Tenn.(U)
BACK 
Leroy Pearson (Oley) Minneapolis, MN.(U)
N. N. Upchurch (Uppy) Atlanta, GA.(U)
Arnold A. Sockwell (-------) CA. (U)
Arthur F. Stack (Smokie) Boston,MA.(U)
Edward I. Seeley (The Kid) CA. (D)
Darvin E. Robinson (Pin-Up-Boy) IN.(U)
Elmer C. Huffman (Bean Burner) CA.(U)
H. S. Winters (Shine) TX. (U)
Herbert W. Spears (Brother) KA. (U)
FRONT
 (1) Frank Castellanos (U) -- (3) Raymond Gallo (U) -- (5) Leonard J. Diveley (D)
MIDDLE
 (1) Fabins S. Elmore (D) -- (2) William A Harrison (D) -- (3) Harold C. Lucas (D)
 (4) Roy O. Hurn (U) -- (5) Lyman R. McElhasey (U)
BACK 
 (1) William Achburger Jr. (U) -- (9) Herbert W. Spears (U)
NOTE: The names shown in this table were previously I.D.ed in the above photo.
Later information has revised that listing. They are retained here for reference purposes.


UPDATE: 9 MAY 2000
The following updated info was received from Mrs. Goodwyne

I finally received an answer from Mr. Henry K. Henley, here is what he said:

"I was the officer for the 4th platoon of UDT 14. At that time I was an Ensign. I am not in the picture and I do not know the reason why, but I have had this photo since the end of the war. Arthur Stack and I corresponded regularly for some time. He is the one that put the names to the picture".
...
I could not find any Winters in the names of the team photo, but this is what Arthur Stack sent to Mr. Henley years ago, so I am sure it is pretty near correct.

NOTE: 12 Feb. 2000 - The following information was provided to my cousin Bob Harrison
by Mrs. Shirley Goodwyne - widow of James Frank Goodwyne BMI DVI

"I guess Bill never got a copy of the UDT History book, I believe only those of us that belong to the UDT-14 group that goes to the reunions got them. They have a place in back of the book that tells how long you were overseas before going to UDT and what major battles you were in before UDT.

Bill was overseas 35 months and was in 7 major battles plus the 3 in UDT.

I never knew until I checked your brother's that my husband was overseas 18 months and in 5 major battles plus the 3 in UDT. They were some lucky guys. I hope your sister has the names on back of the picture as they appear in the picture. I don't believe any of the guys thought to do that back when they got the picture and I bet they couldn't name all of them today.

The group had a little newspaper back then published Wednesday and Saturday. Bill was an assistant editor.

Take Care

Shirley

26 Feb. 2000 Update

Some additional notes on Bill Harrison's World War II duty:

More from Bob Harrison...

Bill's first ship after boot camp was the "J. Franklin Belle". I don't know for sure what kind of ship that was but it runs through my mind that it was some sort of troop carrier and I have a vague recollection that it was involved in putting troops ashore.

According to the material I got from Shirley (Goodwyne), Bill took part in (10) campaigns at Adak, Kiska, Kwajalein, Attu, Tarawa. Tinian, Saipan, Luzon, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. All but the last three were before he became a member of UDT-14.

By the way, the highest number that anyone on UDT-14 participated in was 11 so Bill was one of the campaign veterans.

Another interesting sidelight: The list includes "Months since last in U.S., as of May 1, 1945". One man, Howard Avant, had the record with 53 months. Bill was second with 35 months. Avant was the one with 11 campaigns.

Sid NOTE:   Bill Harrison joined the Navy 20 days after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

Summer 2000 - More information about Bill Harrison

Sid Note: It seems to be a characteristic of World War II vets that they never talked much about their experiences. Recently the widow of Bill Harrison shared this brief story -- one of the few he ever told her about the war.

---

A very short story from a member of UDT-14

Bill told of going ashore with his team, not sure where, and after he had completed his assignment, he swam back out to where he was supposed to rendezvous with the pickup boat, only to find that he had somehow missed the pickup.

So, his only alternative was to swim to a nearby coral reef where he stayed for three days.

He said that his legs and feet were cut up badly by contact with the coral on the swim in and while he lay on the rock, hoping to be picked up.

Eventually he was picked  up, of course. He said he spent several days in sick bay aboard the USS BULL (I think) recovering from the infection from his contact with the coral. Evaline (his widow) said his legs forever after carried the scars of his encounter with that coral reef.

---

Update -- 22 June 2000

Awards and some duty stations listed in Bill Harrison's Naval records:

Bronze Star, Victory Medal, Asiatic-Pacific 6 stars, Philippine Liberation,and American Theatre.

On the back of his 1949 discharge is World War II Victory Medal, American Defense, Philippine Liberation Campaign Ribbon, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, China Service Medal, Good Conduct Medal, and Bronze Star.

Also listed on the 1947 discharge are the duty stations: NRS Indianapolis, Indiana; Navy Pier, Chicago, Illinois; Submarine Net Depot, San Diego, California; USS J. Franklin Bell (APA-16); Underwater Demolition, Maui,T.H.; USS Askari, (ARL-30); Advance Fire Control School, Washington, D.C.; Fleet Training Center, Tiberon Island, California; and USS Lloyd Thomas (DD764).

The following narrative was provided by Mrs. Shirley Goodwyne
(For ease of locating, all Team members names in this narrative are shown in this color)

Lingayen Gulf, Luzon January 7. 1945
Platoons 2 and 4 reconnoitered White Beach near the town of San Fabian. It's believed that the light fire from the beach was attributed to heavy cover fire from our capital ships, as well as the Japanese's lack of knowledge of Under Water Demolition teams. No obstacles or mines were found and the beach was ideal for landing craft. This information was relayed to the Invasion Commanders as planned.

At one point during the swim a destroyer could not get in close enough to render fire cover, because of it's draught. Commander Onderdonk radioed the BULL (our A.P.D.) and she steamed right in all guns blazing. In fact they had to hose the barrels to cool them down.

The Kimakazes played hell with our ships. One Australian cruiser, with four big stacks, took seven planes. Asked if she needed help, she replied, "No thank you, we've been hit before." Two of her stacks were curled in half, which, had it not been so tragically real, it would have done well in a Laurel and Hardy movie. Before leaving Pearl Harbor, Cmmdr. Onderdonk obtained 12 50-cal machine guns with the help of the famous piano player Eddie Duchin. While the skipper of the BULL agreed to mounting some 50s on the fantail, he was shocked to find 6 on each side ... but allowed them to remain. As it turned out, this was a wise decision since the team was so convinced that both Bill Harrison and Herb Spears each splashed a Kamikazi. These guns also played a big role at Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

One comical incident occurred at Lingayen which kept the team laughing for some time. Cmmdr. Onderdonk had two swimmers in his command boat as backups. Standing off the river that bordered the town of San Fabian, he spotted some suspicious objects floating down to the Gulf. Additionally a few hundred yards south of the river was not being reconnoitered so he dispatched Joe Flynn and Ted Kelsey - the backups - to cover the area. Flynn was told to check out the objects that were floating down the river... they may be mines. In his best sneak and peak fashion, Flynn swam up to the mouth of the river, took an exceptionally deep breath and went under water as far as he could up river. On surfacing, he was right in the middle of the objects .. but they weren't mines ... they were the results of the villagers' morning "constitutions" replete with toilet paper and all! What a revolting experience on one's first U.D.T. operation. But it was, as before mentioned ... a great laugh.

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