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For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource w a thing about it. I got a call from somebody on the Atlanta Journal, to be honest with you, I'm not sure who that person was, and wanted to know if they could interview me, had I seen the picture. Said I had not seen the picture, I just read the advertisements in the Journal. And so they brought me a ticket to the Fox Theater because I didn't have much money back in those days, trying to raise a child and everything. They brought me a ticket and I saw the picture for the first time. And the picture was so real, it was real, and it was, I doubt they ever find that picture. After I saw it that night, today, I'd like to have that tape so I could play it on my audio video machine. There's another picture, the Navy SEALS, which are the successors to us, we were the precedent, we were the first ones that did this. Then President Kennedy, after the war, realized the need to have somebody do the kind of work that we did, they put together the Navy SEALS as you know them today. They took what we did first, and they've expanded now to the finest organization of its size in the world. There's no country, I think that Israel has something very close to it, but I still think the U.S. [is the best] of anything. NT: So the frogmen were the predecessors of the Navy SEALS? AK: Yes ma'am. We were put together rather hurriedly because the beaches of Japan, of the Japanese islands, were heavily fortified with these different objects that would sink the ships, mines and things of that nature. We would go in there and clear those things out so the landing craft could land. NT: It's a remarkable story, it really is Judge Kaplan. I don't think they had anything similar in the European theater. AK: We did the same thing in the European theater. NT: You did? AK: Yes ma'am. Not our team, other teams. NT: But other teams did the same thing in the European theater. AK: And they lost a lot more men than we did, a lot of people were killed in Germany, in the invasion of France and so forth. Because the Germans, they did shoot at them, and they did kill a lot of our people, officers and all. Blowing ships, boats up. Because the Japanese were afraid to do that because our ships were so close in, big ships could somehow or another know exactly where those big guns were and they could hone in on them and blow them up from the battleships and cruisers and destroyers. But in the Germany, they were more heavily fortified, and they shot a lot of our people, killed them. Lost a lot of people in Germany, more than we did in the Pacific. NT: Now tell me about ‚ÄúThis is Your Life‚Äù and being on ‚ÄúThis is Your Life.‚Äù AK: Well, that was another story. I had a secretary, 27 years, her name was Julie Donald, her name was Julie Smith formerly, but she married this fellow, and I recall one night at home. My wife plays cards with these four girls since we got married; every Tuesday night they play canasta or whatever they play. But anyhow, it was a Tuesday night, this lady called and wanted to know if I was there. And I said yes ma'am, I'm here. And she said, well, is Frances there. I said, no she's not, could I have her call you. She said fine, and I'll call her back, and she hung up. I didn't know the lady was calling from Los Angeles. I noticed that Julie, when I dictated something to her, it would be ready before I finished talking, she's that thorough. She knew me like a book. And I began to notice little things that I dictated it was like not quite ready yet, and I didn't know whether she's feeling bad or what. And I was teaching the class on weekends, is time running out? NT: No, we're fine. AK: In Nebraska, I was speaking all over the country on emergency medical care. And the EMS system as we have it today. I spoke in Nebraska, a small town, and then when I got back to the office that Monday morning, on Tuesday, the phone rang. She said, ‚ÄúJudge, a lady wants to talk to you.‚Äù And this lady says her name was, I'll tell you her name in a minute, I forgot it to be honest with you. She says, would you come to St. Joseph's hospital in Los Angeles and put on the program that you did in Nebraska. I said, how did you know about that? She said one of our doctors was there. I said ma'am, nobody from your doctors were there, I knew everybody that was there, there was no doctor there from St. Joseph's. She said there was. I said what. I asked what his name was, she gave me his name Dr. Mandleson. I said ma'am, you've got the wrong person; I don't know who you are, but you've got the wrong person. She said I don't think so, will you come. And I said, well, if you send me a ticket, because I'm not about to go to California. She said OK, we'll send you a ticket. When you come, she gave me a date a week away. Two days later she called back, did the ticket get there. Yes, ma'am. She said are you coming. I said, well, I've got a nephew that lives out in Los Angeles and I'll call him, and yes ma'am, I'll come. I called my nephew. They put him on, he knew about this. And he says come out there. Trying to think of this lady's name. NT: Don't worry about it. AK: As I said I didn't get along too well on the telephone with her. And then when I got to California and got off the plane, she was standing in the lobby, where the plane docked at, and had my name on her sign. And I went out there and I introduced myself to her. She was a little bitty disheveled looking woman and I had some problems with her on the phone. I knew something was wrong, it just didn't make sense about the man from Nebraska that did not exist. I just could not understand all this. Anyhow, we're walking down the baggage counter, and I picked up my bag and walked to her car, got that car a beat up old jalopy. I said, now this don't look right, here you pick up somebody to go to speak at a hospital and in a car that don't look like it would make it. I said ma'am, let me see your driver's license, because I'm ready to come back to Atlanta. _ nephew that I'd spoke to him, I'd have gone back. And are we running out of time? I got in a station wagon and riding down the street in Los Angeles and stopped at the biggest street I've ever seen, width wise, bigger than Canal Street in New Orleans. And she said, what do you think about the President sending troops into Grenada. I said I think it's the best thing we can do. We have to show these people that you cannot step on the United States. And she said, I disagree with you. At that point, I said ma'am, where are we going. She said we're going to be there in a few minutes. I said where are we going. And she said to a hotel down here, there it is right there. And she turned in, we went into the parking lot. I got out of the car cause I figured _, I didn't like the way this lady talked. We went in, she got her, she said I'll get your room for you, just a moment. Went in, brought me back a room key. And by that time, I didn't like that woman at all. I thought she was a communist to be honest with you. Her name was familiar to me because here in Atlanta, we had the communist party demonstrating on Edgewood Avenue one time, and a lady by that name was locked up. I was a judge that tried those people for the communist group and put them all in jail. But anyhow, to make a long story short, I got, went into my room, my nephew couldn't meet until the next morning so I fell asleep and overslept and he picked me up that day, next day and went to Universal Studios. I still didn't know anything about this. And that afternoon I met this man, I asked the lady what the man's name was. She said, I don't know his name. I said ma'am, what the hell do you know. I mean, all very strange. Anyhow, that night, they took me, I went to the hospital where I was going to speak. And walking down the hall this doctor was talking to someone on camera because the lights had been out. And that was for real because the lights went out accidentally. And that's when he looked at me and said, are you Judge Kaplan. He said what are you doing here. I said I'm supposed to speak here. He said how many people will you be speaking to? I said, about two hundred. He said, no, I beg to differ with you Judge, you're going to speak to over a million people. Who the hell's he. And at that time he said, ‚ÄúJudge Arthur Kaplan, This is Your Life.‚Äù I dropped a bag I had in my hand, it was a pretty heavy bag and it landed on his foot and darn near broke his foot. Joe Capanella was his name; he's still on television quite frequently. And we went to the studio and that's where This is Your Life took place. My wife was there, my children were there, my secretary was there, fellow that I was in the Navy with, 37 years before that, he was there. NT: One of this group? AK: Yes ma'am, one of the boys I was in the Navy with. NT: Underwater demolition person. And you were all on This is Your Life? AK: I've got a copy of it at home, fabulous day, just a fabulous day. NT: Well, you've got to have been surprised. AK: Ma'am? NT: You were surprised? AK: Ma'am, you can't imagine how surprised I was. NT: You think your secretary had‚Ķ AK: She knew it. NT: Did she organize it? AK: She organized it, she was sending information in to them and people's names and so forth to help find them. Hard job to find somebody from 37 [years ago]. A young boy, three years old who had a skull fracture and he was choking to death. And he was there. And I came upon that wreck and I kept that child alive; he's alive today. He was on This is Your Life. One fellow that had been cut by someone in his arm and he was bleeding to death. I was able to stop it. And third person was Dekalb County police officer, he had been shot by this man twice, and I shot the guy. I jammed his gun, and the police got there, they shot him 14 times, just blew him all to pieces, but I kept that man alive. They wouldn't bring him, but they brought the officer. That's the story of it ma'am. NT: That's remarkable. Let me see how we're doing on time. And what I'm thrilled about is you're just as busy right now. Where the time is, I can't tell from here. I know we've got a little bit longer anyway. Let see, if you had to choose some of your wartime experiences, which one would you say was most significant? AK: It would have to be Okinawa. NT: It was the bloodiest wasn't it? AK: Yes, it was the worst thing I've ever seen. I don't ever want to see anything like that again. NT: Judge Kaplan, are you still in touch with some of your buddies? AK: Yes, I had, I heard from him, but I think he's gotten pretty ill now with his mind and so forth. You know, we're talking about many years ago. I'm 79 years old now. NT: And you were just 18 or 19 then. AK: Long time. I still hear from several guys that, but most of our guys had gone on. NT: But you were in touch with them over the years? AK: Oh yeah. NT: If you had one experience that you'd like to talk about now that you can talk about the frogmen, the underwater demolition‚Ķ. AK: I think Osan, but that was not as dramatic and as bad as Okinawa. Okinawa was the worst thing I've been through. NT: Why was that? AK: Well, we were so badly hit by the Japanese, hit eight times from enemy shore batteries. You can't imagine how big those shells are, it's not a little bullet, it is tremendous. And fortunately for us, the shells that they hit us were armor piercing shells. This ship did not have armor on it, and the shell went through the ship rather than explode in the ship. One shell landed in our powder that we use to take in and blow up the beaches with. And it's a miracle it didn't explode in there. One of our chief petty officers went down there in that hold and brought back the rest of that device up and threw it overboard. But if it had gone off, I wouldn't have been here today with you. All that was in one invasion. I couldn't think of a worse thing. NT: So he saved your lives? AK: He did, he saved all of us. Not just mine, whole team, whole ship's crew including himself. Very heroic effort on his part. NT: It must have been hard on you, and I know it was hard on your family, not to be able to talk about your experiences when you got home after the war. AK: It was very hard ma'am, because people want to ask you and then they talk behind your back. I can't believe he was overseas and nothing happened. And I couldn't tell them anything. And today, now that people that I've been friends with all my life, they had no idea what we did. And I've got a very close friend here in Atlanta now that saw our people in combat, he was a marine on a ship, and he said they used to pick some of our guys up. He knew what we were, but he didn't know where we came from. When I saw him after the war, well, not long after this picture came out, he realized that they had picked some of my people and we couldn't tell them who we were. I bet the ship's captain probably knew, but not too many other people. That's it. NT: So people didn't know about the frogmen. AK: No ma'am. NT: Well I just, I know it was hard on you and your family. Well, because you know, of course you would want to know where was my son. AK: My parents, no ma'am, they didn't know where we were, what we were doing, had no idea. NT: Well, you were very brave. AK: I wouldn't say that. NT: I would. AK: I enjoyed the Navy so much, and as bad as all some of these things were, you develop the comradeship, friends that you could never forget. This man right here was my commander; this was a burial ceremony of the fellow who was in my bunk. Got to give you all a copy of it. I made a copy for you, should have it. NT: I hope she did. AK: She did, quite pleased with it. Here it is, right here. This man was the commander; he was one of the finest men I've ever known. Richard Burke, giving a prayer for the deceased comrade. And he died a few years back of cancer. He was a leader; he went in with us. And I thought the world of him, I'm sorry I never got a chance to see him again. NT: Where were you when this bomb went off, the explosions went off. Where physically, which island, do you remember? AK: Okinawa. NT: That was Okinawa? AK: Yes ma'am. Ie Shema, which is right across the bay, from Okinawa, but not exactly sure where we were at the time that this picture was made. NT: And what was the name of your‚Ķ? AK: Richard Burke. NT: What was he, a lieutenant? AK: A lieutenant commander. He was later made commander I believe. Like I told you before, we were people that, there was not a lot of discipline, I respected him, as did the other guys. We respected each other. Not a lot of the other lieutenants used to fight, get on the back of the ship with boxing gloves; they'd box. We were just a very close-knit group of people. And I never had a cross word with any of my officers. They were just fine people; they did not let their rank affect us at all, earned their respect. NT: And it was called group 7? AK: Team 7. NT: Team 7. AK: Team 7, yes ma'am. Navy demolition. NT: When do you suppose they thought up the name frogmen? AK: Ma'am, I don't know how that name came about. I really don't, all I know is they didn't know who we were in the war or where we came from. We'd be gone before they could bat an eye. Like I told you before, on this hospital ship, we went down to see one of our guys that were, several of our guys was on the hospital ship, taken off the ship that we were on, at Okinawa, and we went on the hospital ship to see how they were doing. A couple of days later, some of these nurses had thought we, all we had on were a pair of swimming trunks, a pair of canvas shoes, fins carried with us, and the knives, and went into visit our friends. And we saw these nurses, and we were 18 year old, 19 year old guys, and see some beautiful nurses that we hadn't seen in a long time; we were ready to show off for them. So we jumped in after we talked to our friends. As we were leaving, instead of going down the gangway, we just jumped off the ship. They thought we were crazy. And I understand that one of the people on the ship asked the captain said who are these guys. He said I don't know who they are, they're half fish and half crazy. NT: That's a good way to end it, half fish and half crazy. But unless there's something else that you want to add. AK: No ma'am, I think I've talked enough. NT: I don't know, because I've loved it, and I never knew about the frogmen before, so I truly enjoyed it. So it's not enough, but if there's anything‚Ķ AK: Well, it just shows you the ingenuity of Americans, what they can do. Every walk of life was in that team. NT: In your team, all different kinds of people. AK: All different kinds of people, every walk of life. I was just a young boy who always wanted to become a doctor, and that's what I was going to do. I couldn't have made it, I didn't have the mind to be a doctor, but I thought I could. NT: Well, you've made many doctors and you've taught all these medical things. And we are so grateful to you. Thank you, Arthur Kaplan, thank you Judge Kaplan, it's been a privilege, a privilege. You know if there's anything that you want to add, we can still add it. AK: I think we've got about everything I can think of. Title A name given to the resource World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Underwater demolition teams Peleliu, Battle of, Palau, 1944 Tarawa, Battle of, Kiribati, 1943 First aid in illness and injury Atomic bomb World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--Japan--Okinawa Island Kaplan, Frances Bock, Leonard Joseph, Jr., -1945 Pyle, Ernie, 1900-1945 Cronkey, Clifford Vogel, Dorothy Campanella, Joseph, 1924 Burke, Richard F United States. Navy. Underwater Demolition Teams United States. Navy. Seabees Boy Scouts of America Hopping (Destroyer : DE-155) United States. Navy. SEALs John Marshall Law School (Atlanta, Ga.) American Red Cross American Veterans (Organization) Description An account of the resource moving image Subject The topic of the resource Tozzer, Newell Bryant Kaplan, Arthur Marvin, 1925 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource https://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/do-th:geh_vhpohr_231 References A related resource that is referenced, cited, or otherwise pointed to by the described resource. full:001:https://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/do-th:geh_vhpohr_231 Relation A related resource linkto:001:http://album.atlantahistorycenter.com/cdm/ref/collection/VHPohr/id/231 Digital Library of Georgia Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived none