First SEALs

First SEALs

By Patrick K. O’Donnell
Unabridged
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“Well researched and very well told, First SEALs is a rousing tale of wartime derring-do that puts the navy’s current special warfare units in firm historical perspective—an absolute must-read.”

Stephen Harding, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Battle

From bestselling author Patrick K. O'Donnell comes the untold story of World War II's first special operations combat swimmers—the forerunners of today's Navy SEALs.

In the summer of 1942, an extraordinary group of men—among them a dentist, a medical student, a Hollywood star, an archaeologist, a British commando, and even former enemies of the Allies—formed an exceptional unit that would later become the US Navy's Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) Teams. Known as the Maritime Unit, it comprised America's first swimmer-commandos, an elite breed of warrior-spies who were decades ahead of their time when they created the tactics, technology, and philosophy that live on in the Navy SEALs and shape the battlefield of today.

During the war, the unit conducted some of the most daring operations behind enemy lines, but after the war its astonishing record was classified, lost, and buried—until now. In First SEALs, Patrick K. O'Donnell tells the remarkable story of World War II's Maritime Unit—one of the greatest untold stories of World War II.

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  1. Rogue Writer
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    Not the First but Definitely the Trailblazers

    Although the Maritime Unit (MU) and OSS did lay much of the groundwork for the formation of the SEALs and CIA, to call the OSS’s MU the “forging of America’s Most Elite Unit” is a bit of a stretch. It would take close to two decades before the SEALs were officially formed, and for many of those years, the idea was shelved. Having visited the SEAL training facility in San Diego, I can tell you that the organization and methods of training MU operators wasn’t even a close facsimile to what SEALs today endure. What is the same, though, is the independent, creative, and improvisational spirit that the “first SEALs” and today’s SEALs share. This book is inspiring in its characterizations of the colorful individuals who comprised the OSS MU: a movie star, a Hollywood dentist, an NFL football player, and the list goes on.

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