Who Were the Navy Frogmen of World War II?

The Frogmen were the U.S. Navy Underwater Demolition Teams, or UDTs, formed in 1942 under urgent wartime necessity. Their job was to swim ahead of every major amphibious landing, scout the beaches in the dark, and destroy the underwater obstacles that would otherwise stop landing craft from reaching shore.

The first UDTs were trained at Fort Pierce, Florida, and at Waimanalo Beach on Oahu, Hawaii. UDT-1 and UDT-2 were stood up in the Pacific in December 1942. By the end of the war, the Frogmen had gone in first at Kwajalein, Saipan, Tinian, Guam, Peleliu, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. In Europe, Naval Combat Demolition Units cleared the obstacles at Utah Beach and Omaha Beach on D-Day.

Their tools were primitive by modern standards: wax-coated explosives, cardboard tubes of tetryl, a knife, and a face mask. Their casualty rates on some operations were among the highest of any unit in the Pacific theater. They were known for two things: extraordinary courage, and an almost stubborn refusal to talk about it afterward.

Why Does Every Navy SEAL Owe the Frogmen?

The Navy SEAL Teams were not created from scratch. When President Kennedy commissioned the first SEAL Teams in 1962, they were drawn directly from existing UDT personnel, trained by UDT instructors, and built on UDT doctrine. By 1983, the last of the UDTs were formally redesignated as SEAL Teams or SEAL Delivery Vehicle Teams. The Frogmen became what is currently known as the US Navy SEALs. The bloodline never broke.

Every modern SEAL who has earned the Trident owes something structural to a man in swim trunks who went into the water at Tarawa, or Normandy, or Inchon. The training pipeline, the unit ethos, the willingness to operate in the maritime environment that no one else will touch, all of it traces back to them.

"My grandfather was a UDT swimmer at Iwo Jima. He never said a word about it until he was in his eighties. This bag of coffee is the first time I have seen his service honored on something I can hold."

Customer review, BoneFrog Coffee

What Is in the Frogman Blend and What Does It Taste Like?

The Frogman Dark Roast is BoneFrog's tribute to the Underwater Demolition Teams of World War II. We built it as a dark roast because that is the roast profile the World War II generation would recognize. Coffee in the Pacific was strong, hot, and unapologetic. It was passed around in tin cups on the deck of an LST at three in the morning, while a UDT platoon checked their charges one last time before the swim.

We did not want a delicate single-origin pour-over. We wanted a cup that respected that history. The full tasting profile, roast level, and origin details are below.

Why Does BoneFrog Coffee Honor the Naval Special Warfare Community?

Three words live on every bag we ship: God, Country, Team. They are the creed Tim came out of the SEAL Teams with, and they are the values the Frogmen lived by long before there was a Trident to pin on a chest. Faith carried them into water no one should have entered. Love of country gave them a reason to go in. The team next to them is what brought them back, when anyone came back at all.

That is why we name our blends after the traditions, the missions, and the brotherhood of the Naval Special Warfare community. Not as marketing. As a way of making sure their stories keep showing up on American kitchen tables. Every label is a conversation starter. Every cup is a chance to say their names.