America's First Frogman: The Draper Kauffman Story

By Elizabeth Kauffman Bush

Book Overview

Although bad eyesight kept him from receiving a commission in the U.S. Navy when he graduated from the Naval Academy in 1933, Draper Kauffman became a hero of underwater demolition in World War II and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1591140986
• ISBN13: 9781591140986
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: Naval Inst Pr
• Length: 221 Pages
• Weight: 1.02 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.5" x 1.0" x 6.5"

Customer Reviews

America's First Frogman

A wonderful story of a man's life in the United States Navy during World War II. When men of courage and strength were needed, they stepped forward. Draper Kauffman knew the task before them and trained them to meet every possible hardship the seas and the enemy could throw at them. I doubt he would wanted to be called a hero, but I do think he would want those who served with him and died during those war years to be called hero's! Exceptionally well written by a loving sister, and a story Hollywood should tell, as written. Many thanks go to Elizabeth Kauffman Bush

Served with him....

I was on Admiral Kauffman's staff at the 9th Naval District and present at his retirement, so I have long been aware of his amazing biography. Such a book is long overdue and tells the story of his heroic WWII service -- a life with details that you thought ony happened "in the movies".

A Modern Hero for all

BOOK REVIEW OF: America's First Frogman, a biography of Admiral Draper Laurence Kauffman by his sister Elizabeth Kauffman Bush. Released by Naval Institute Press 2004 America's First Frogman is an exciting war story of one of America's great heroes, Rear Admiral Draper Laurence Kauffman, the flamboyant young "father" of America's famous Underwater Demolition Units, now called the Navy Seals or frogmen. As told by his sister, the aunt of Jeb and George Bush and God Daughter of the former Duchess of Windsor, the biography spans the "heroic age...of individual prowess and fantastic risks" through several World War II battlefields and back home in the US. It is the colorful Homeric odyssey of a young Annapolis graduate who persists, despite bad eyesight, to prove his courage and ability to serve his country and follow his father, Vice Admiral James Laurence Kauffman, into the US Navy. Vividly the author reports how her brother, after initially failing the Navy's eye test, continues to successfully "test his nerve... from one nasty job to another" (from ambulance driving in northern France and bomb disposing in London's blitz) to return to the US and slowly prove his genius at pioneering and implementing new ideas and strategies. Quoting from his own letters, as well as those of other contemporaries, the author reports how Kauffman gains the respect from all for his contagious courage and leadership, especially in attracting and training volunteer "frogmen" to join him in their exceedingly demanding work preparing battlefields, often by swimming miles at night under enemy fire, supporting enormous backpacks full of ammunition. Although the book focuses on Kaufman's founding of the first US Naval Bomb Disposal and Combat Demolition schools, it also follows him through his very significant post war period acting as captain of several ships and chief of many pivotal naval offices including the Defense and Protection Section of the Atomic Warfare Division and Aide to Secretary of the Navy Thomas S. Gates and the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Washington DC. Ironically, in 1965 he also became Superintendent of the place where he first began his naval career, Annapolis. The well researched and colorfully depicted battle scenes are taken from his own letters to his father whom he sensitively cautions to hide from his worried mother and sister back home. This stateside backdrop of glamour and courage in the lives of both the Kauffman and Bush families adds to the dramatic scope of the book. Photographs portray both Admiral Kauffmans, as well as many other famous military, political and family personalities. The forward is written by the author's brother in law, former President George H.W.Bush. The reader will grow to admire the mischievous and bold, but sensitive, hero even as his sister does. Watch for this newly released biography to become a very exciting movie all of us can enjoy. Young and old can learn self disciplined focus, wisdom, wit and se

The biography of the father of the American Navy SEALs

Written by Draper Kauffman's sister Elizabeth Kauffman Bush, and featuring a foreword by President George H. W. Bush, America's First Frogman: The Draper Kauffman Story is the biography of the father of the American Navy SEALs. From surviving his time as a prisoner of the Germans, to his acclaimed wartime service disarming enemy bombs and establishing bomb disposal schools, to the underwater demolition teams he led at Saipan, Tinian, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa, America's First Frogman is an amazing true story of skill, courage, dedication, high standards, and excellence under extreme pressure. A handful of black-and-white photographs illustrate this fascinating story of a great man's life and resolute determination.

A hero of our time

Draper Kauffman is one of the heros of the modern navy. 'Thrown out' of the US Navy shortly after graduating from the Naval Academy for bad eyesight, he first joined the French fighting the Nazi invasion, and then the British Royal Navy as a bomb disposal officer. After Pearl Harbour the Navy decides that maybe his eyes weren't so bad after all. (It helps of course if your father is an admiral and Chester Nimitz drops by for a drink one evening.) Then too there was the unexploded Japanese 500 pound bomb just outside the door of the ammo depot at Fort Scofield. From unexploded bombs Kauffman moved to Underwater Demolition where he set up the first UDT school. This was, of course, the forerunner of today's Navy SEALs. Note the name of the author, she is Draper Kauffman's sister, and President George H.W. Bush's sister-in-law. Ex-president Bush wrote the introduction for the book.