Posted on 11/04/2013 2:49:28 AM PST by markomalley
John Spence, a diver often credited as the first U.S. combat "frogman" in World War II and an important figure in the rigorous training that led to the establishment of the Navy SEALs, has died.
Spence died Tuesday at a care facility in Bend, Ore. He was 95.
Because much of what Spence and others did during the war was under the Office of Strategic Services, the forerunner to the Central Intelligence Agency, stories of their bravery and resourcefulness were long classified as top secret.
Only in the late 1980s was the secrecy classification lifted, allowing Spence to finally tell friends and family members of his wartime experiences.
Rick Kaiser, executive director of the Navy SEAL Museum at Fort Pierce, Fla., said that Spence "fought for our country with nothing more than a Ka-Bar knife, a pack of explosives and a diving rig."
"In today's age of drone strikes and worldwide instant communications," Kaiser said, "it's hard to imagine going to war depending on nothing but your training, your cause and your teammates."
John Pitts Spence was born June 14, 1918, in Centerville Tenn., where his father was the sheriff. He joined the Navy in 1936 and was trained as a gunner and "hard-hat" diver.
He served on the battleship Idaho, whose home port was San Pedro, left the Navy in 1940 and worked for Lockheed in Los Angeles County. He moved to rejoin the military after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Although he wanted to deploy as a gunner protecting merchant ships, Spence had the kind of diving experience that made him a natural for a clandestine group being organized by the OSS under the legendary Major Gen. William "Wild Bill" Donovan.
(Excerpt) Read more at stripes.com ...
RIP.
Go in peace. Thank-you for your service to the USA.
RIP
RIP.
RIP.
Another hero goes to heaven.
RIP
Ping. You probably already heard of this.
Sailer rest your oar.
Thanks markomalley.
I had the honour and pleasure to meet the "father of frogmen" Dr Chris Lambertsen a few times during conferences in the US and elsewhere. I heard him give a one hour lecture at an ONR meeting when he was well into his nineties about his first invention - the oxygen rebreather. Dr Lambertsen (as I am sure John Spence also did) epitomized the "can do" mentality that won the war for the US and the Allies.
If only a smidgen of that mentality lives on today in America it will in the end turn out to be impossible for "the one" to "fundamentally transform" the US.
RIP. Say hello to my dad who trained at Ft. Pierce and was in UDT team 6 WWII. My dad was a frogman.
It ran at the same time as another great series about submarines.. "The Silent Service"
Another courageous hero that Barack Obama dishonors every single day.
OSS bump.
From the depths to the firmament, God receive the soul of John Spence.
ping
RIP John Spence.
As Navy 2nd Class Diver, this story brings back memories of my Hard Hat and SCUBA diving days.
Again, Rest In Peace, John Spence.
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