Posted on Nov 13, 2021
#VeteranOfTheDay Navy Veteran Harry Beal - VAntage Point
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Harry Beal- Veterans Day 2017- MASD
Harry Beal (of Meyersdale) is considered one of the first US Navy Seals on the east coast! This interview was given at Meyersdale Area School District in No...
Thank you my friend MAJ Dale E. Wilson, Ph.D. for honoring US Navy UDT frogman Harry Beal who became one of the firts east coast SEALs after former POTUS JFK called for SEAL teams [one on east coast and one on west coast - in 1962.
He passed away ofn February 4, 2021
Rest in peace Harry Beal.
Harry Beal- Veterans Day 2017- MASD
Harry Beal (of Meyersdale) is considered one of the first US Navy Seals on the east coast! This interview was given at Meyersdale Area School District in November of 2017.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQk3-MlkFIY
Images:
1. Harry Beal in uniform
2. Harry Beal was a US Navy frogman with UDT and later became one of the first Navy SEALs. Here, Beale and his wife, Majorie take a look at his underwater gear.
3. Harry Beal with shark he speared. “He used to always tell everybody. He said, ‘The shark was as afraid of me as I was of him; it probably wouldn’t have hurt anybody;’ but he said, ‘I got my shark,’” Mack Beal said.
Background from {[https://apnews.com/article/1a2720902d514b038f0e2e4c608ce45e]}
Harry Beal a local Navy Seal legend
SANDRA LEPLEY [Daily American Correspondent] May 25, 2019
When Harry Beal signed up for the U.S. Navy in June 1948, he didn’t expect to make a career in the military. He also likely didn’t expect to make history.
Now the 88-year-old from Pocahontas is a local legend.
He thought that the “kiddy cruise,” which required his father’s permission for the then 17-year-old would only last three years.
That initial decision to leave Meyersdale and go into the military changed his life. He became the first person to sign the roster for the U.S. Navy SEALs in 1962.
He retired at 37 years old in 1968.
“It was the best thing that ever happened to me,” Harry said. “My dad had wanted me to go into the coal mines but decided to sign me up for the Navy instead. It changed my life.”
The son of the late Clarence and Cora (Caruthers) Beal, Harry left his parents and four siblings behind in Somerset County to attend basic training at Camp Downs in the Great Lakes and then went to Norfolk, Virginia, aboard the USS Shenandoah. Although the Korean War had begun after his enlistment, his ship was never involved in battle.
Even though it was Harry’s intention to get out of the military after three years and return home to Meyersdale to marry the girl next door, Margie Bowman, the government kept him longer because of the Korean War. Then he decided to re-enlist. He earned leave to come home to marry Margie in 1951 and the couple moved to Norfolk.
“A nice officer asked me how I would like a thousand dollars and a month’s leave to re-enlist,” Harry said with a laugh. “With a thousand dollars in my pocket, I felt like the richest man in Meyersdale and I came home and married Margie in Cumberland, Maryland. We got a rented place and a 1936 Ford.”
For the next decade, he traveled the world. He became known as what civilians call a “frogman,” training in underwater demolition through the U.S. Navy. While he didn’t necessarily go swimming all the time when he grew up in Meyersdale, the Navy allowed him to train expertly in different types of underwater operations and Harry thrived in physical athleticism.
That’s why when President John F. Kennedy came calling at the base in Little Creek, Virginia, in 1962 with a new idea to implement a special forces unit called the U.S. Navy SEALs, Harry was the first one who stepped up and signed the roster. All the men knew full well that the United States was involved in the Vietnam War at that time and this decision had serious implications.
Kennedy wanted 50 men on two teams, one on the west coast and the second team on the east coast. Kennedy wanted the units to be made up of Navy servicemen who would receive special training and answer only to the Central Intelligence Agency.
Training included a variety of operations from different branches of service other than the Navy. The Army taught him jungle warfare, foreign weapons and paratrooper schooling. The Air Force taught him survival and the Marines were in charge of escape and evasion tactics. As part of the underwater training, the men had their feet and hands tied together and were dropped to the bottom of a 15-foot pool. Whoever got a face mask on the bottom got a weekend pass. Harry got the pass by picking the mask up with his mouth.
The training proved to be necessary as he was sent that same year to Vietnam to teach the South Vietnamese underwater and warfare tactics. He recalls how the South Vietnamese were terrified of poisonous white sea snakes in the waters, and of hammerhead sharks.
“The snakes were not aggressive and they were often more afraid of humans than humans were of them,” he said. “Oftentimes big fish brushed up against us in the waters and they could have been sharks. On a dark night you could see underwater if the moon was out.”
By 1963 he returned stateside to his family and he became an instructor at Little Creek. He had been part of a team that brought John Glenn out of the space capsule following an orbit of Earth. He and his wife, Margie, and their three sons, Mack, Mark and Merle, returned home to live near Pocahontas in 1968. A fourth son, Wayne, died at a few weeks old, and another son died at birth.
Harry started working for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation in 1970 and retired after 20 years. One day while working at the PennDOT shed about 15 years after he was out of the Navy, he found himself crying uncontrollably without reason. He had thought he had left his missions behind him and never believed in post-traumatic stress disorder. Fortunately the PennDOT director at the time was a veteran who knew what was going on and called Margie and the veterans clinic in Altoona.
“Post-traumatic stress is a real thing and in those 15 years I didn’t understand that some men were fighting this battle every day,” he said. “War is not like it is portrayed in the movies. Soldiers come home and fight to find a way to stop the pain. I didn’t understand the effects it has on a person.”
He went to the clinic in Altoona for a few years for counseling. He credits his wife and family for helping him.
“It’s been a wonderful life and I wouldn’t change anything. Some things in life are more difficult than others but we all have to keep going and keep the faith. Sometimes I wonder why I am still here but the good Lord must have a reason,” he said. “Maybe it is just because I am supposed to represent a generation of men who loved their country, their families and one another. My heroes have always been firemen and policemen, our American presidents and Jacques Cousteau.”
FYI Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. CWO3 Dennis M. CWO3 (Join to see) CWO3 Dave Alcantara CWO3 Randy Weston CPO Nate S. PO1 Robert Payne PO1 William "Chip" Nagel PO2 (Join to see) SPC Michael Duricko, Ph.D SPC Michael Terrell MSG Greg KellySPC Doug BoltonSPC Paul C.CWO4 Terrence Clark
CPL Ronald Keyes Jrltc-joe-anderson-taz-or-joe-retired-now-in-contract-complianceCDR (Join to see)SGT (Join to see)
He passed away ofn February 4, 2021
Rest in peace Harry Beal.
Harry Beal- Veterans Day 2017- MASD
Harry Beal (of Meyersdale) is considered one of the first US Navy Seals on the east coast! This interview was given at Meyersdale Area School District in November of 2017.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQk3-MlkFIY
Images:
1. Harry Beal in uniform
2. Harry Beal was a US Navy frogman with UDT and later became one of the first Navy SEALs. Here, Beale and his wife, Majorie take a look at his underwater gear.
3. Harry Beal with shark he speared. “He used to always tell everybody. He said, ‘The shark was as afraid of me as I was of him; it probably wouldn’t have hurt anybody;’ but he said, ‘I got my shark,’” Mack Beal said.
Background from {[https://apnews.com/article/1a2720902d514b038f0e2e4c608ce45e]}
Harry Beal a local Navy Seal legend
SANDRA LEPLEY [Daily American Correspondent] May 25, 2019
When Harry Beal signed up for the U.S. Navy in June 1948, he didn’t expect to make a career in the military. He also likely didn’t expect to make history.
Now the 88-year-old from Pocahontas is a local legend.
He thought that the “kiddy cruise,” which required his father’s permission for the then 17-year-old would only last three years.
That initial decision to leave Meyersdale and go into the military changed his life. He became the first person to sign the roster for the U.S. Navy SEALs in 1962.
He retired at 37 years old in 1968.
“It was the best thing that ever happened to me,” Harry said. “My dad had wanted me to go into the coal mines but decided to sign me up for the Navy instead. It changed my life.”
The son of the late Clarence and Cora (Caruthers) Beal, Harry left his parents and four siblings behind in Somerset County to attend basic training at Camp Downs in the Great Lakes and then went to Norfolk, Virginia, aboard the USS Shenandoah. Although the Korean War had begun after his enlistment, his ship was never involved in battle.
Even though it was Harry’s intention to get out of the military after three years and return home to Meyersdale to marry the girl next door, Margie Bowman, the government kept him longer because of the Korean War. Then he decided to re-enlist. He earned leave to come home to marry Margie in 1951 and the couple moved to Norfolk.
“A nice officer asked me how I would like a thousand dollars and a month’s leave to re-enlist,” Harry said with a laugh. “With a thousand dollars in my pocket, I felt like the richest man in Meyersdale and I came home and married Margie in Cumberland, Maryland. We got a rented place and a 1936 Ford.”
For the next decade, he traveled the world. He became known as what civilians call a “frogman,” training in underwater demolition through the U.S. Navy. While he didn’t necessarily go swimming all the time when he grew up in Meyersdale, the Navy allowed him to train expertly in different types of underwater operations and Harry thrived in physical athleticism.
That’s why when President John F. Kennedy came calling at the base in Little Creek, Virginia, in 1962 with a new idea to implement a special forces unit called the U.S. Navy SEALs, Harry was the first one who stepped up and signed the roster. All the men knew full well that the United States was involved in the Vietnam War at that time and this decision had serious implications.
Kennedy wanted 50 men on two teams, one on the west coast and the second team on the east coast. Kennedy wanted the units to be made up of Navy servicemen who would receive special training and answer only to the Central Intelligence Agency.
Training included a variety of operations from different branches of service other than the Navy. The Army taught him jungle warfare, foreign weapons and paratrooper schooling. The Air Force taught him survival and the Marines were in charge of escape and evasion tactics. As part of the underwater training, the men had their feet and hands tied together and were dropped to the bottom of a 15-foot pool. Whoever got a face mask on the bottom got a weekend pass. Harry got the pass by picking the mask up with his mouth.
The training proved to be necessary as he was sent that same year to Vietnam to teach the South Vietnamese underwater and warfare tactics. He recalls how the South Vietnamese were terrified of poisonous white sea snakes in the waters, and of hammerhead sharks.
“The snakes were not aggressive and they were often more afraid of humans than humans were of them,” he said. “Oftentimes big fish brushed up against us in the waters and they could have been sharks. On a dark night you could see underwater if the moon was out.”
By 1963 he returned stateside to his family and he became an instructor at Little Creek. He had been part of a team that brought John Glenn out of the space capsule following an orbit of Earth. He and his wife, Margie, and their three sons, Mack, Mark and Merle, returned home to live near Pocahontas in 1968. A fourth son, Wayne, died at a few weeks old, and another son died at birth.
Harry started working for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation in 1970 and retired after 20 years. One day while working at the PennDOT shed about 15 years after he was out of the Navy, he found himself crying uncontrollably without reason. He had thought he had left his missions behind him and never believed in post-traumatic stress disorder. Fortunately the PennDOT director at the time was a veteran who knew what was going on and called Margie and the veterans clinic in Altoona.
“Post-traumatic stress is a real thing and in those 15 years I didn’t understand that some men were fighting this battle every day,” he said. “War is not like it is portrayed in the movies. Soldiers come home and fight to find a way to stop the pain. I didn’t understand the effects it has on a person.”
He went to the clinic in Altoona for a few years for counseling. He credits his wife and family for helping him.
“It’s been a wonderful life and I wouldn’t change anything. Some things in life are more difficult than others but we all have to keep going and keep the faith. Sometimes I wonder why I am still here but the good Lord must have a reason,” he said. “Maybe it is just because I am supposed to represent a generation of men who loved their country, their families and one another. My heroes have always been firemen and policemen, our American presidents and Jacques Cousteau.”
FYI Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. CWO3 Dennis M. CWO3 (Join to see) CWO3 Dave Alcantara CWO3 Randy Weston CPO Nate S. PO1 Robert Payne PO1 William "Chip" Nagel PO2 (Join to see) SPC Michael Duricko, Ph.D SPC Michael Terrell MSG Greg KellySPC Doug BoltonSPC Paul C.CWO4 Terrence Clark
CPL Ronald Keyes Jrltc-joe-anderson-taz-or-joe-retired-now-in-contract-complianceCDR (Join to see)SGT (Join to see)
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Harry M. Beal entered the United States Navy in 1948 as a Gunner’s Mate aboard the U.S.S. Shenandoah. In 1955, he became part of the underwater demolition te...
Image: Harry Beal on his front porch
Harry Beal Memorial Race
Harry M. Beal entered the United States Navy in 1948 as a Gunner’s Mate aboard the U.S.S. Shenandoah. In 1955, he became part of the underwater demolition team 21 and 22. In 1962, he became plank owner of SEAL Team 2. He was a SEAL instructor and his specialty was in underwater demolition. He retired in 1968 after 20 years of service. Beal passed away January 26, 2021.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIsS-xmvsSg
Background from {[https://taskandpurpose.com/news/navy-seal-harry-beal-dies/]}
One of the first members of the modern-day Navy SEAL teams has died
By Jeff Schogol | Published Feb 4, 2021 10:26 AM
Harry Beal, one of the first sailors to volunteer for a modern-era Navy SEAL team, died late last month at the age of 90, according to his online obituary posted at Legacy.com.
Originally from Meyersdale, Pennsylvania, Beal joined the Navy in 1948 and served as a SEAL from 1962 until 1968, according to the Associated Press.
During his career as a special operator, he was part of a team that retrieved astronaut John Glenn after his space capsule touched down in the ocean following the Mercury-Atlas 6 space mission in February 1962.
Rear Admiral H. Wyman Howard, head of Naval Special Warfare Command, issued a statement on Thursday to honor Beal’s career as a special operator.
“The Force Master Chief and I were saddened to learn of our teammate Harry Beal’s passing,” Howard said. “Naval Special Warfare’s thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends and community as they celebrate his life. Our force stands on the shoulders of the Underwater Demolition Team, Scouts and Raiders, and Naval Combat Demolition Unit service members.”
Beal’s son Mack recalled that the early astronauts would work with SEAL teams to learn how to use breathing apparatuses, but his father never asked to have his picture taken with any of the famous people he met. To Harry Beal, that was all part of the job.
“He actually said: “When [John] Glenn and the other guys came to us, we didn’t think the program was going to work,’” Mack Beal told Task & Purpose. “He said, ‘We figured they’d get into that rocket; they’d light it off, and that would be the end of the program because it would blow up.’”
His parents later calculated that Beal was deployed for more than seven years of his 20-year Navy career, said Mack Beal, who lives in his about two miles from his late father’s home in Meyersdale.
As a SEAL, the elder Beal went to Vietnam, where he recruited and trained South Vietnamese special operations forces, Mack Beal said, adding that his father given the simulated rank of lieutenant because the South Vietnamese officers he was working with refused to listen to enlisted U.S. troops.
His father never spoke much about his wartime missions, which included working with the CIA, Mack Beal said.
“He said, ‘I signed an oath, and I’m true to my oath. I won’t say anything about it,’” Mack Beal said.
A picture of Beal tweeted by the U.S. Naval Institute shows him holding a dead shark by the tail with one hand and a spear gun in the other.
Mack Beal explained that his father served with an Underwater Demolition Team, he was required to kill a shark as an initiation.
“He used to always tell everybody. He said, ‘The shark was as afraid of me as I was of him; it probably wouldn’t have hurt anybody;’ but he said, ‘I got my shark,’” Mack Beal said.
In February 2020, Pennsylvania state officials honored Beal by naming a bridge in his native Meyersdale after him.
While Beal was one of the first members of the formal Navy SEAL Teams that were formed on Jan. 1, 1962, the history of U.S. Navy SEAL operations of the modern era’ dates back to World War II, said Erick Simmel, a historian expert on the Office of Strategic Services’ Maritime Unit Operational Swimmers.
During the war, the Office of Strategic Services — the CIA’s predecessor — was led by Army Col. William “Wild Bill” Donovan, a Medal of Honor recipient who would later be promoted to major general, Simmel told Task & Purpose.
In the late 1930’s Donovan had been introduced to a unique group of American watermen from Santa Monica, California, who would go on to make up the Navy’s first Underwater Demolition Teams.
These men and others whom Donovan helped to select were trained by Marine Raiders to become frogmen, fighting in every theater during World War II, he said. These combat swimmers were the first American commandos who could carry out both direct action and unconventional warfare missions from the land, air, or sea.
Navy Reserve Lt. Jack Hedrick Taylor, whom Donovan met before the war, was instrumental in creating the OSS Maritime Unit Operational Swimmers, Simmel said. Taylor is widely considered to be the first sailor tasked with sea, air, and land commando missions.
“Harry Beal and his fellow SEAL Team TWO plankowners set the standard that we strive to uphold – a standard for courage, grit, humility, integrity, discipline and accountability,” Howard said on Thursday. “It is our obligation to be stewards of their legacy of service to the nation.”
FYI SPC Terry PageMSG Joseph ChristofaroCpl Samuel Pope SrCpl Mark A. MorrisPO1 Howard BarnesLt Col Scott ShuttleworthSPC Matt OvaskaSgt Christopher Jackson SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen SMSgt David A Asbury SMSgt Lawrence McCarter SMSgt Mark VenzeioGySgt Thomas VickSFC Bernard WalkoGySgt Jack WallaceSFC (Join to see)SSG Robert WebsterCPO Arthur Weinberger
Harry Beal Memorial Race
Harry M. Beal entered the United States Navy in 1948 as a Gunner’s Mate aboard the U.S.S. Shenandoah. In 1955, he became part of the underwater demolition team 21 and 22. In 1962, he became plank owner of SEAL Team 2. He was a SEAL instructor and his specialty was in underwater demolition. He retired in 1968 after 20 years of service. Beal passed away January 26, 2021.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIsS-xmvsSg
Background from {[https://taskandpurpose.com/news/navy-seal-harry-beal-dies/]}
One of the first members of the modern-day Navy SEAL teams has died
By Jeff Schogol | Published Feb 4, 2021 10:26 AM
Harry Beal, one of the first sailors to volunteer for a modern-era Navy SEAL team, died late last month at the age of 90, according to his online obituary posted at Legacy.com.
Originally from Meyersdale, Pennsylvania, Beal joined the Navy in 1948 and served as a SEAL from 1962 until 1968, according to the Associated Press.
During his career as a special operator, he was part of a team that retrieved astronaut John Glenn after his space capsule touched down in the ocean following the Mercury-Atlas 6 space mission in February 1962.
Rear Admiral H. Wyman Howard, head of Naval Special Warfare Command, issued a statement on Thursday to honor Beal’s career as a special operator.
“The Force Master Chief and I were saddened to learn of our teammate Harry Beal’s passing,” Howard said. “Naval Special Warfare’s thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends and community as they celebrate his life. Our force stands on the shoulders of the Underwater Demolition Team, Scouts and Raiders, and Naval Combat Demolition Unit service members.”
Beal’s son Mack recalled that the early astronauts would work with SEAL teams to learn how to use breathing apparatuses, but his father never asked to have his picture taken with any of the famous people he met. To Harry Beal, that was all part of the job.
“He actually said: “When [John] Glenn and the other guys came to us, we didn’t think the program was going to work,’” Mack Beal told Task & Purpose. “He said, ‘We figured they’d get into that rocket; they’d light it off, and that would be the end of the program because it would blow up.’”
His parents later calculated that Beal was deployed for more than seven years of his 20-year Navy career, said Mack Beal, who lives in his about two miles from his late father’s home in Meyersdale.
As a SEAL, the elder Beal went to Vietnam, where he recruited and trained South Vietnamese special operations forces, Mack Beal said, adding that his father given the simulated rank of lieutenant because the South Vietnamese officers he was working with refused to listen to enlisted U.S. troops.
His father never spoke much about his wartime missions, which included working with the CIA, Mack Beal said.
“He said, ‘I signed an oath, and I’m true to my oath. I won’t say anything about it,’” Mack Beal said.
A picture of Beal tweeted by the U.S. Naval Institute shows him holding a dead shark by the tail with one hand and a spear gun in the other.
Mack Beal explained that his father served with an Underwater Demolition Team, he was required to kill a shark as an initiation.
“He used to always tell everybody. He said, ‘The shark was as afraid of me as I was of him; it probably wouldn’t have hurt anybody;’ but he said, ‘I got my shark,’” Mack Beal said.
In February 2020, Pennsylvania state officials honored Beal by naming a bridge in his native Meyersdale after him.
While Beal was one of the first members of the formal Navy SEAL Teams that were formed on Jan. 1, 1962, the history of U.S. Navy SEAL operations of the modern era’ dates back to World War II, said Erick Simmel, a historian expert on the Office of Strategic Services’ Maritime Unit Operational Swimmers.
During the war, the Office of Strategic Services — the CIA’s predecessor — was led by Army Col. William “Wild Bill” Donovan, a Medal of Honor recipient who would later be promoted to major general, Simmel told Task & Purpose.
In the late 1930’s Donovan had been introduced to a unique group of American watermen from Santa Monica, California, who would go on to make up the Navy’s first Underwater Demolition Teams.
These men and others whom Donovan helped to select were trained by Marine Raiders to become frogmen, fighting in every theater during World War II, he said. These combat swimmers were the first American commandos who could carry out both direct action and unconventional warfare missions from the land, air, or sea.
Navy Reserve Lt. Jack Hedrick Taylor, whom Donovan met before the war, was instrumental in creating the OSS Maritime Unit Operational Swimmers, Simmel said. Taylor is widely considered to be the first sailor tasked with sea, air, and land commando missions.
“Harry Beal and his fellow SEAL Team TWO plankowners set the standard that we strive to uphold – a standard for courage, grit, humility, integrity, discipline and accountability,” Howard said on Thursday. “It is our obligation to be stewards of their legacy of service to the nation.”
FYI SPC Terry PageMSG Joseph ChristofaroCpl Samuel Pope SrCpl Mark A. MorrisPO1 Howard BarnesLt Col Scott ShuttleworthSPC Matt OvaskaSgt Christopher Jackson SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen SMSgt David A Asbury SMSgt Lawrence McCarter SMSgt Mark VenzeioGySgt Thomas VickSFC Bernard WalkoGySgt Jack WallaceSFC (Join to see)SSG Robert WebsterCPO Arthur Weinberger
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