First SEALs: The Untold Story of the Forging of America’s Most Elite Unit

Summary

From bestselling author Patrick K. O’Donnell comes theuntold story of World War II’s first special operations combatswimmers—the forerunners of today’s Navy SEALs.

In the summer of 1942, an extraordinary group of men—amongthem a dentist, a medical student, a Hollywood star, an archaeologist, a Britishcommando, and even former enemies of the Allies—formed an exceptional unit thatwould later become the US Navy’s Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) Teams. Known as theMaritime Unit, it comprised America’s first swimmer-commandos, an elite breedof warrior-spies who were decades ahead of their time when they created thetactics, technology, and philosophy that live on in the Navy SEALs and shapethe battlefield of today.

During the war, the unit conducted some of the most daringoperations behind enemy lines, but after the war its astonishing record wasclassified, 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 thegreatest untold stories of World War II.