Show I Un Underwater ter Scouts Swimmers Brave Ice Ic In Navy Nary Arctic Test I By Byi Norman Bell SAN DIEGO Cal March 9 UP t p Nav Navy and marine corps swimmers swimmers swim swim- mers for the time have hav brushed against arctic ice In underwater underwater un un- scouting This wa was disclosed Tuesday by Vice Adm George GeorgeD D Murray Fir First task fleet t commander command r in an interview interview inter inter- view on Alaska exercises The suited rubber s swimmers w i m m mer e r s pushed through slush six inches thick and rubbed against inch four-inch ice in carrying out their missions They remained in water down to toan toan toan an estimated 4 degrees below Ing for tor periods of at more than an hour They came out then because be be- cause caule their beachhead explorations were completed completed not not because they w were ere exhausted Not even during the war did swimmers operate If 00 so 0 far tar north Attu and Kiska in Aleutians were retaken without their pre- pre invasion survey urvey and demolition work The men were sailors from navy underwater demolition team No 1 I led b by Lt Alfred R R. S Sears Scars ars and marines marines marines ma ma- rines from the tho first divisions division's re- re company led by Maj Charles A A. A Rigaud They hoy hit the water from rom submarines rines sines off I Kodiak island in February February ary a ary 1 They wo wore long underwear nde e under their rubber suits suite Their faces were smeared with petroleum Jelly Lieutenant Sear Sears who said Bald his men had to go through severe evere tests teats to win their fins reported they demonstrated th they y could carry out their tasks right up to the arctic ice tee pack The slush lush and ice fee were encountered encountered encountered a as they reached the beaches which they were theoretically preparing for tor an Invasion Commander Edward L L. L Foster FOlter who commanded the force said ald the men appeared to like ike the cold weather There was only one minor casualty a allor Tailor aboard ship whose feet were trait frost bitten The units operated ed from the fast fait attack transport Ganther commanded by Commander Commander Commander Com Com- mander Harold Braune |