Today in the History of the UDT-SEALs

Wednesday, October 25, 2023

SEALs in Grenada - Secret Mission of Urgent Fury

The October 1983 invasion of Grenada rescued U.S. citizens from the revolution-torn island—but the Navy SEAL extraction of a key political figure was not part of the headlines.

Description:25 October 1983 - Operation URGENT FURY. Rescue of genteel educator-turned-civil-servant: Sir Paul Scoon, the island’s native-son governor general. Scoon, the resident head of state in the former British colony, was a pivotal player—because Operation Urgent Fury involved more than just the safe evacuation of U.S. citizens.

Four SEALs drowned following a night parachute boat drop

MM1 Kenneth J. Butcher

QM1 Kevin E. Lundberg

HT1 Stephen L. Morris

ENCS Robert R. Schamberger

Simultaneously, two Army Ranger battalions, flying directly from Georgia, would parachute on Point Salines on the island’s southwest coast. The Rangers would seize the new airport being built there by 600-odd Cuban workers and then link up with American medical students living at a campus located just off the eastern edge of the unfinished runway.

A third force of about 100 counterterrorism commandoes were supposed to arrive simultaneously by Army Blackhawk helicopters from Barbados. They were assigned to three politically sensitive classified missions: free political prisoners from a ridge-top prison, capture the island’s main radio transmitter station, and?secure Governor General Scoon at his official residence.

Scoon was the linchpin of the entire operation. He was regarded in the Eastern Caribbean as Grenada’s last legitimate governmental authority at a time when the nation’s established cabinet had dissolved after the fratricidal executions of four minsters. The island teetered on the brink of civil war.

Black Hawks Over Government House

Scoon woke on D-day, 25 October, to the roar of two Task Force 160 Black Hawk helicopters hovering over his bedroom. The aircraft carried two dozen Navy SEALs, who planned to drop into the front and back yards of Government House. One helicopter also carried two CIA employees and a State Department political officer.9?The trio carried a letter for Scoon to sign that would formally request the intervention that was already under way.

However, before the civilians could be unloaded, their helicopter maneuvered away from the mansion to avoid opposing ground fire from uniformed Grenadians. That repositioning exposed the Black Hawk to crew-served antiaircraft fire coming from two forts in the capital city.10?One round ripped through the cockpit floor, tore a softball-sized chunk of flesh out of the air mission commander’s left leg, and knocked him into shock. The other pilot took control of the aircraft and headed out to sea to seek medical help for the wounded Army major—with the civilians and the SEAL commander still on board.

The Black Hawk landed hard, without permission, on the flight deck of the USS?Guam?(LPH-9), Metcalf’s flagship.11?The aircraft’s radio was inoperative, and the engines would not shut down. Deck crews used fire hoses to drown the runaway turbines with seawater.

Meanwhile, back at the mansion, 22 Navy SEALs had fast-roped to the ground without their boss, Captain Robert A. Gormly, the SEAL Team 6 commander, or their satellite radio. Both had unexpectedly flown off on the stricken helicopter.12?The assault team leader, Lieutenant Wellington T. “Duke” Leonard, a decorated Vietnam veteran, was now the ranking SEAL officer on the ground.

Scoon, his wife, and their nine-person retinue fled to the mansion’s cellar when the shooting started outside. When Scoon heard shouts from above, he ordered his staff to show themselves to the searchers. The SEALs took Scoon’s entourage in hand and then cleared the mansion’s rooms of any hidden threat.13

The Grenadians who had been firing at them on landing had retreated. The SEALs had planned a helicopter extraction of Scoon’s group within 45 minutes of their arrival. But that quick exit was now in doubt given the enemy resistance they encountered. The SEALs took up defensive positions in and around the mansion and waited for another escape option to develop.

Small-arms fire directed at the house started to pick up. A rifle-fired grenade exploded in one of the vacant rooms. The SEALs moved the civilians into the upstairs dining room, where they were better shielded from the Grenadian military forces that surrounded them. Grenadian antiaircraft guns and mobile infantry had been positioned nearby to defend all the official residences in the hilltop neighborhood.

While the mansion raid was devolving into a siege, Gormly, the SEAL commander, flew from the?Guam?to a special forces command post at Point Salines Airport. There he was able to establish contact with the embattled SEALs six miles away at Government House, who were individually equipped with handheld MX-360 tactical radios of limited range and battery life.14

SEALs Under Siege

At around 1000, Grenadian infantry approached on foot from the northwest, while a turreted armored personnel carrier (APC) advanced on the mansion by road from the southeast. The SEALs needed air support to repulse the attack, but their radios could not communicate directly with the Air Force gunships flying overhead. Instead, Gormly’s radioman passed Leonard’s pleas to an Army Delta Force radioman sitting nearby. That operator communicated with the gunships using a Vietnam-era PRC-77 backpack radio that the Army and Air Force used but the SEALs did not have.15

An Air Force AC-130 Spectre arrived over the mansion at about 1015 and beat back the advancing soldiers with its 20-mm and 40-mm cannon.16?Another Spectre soon joined the fray. Together, the two gunships squelched the pincer assault, but by noontime, both had flown off separately to refuel. Gormly appealed for additional forces to relieve the besieged mansion. Metcalf was unfamiliar with this aspect of the oft-revised invasion plan, which had been drafted without his initial involvement in Norfolk and Washington.? “The rescue of the governor general had not been included in any of my earlier instructions,” Metcalf later wrote. “But it soon became apparent, through talks with my State Department representatives, that his rescue was of paramount importance.”

While this air-amphibious operation was being organized, Scoon and his party lay sprawled on the hardwood floor of his dining room. During lulls in the firing, Scoon and his wife occasionally rested on a mahogany couch under pictures of dispassionate British royals. Most of the SEALs remained outside, manning a defensive perimeter around the mansion about 25 yards away, spaced 10 to 20 yards apart.21?They were lightly armed, mostly with shoulder weapons and pistols. At one point in the day, the island’s police chief called Scoon by telephone. He inquired about Scoon’s well-being—and also asked how many Americans were with him, and how they were armed. Scoon responded that he had never seen so many guns in his life. Scoon’s coy report failed to discourage further attacks. At around 1530, a group of 30 soldiers, supported by an APC, were seen advancing on foot from the vicinity of Bishop’s nearby former residence.22?Leonard’s radio batteries were running low, so he used Scoon’s house phone to call back to the United States for help—using a long-distance calling card.23

The Navy SEAL Memorial: The Names of Those Who Made the Ultimate Sacrifice

The National Navy SEAL Museum is home to the only Memorial dedicated solely to honoring Navy SEALs and Frogmen for their sacrifice and love of country. The centerpiece of the Memorial is a bronze sculpture of a modern Navy SEAL combat swimmer. The names of all the Frogmen from World War II to today’s Navy SEALs who have died in combat and training are carved into black, granite panels on the walls surrounding the sculpture and its reflecting pool. Below are the names of the men we honor

Support Our Mission Help The National Navy SEAL Museum achieve our mission: Preserve the History and Heritage of the Navy SEALs and our predecessors, honor our fallen at the Navy SEAL Memorial, and support our families through the Trident House Charities Program. Your generous support assists in the ongoing need to support families in the Trident House, and maintain the only Memorial in the world dedicated exclusively to Navy SEALs and their predecessors. The Museum is a 501 (c) (3) organization, so your gift may be partially or fully tax deductible.

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