Training camp and headquarters of the The U.S. Sixth Army Special Reconnaissance, known as the Alamo Scouts. They served in the Southwest Pacific Theater during World War Two.
Formed as a top secret ad hoc unit by Lieutenant General Walter Krueger on 28 November 1943 to conduct raider and reconnaissance work in the Southwest Pacific, the Alamo Scouts performed 108 missions behind enemy lines without losing a single man killed or captured. Of the more than 700 candidates selected for training, only 138 were retained as Alamo Scouts and were formed into elite six-to-seven man teams.
Throughout the war the Alamo Scouts conducted the doctrinal missions of Special Reconnaissance, Direct Action, Foreign Internal Defense, and Unconventional Warfare. In less than seventeen months in the field the Alamo Scouts earned 118 combat decorations and numerous other awards. The unit was unceremoniously disbanded in late November 1945 with a war record unmatched in United States military history. In 1988 the Alamo Scouts were awarded the Special Forces Tab recognizing the unit as a forerunner of the modern Special Forces.
First Director of Training was Frederick W. Bradshaw, followed by Homer A. Williams, then by Gibson Niles.
There were nine training classes that lasted for six weeks each. Their locations were; two at Kalo Kalo, Fergusson Island, New Guinea. one at Mange Point, Finschafen Area, New Guinea, two at Cape Kassoe, Hollandia, Dutch New Guinea. one at the mouth of Cadacan River Abuyog, Leyte, Philippine Island and three at Mabayo (Subic Bay) Luzon, Philippine Island.
Famous quotes containing the words scouts, training and/or center:
“it pleaseth me when I see through the meadows
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—Bertrans De Born (fl. 12th century)
“Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do, when it ought to be done, whether you like it or not; it is the first lesson that ought to be learned; and however early a man’s training begins, its probably the last lesson that he learns thoroughly.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)
“It is written in the Book of Usable Minutes
That all things have their center in their dying....”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)