Iwo Jima Veteran UDT Frogman Interview
Ramon Vanderwalker, served with UDT-15 in 1943. His third and final operation was Iwo Jima where he swam in and blew a lane for the Marine Landing. His ship was attacked that night by a Japanese Bomber that killed 18 of his Teammates. Horribly wounded and unconscious, he was being placed in a body-bag for immediate burial at sea when someone saw him blink...Ramon wrote his book titled 'In the Blink of an Eye.'
Hogan
06/04/2018
21:32:00
Terrific talk, great man.
Sabo, Obas, Stencil
08/01/2016
17:27:24
I am still too gung ho for my own good. I want to hear that frog song and the seal song now. Dude broke his back and went back to war... That is about as hard core as it gets! Makes me feel weak and sickly with my 70% rating... migraines, shoulders, anxiety, ears. That dude broke his back and said "Tis a flesh wound!" Mind Blown.
o7(keyboard salute symbol)
doesyourdogbite
06/14/2016
20:23:49
Thank you for your service Mr. Vanderwalker.
doesyourdogbite
06/14/2016
20:19:06
Mr. Vanderwalker's stories remind me a lot of the series, The Pacific. I've heard people preferring Band of Brothers over The Pacific. Huge difference between what men in the European theater went through as compared to those in the Pacific. Plenty of towns one could take refuge in while in the European theater; not so much in the Pacific...
Tactical Mom
06/05/2016
16:19:33
About as cool as it gets. Awesome!!
turdChaser
05/24/2016
18:01:02
I could listen to that all day. Great stuff.
Robert
05/24/2016
00:16:38
You never saw Japs fly so high in your life. HaHaHaHaHa. Well said!
Robert
05/24/2016
00:02:00
My step-dad, Jim Reynolds, was a USMC corporal in the Marine 6th Division on Okinawa. He was a B.A.R. man and took a Jap machine gun bullet in the leg on May 11th, 1945. My own pop died in 1963 and my mom married Jim in 1969. He was a good guy. He NEVER talked about his time on Okinawa. My mom would just shake her head and say, "He just won't talk about it." I got drafted in Feb. 1970 and he and mom would come to Ft. Leonard Wood to visit me, but he never talked about his time on Okinawa with me either. I didn't even find out he'd been on Okinawa until after he died, in 1991, and I found his scrapbook. He took many pictures while on Okinawa. He was a good guy. In an unusual coincidence my birthday is May 11th--the day he was wounded.
Fee
05/21/2016
22:36:28
Thank you Senior. I enjoyed every minute of that.
My dad told me some stories, but of course there was a lot he couldn't tell me. However, his buddies from the local RSL are more than happy to entertain me with stories from their time during WWII and I lap it up each time!
My new avatar is my late father on VE Day!
HMC(SW) Ret.
05/21/2016
04:41:49
Thank you Senior Chief for a fascinating and entertaining video.