America's First Frogman: the Draper Kauffman Story

Rating:
Summary: A hero of our time
Review: Draper Kauffman is one of the heros of the modern navy. 'Thrown out' of the US Navy shortly after graduating from the Naval Academy for bad eyesight, he first joined the French fighting the Nazi invasion, and then the British Royal Navy as a bomb disposal officer.

After Pearl Harbour the Navy decides that maybe his eyes weren't so bad after all. (It helps of course if your father is an admiral and Chester Nimitz drops by for a drink one evening.) Then too there was the unexploded Japanese 500 pound bomb just outside the door of the ammo depot at Fort Scofield.

From unexploded bombs Kauffman moved to Underwater Demolition where he set up the first UDT school. This was, of course, the forerunner of today's Navy SEALs.

Note the name of the author, she is Draper Kauffman's sister, and President George H.W. Bush's sister-in-law. Ex-president Bush wrote the introduction for the book.

Rating:
Summary: The biography of the father of the American Navy SEALs
Review: Written by Draper Kauffman's sister Elizabeth Kauffman Bush, and featuring a foreword by President George H. W. Bush, America's First Frogman: The Draper Kauffman Story is the biography of the father of the American Navy SEALs. From surviving his time as a prisoner of the Germans, to his acclaimed wartime service disarming enemy bombs and establishing bomb disposal schools, to the underwater demolition teams he led at Saipan, Tinian, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa, America's First Frogman is an amazing true story of skill, courage, dedication, high standards, and excellence under extreme pressure. A handful of black-and-white photographs illustrate this fascinating story of a great man's life and resolute determination.