AUTHOR'S NOTE: With great sadness I must report that George Martin Nash passed from this life on 17 October 2009 at 5:22 AM. Another member of the "Greatest Generation" is gone from our midst.(Submitted by H T Aldhizer III)

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Born in Albuquerque, New Mexico on September 12, 1920 and moving to Brooklyn, New York at age two, George M. Nash was raised by his mother and grandparents. He attended a Boys High School and Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute

In 1943, while working for a defense contractor that was building and modifying five-inch 38-caliber gun mounts for the United States Navy, he applied for an appointment as a Midshipman to the United States Merchant Marine Cadet Corps. He received that appointment on September 3, 1943 but decided to enlist in the United States Navy instead.

While in boot camp at Camp Peary, Virginia, he volunteered for duty with a dangerous and somewhat secret unit that was focusing on naval combat demolition. After a month of intensive physical training, he was transferred to the United States Naval Amphibious Training Base (NATB) in Fort Pierce, Florida for additional instruction on beach reconnaissance, beach obstacle demolition, small boat handling, swimming and the use of firearms. He graduated as a member of Naval Combat Demolition Unit (NCDU)#83 and was deployed to Maui, Hawaii.

Upon arrival at Maui, he was assigned to oversee an experimental radio-controlled drone boat project. The concept was to load a Landing Craft, Personnel, Ramped (LCPR) with explosives and, by radio control, guide the vessel toward the beach obstacle(s) that were to be destroyed. However, due to the harsh salt environment and the relatively poor radio technology, the experiment quickly bogged down.

By this time the Navy had decided that the Naval Combat Demolition Units were not the best configuration for the Pacific operations. The smaller 6-man units were being brought together to form larger units that were identified as Underwater Demolition Teams (UDT). Initially UDT 7 was comprised of four operational platoons of twenty men each and a Headquarters Platoon of ten to twelve men. Members of these teams became known as "Navy Frogmen". George and his fellow NCDU teammate, Richard A. Guilfoyle, decided that they needed more adventure and excitement than that being afforded by the drone program and volunteered to become members of Underwater Demolition Team Seven (UDT 7) which had just returned on October 15, 1944 from combat duty at Saipan and Tinian.

UDT 7 was replenished with personnel and resupplied before undergoing advanced training and a reconditioning program. On February 14, 1945 the team deployed aboard the U.S.S. Hopping (APD-51) to the Leyte Gulf to stage with other vessels for the invasion of Okinawa. On March 23, 1945 the task force left for Okinawa. Once there, the men of UDT 7 performed their reconnaissance work and were able to lead assault waves onto the beaches. During the invasion that began on April 1, 1945, the APD was constantly harassed by Japanese Kamikaze aircraft and dive bombers. Many ships in the fleet were lost to these attacks and the anti-aircraft fire from the ships was so thick that the sun was blocked out. On April 9, 1945 at approximately 5 PM, while providing protective cover for minesweeping ships off the shore of Tsugen Shima, a shore battery opened fire on the U.S.S. Hopping with armor-piercing shells and six direct port-side hits left the Hopping dead in the water. One shell hit the forward fire room, one the forward engine room, one the aft engine room, another hit the aft section near the fantail and missed the ammunition storage area by only six inches! One of the remaining two shells passed through the mid-ship area where UDT 7 had its quarters. George Nash had just left the port-side wash room and was in the ships center passageway when he heard the shore fire and saw the flash of the projectile. He was knocked to his knees by the blast that destroyed the washroom. That shell took the life of his teammate, S1c Leonard J. Bock, Jr. One of the ship's crew members was also killed by one of the shell explosions. There were many wounded causalities and there were no real medical facilities aboard ship. A Navy cruiser (believed to be the U.S.S. Pensacola by Mr. Nash) came between the Hopping and the shore battery. Its large guns quickly silenced the firing from shore and the Hopping was able to be moved to a safe anchorage. A young officer physician was doing what he could with the wounded (some had lost limbs) while using the mess hall as an operating room. The two dead sailors were buried at sea the next day, April 10, 1945. Later the ship arrived at Ulithi Atoll where temporary repairs were made before going on to Pearl Harbor. UDT 7 disembarked at Ulithi and eventually was transported aboard the S.S. Jean Lafitte to Pearl Harbor and Maui. Then it boarded the U.S.S. Attala (APA-130) back to San Francisco, California and was granted a thirty day leave.

On August 15, 1945 UDT 7 boarded the U.S.S. Auman (APD-117) and disembarked for the occupation of Japan. In general, the Japanese were very friendly to the team members and actually seemed glad to see them. Most were happy that the war was over.

UDT 7 returned to San Diego, California on October 13, 1945 and was formally decommissioned on October 27, 1945.

George Nash returned to Brooklyn, New York where he continued his education at Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute. He worked for Sperry Gyroscope Company as a senior draftsman in the Instrument Division and later was employed by Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation as an engineer. In 1947 he married his wife, Joan, who he had met during his thirty day leave in 1945. He eventually retired from Grumman and moved to Vero Beach, Florida where he worked as an Assistant Chief Engineer with the Piper Aircraft Company for another ten years.

He served on the Board of Directors for the National Navy UDT-SEAL Museum for more than ten years and his name can be found on the Underwater Demolition Team Seven bronze plaque that hangs on the wall there. Much information about the UDT and SEAL Teams can be obtained by visiting the museum on North Hutchinson Island in Fort Pierce, Florida. The museum website is www.navysealmuseum.com.

Today George is now fully retired and approaching eighty-nine years of age. He is a permanent resident of Indian River Estates in Vero Beach, Florida. Only about fifteen of the approximately one-hundred sixty-five men who served in UDT 7 survive today. Our World War II heroes are quickly disappearing.