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Originally Posted by vsvo
He's Filipino.
COL Salvador Abcede, Philippine 20th BCT.
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by 112thSOLCA
Col Salvador Abcede of Philippine 20 BCT and MG Robert H. Soule 3rd ID
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OK, maybe not as hard as I thought, or too many clues.
Abcede, as a Lt. Col. received the Distinguished Service Cross in 1945 for his actions as a guerrilla leader on Negros. So he may deserve to be included with other U.S. Army officers (the Philippine Army was part of the U.S. Army then) like Wendell Fertig and Russell Volckmann among the forefathers of Special Forces, the men who conducted FID/UW in World War II.
I think we've discussed before who are the true antecedents of SF, rather than the official ones, mainly in connection with the 1st Special Service Force (more a commando/Ranger-type force than an SF one). My impression is that the main forefathers in WWII were the various OSS teams (OGs, Detachment 101 and Jedburghs) and the Philippine guerrilla leaders, the men who developed UW theory and put it into practice. The more DA-oriented units like the Ranger infantry battalions, Merrill's Marauders and the 1SSF are part of the special operations heritage, but not as directly related to SF.