Robert Judd was born in September 1920 in Oak Park, Illinois. The third of four children, he had twin older brothers and a younger brother. He recalls little from the Great Depression as he was too young to notice any hard times. His father was an executive with a local public utility company. He recounts a happy childhood; he graduated high school and went to college at the University of the South in Suwanee, Tennessee. When the United States entered the war, he was attending college and had received his draft notice. Wanting to enlist in the Navy instead, he went to the nearby recruiting station in Nashville, Tennessee. There he was told of the V-7 program that allowed college students to finish their studies before being inducted. He did so, graduating in the spring of 1943. In August he reported to Notre Dame University's midshipman school where he received officer training. Most of the class had engineering backgrounds and were assigned to the Navy's construction battalions. He went for follow-on training to Camp Peary outside of Williamsburg, Virginia. While there, he went on temporary duty to New York City for SeaBee [Annotator's Note: members of naval construction battalions] stevedore training. He enjoyed a relaxed lifestyle for the month-long course, but upon his return had decided he did not want that type of assignment. He then volunteered for a school down in Fort Pierce, Florida, without really having any idea what the assignment entailed. He arrived and was put into training as part of a demolition unit that would support amphibious landings. The officers trained with all of the enlisted men who had been assigned to the school. During the last week of the training, the officers picked five of the men as part of a small team. Training was focused on field conditions, explosives and demolition, and physical training. Once he completed training, he was offered a choice between the Pacific Theater and the European Theater. It was early in 1944, and while it was expected that there would be a European invasion at some point, it had not yet happened. He was eager to get into action, so he chose the Pacific Theater since he knew amphibious landings were already in progress there. In February 1944 he left California for Hawaii aboard a transport where fellow passengers included civilians and the first Women's Army Corps [Annotator's Note: also known by the acronym WAC] personnel heading to the Pacific. On arrival in Honolulu, they were bussed over to Pearl Harbor, where he saw the devastation from the 7 December 1941 attack. From there they shipped over to Maui, where a new amphibious base was built. There, a group of 100 officers and men were being formed into teams numbered 3, 4, and 5 [Annotator's Note: Underwater Demolition Teams, or UDT-1, UDT-2, UDT-3, etc.]. Each team was comprised of the smaller groups of one officer and five enlisted. Earlier, UDT-1 and UDT-2 had participated in the assaults on Eniwetok and Kwajalein, and from these experiences it was learned that larger teams were necessary for their missions.

Robert Judd 's team [Annotator's Note: Underwater Demolition Teams 4 (UDT-)] was preparing for the assault on the Marianas Islands, but did not know which island in particular. Departing Maui, his group headed to Tulagi, Solomons Islands, where each team continued training and received their specific orders. They departed aboard converted World War 1 destroyers with 40 tons of explosives aboard. Their first stop was Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands, then on to Majuro. There, they received training on palm tree coral cribs. [Annotator's Note: The interviewee does not specify here, but later in the interview he describes these cribs as coconut logs fashioned into grids and then filled with coral. These grids are lashed together with steel cables and serve as obstacles to impede landing craft in an amphibious assault.] They first constructed these cribs and then destroyed them as practice. Having completed this training, they set out in a formation of battleships, cruisers, destroyers, and escort aircraft carriers he calls a "bombardment group," ordered to support the actual amphibious assault. His team was assigned to the Guam assault, as a backup for Saipan, and to assist in Tinian if necessary. He describes an incident that took place during the transit where his transport actually collided with USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) due to the formation maneuvering to avoid a possible submarine contact. Subsequently, they also nearly collided with one of the escort carriers. His ship suffered damage, was without power, and dead in the water. A destroyer towed them to Eniwetok, Marshall Islands, where they spent two days in repair. They got back underway and participated as backup during the Saipan assault, where they blasted a channel through a coral reef so that the LSTs [Annotator's Note: Landing Ship, Tank] could land. Their ship suffered engine trouble, so they berthed alongside another LST and a hospital ship before they were transferred to another amphibious ship and headed to Guam.

Assigned to support the assault on Guam, Robert Judd's team [Annotator's Note: Undwerwater Demolition Team 4 (UDT-4)] went ashore prior to the landing to reconnoiter the beaches, map obstacles, and report back. They later returned to destroy obstacles, in particular coral cribs, which he describes as coconut logs formed into grids, filled with coral, and lashed together with steel cables. For the reconnaissance, the teams went in as pairs of men, dropped off half a mile or so from the beach. When they returned for demolition, they had four landing craft assigned to support them and used rubber craft to transport the explosives. The first time they went in, they discovered that their portable radios were on the same frequency as the Japanese; fortunately, they had worked out in advance a series of challenge and reply codes to ensure they could communicate. After the first attempt, many of the coral cribs remained, forcing them to return at low tide, where they were more exposed. They did so, and for some reason were not fired upon by the Japanese. He recounts a humorous anecdote where one of the men put a "Welcome, Marines - UDT-4" sign on an adjacent reef. The landing took place and they also assisted the beachmasters [Annotator's Note: personnel assigned to direct the disembarkation phase of an amphibious landing]. They returned to Guam to prepare for the next assault. Originally destined for Peleliu, Palau, at the last minute they were shifted to Leyte Gulf, Philippines. They found clearing the beach fairly simple; the only obstacles were barbed wire strung between posts, which were easy to remove. Prior to the assault, their support ship was hit by enemy fire and they suffered two casualties. He recounts observing their burial at sea two days later, and it remains an emotional event for him. The landing proceeded as planned, which gained fame as General Douglas MacArthur went ashore as promised. Their fast amphibious transport was due to return to Hawaii in preparation for their next assault, but it first needed to to offload explosives to the USS Mount Hood (AE-11). Unable to do so because of other ships alongside, they instead transferred their explosives to the USS President Hayes (APA-20). This was fortuitous for them because a short time later, the Mount Hood exploded, killing everyone onboard. Had they been alongside, they undoubtedly would have suffered casualties. The team returned to Maui, Hawaiian Islands, to ready themselves for the assault on Okinawa in the Ryukyu Islands.

Having participated in the assaults on Guam, Saipan, and Leyte Gulf, Robert Judd and UDT-4 was tasked next with the assault on Okinawa. He recounts that the beach reconnaissance was conducted without incident and the landings proceeded as planned. His biggest fear at the time was the kamikazes. There was no way to avoid them. At night, the ship he was on was often assigned picket duty and he describes one evening where they thought they were about to be attacked by a suicide boat. After some trepidation, they discovered the radar contact thought to be the enemy was actually a reflector that had been put in the water as an aid to aircraft navigation. He describes that in addition to their waterborne duties, they would often help the troops ashore. He discusses that when they returned to Guam from Okinawa, they had to man sentry positions around the base because even a year after Guam had been retaken, there were still Japanese in the jungle who could be a threat. As they prepared for the planned invasion of mainland Japan, word was received that the Japanese had surrendered. At the time, he was XO [Annotator's Note: executive officer, the second-in-command of the unit] of UDT-4 and had accumulated enough points to be discharged. He reflects on the fact that his World War 2 experience was nothing special; he did what had to be done just as everyone else was doing at the time. He had joined wanting excitement and challenge, and that's exactly what he found. He was very happy with his Navy experience. The training was tough and very physical, but he had prior sailing experience and was a strong swimmer, so he never had any trouble. He comments that the UDTs were top secret commands, not just to the public but also to the Navy at large. As their missions progressed, he found that more senior officers aboard ships respected him even as a junior officer because they knew that he was the expert on beach conditions. He revisits some earlier comments about the Saipan assault. He remembers the beaches there as having lots of coral, which was dangerous to their feet, ankles, and shins. They were issued canvas shoes with stiff bottoms, which helped. He recounts that after every mission, the team would assemble to discuss how to improve operations, and that the enlisted men often had practical ideas that were very successful. The officers and enlisted were very close-knit and enjoyed a familiarity not found elsewhere in the Navy. He discusses the silver-grey camouflage paint the swimmers wore that made them very difficult to see when in the water. They also had support from rocket-armed LCIs [Annotator's Note: Landing Craft, Infantry] and aircraft when they were closing on the beach. Operations were carefully timed so that the enemy was kept heads-down at critical times. He describes the swimmer's equipment in some detail; everything from individual weapons to explosives is outlined. He also outlines basic team organization.

Having participated in several amphibious landings as a combat swimmer, Robert Judd discusses that after their initial beach reconnaissance and demolition, the swimmers often accompanied the first waves of an assault. Other times they remained on the transports to answer questions about the beach [Annotator's Note: such as the location of obstacles]. He recounts that other UDTs [Annotator's Note: underwater demolition teams] suffered more losses, but his team only had two killed in action, and neither were during their actual operations. [Annotator's Note: Earlier in the interview he states that during training they expected 25 percent casualties, but this never occurred.] He again comments as to the danger of kamikaze aircraft off of Okinawa and at Iwo Jima, but offers that given the missions assigned, they suffered very few losses. He remembers that sharks were not a problem in training, they always had a security boat positioned with armed personnel to shoot the sharks were they to appear nearby. He speaks again of the varied duties of the ships to which they were assigned. He remembers one instance while on aircraft carrier screening duty they had a man overboard, and the man in the water was located via the aircraft returning to land aboard the carrier. He again discusses the various missions and operations in which he participated. He reiterates that they had tough, excellent training that left them well-prepared. As for the war, he comments that it didn't change him much. He was always one to seek challenge and excitement. As a result of his close association with his enlisted me, he says that he does have more respect for the "blue collar" types of individuals. He discusses little about his postwar life, save for the fact that he got married, had children, and worked in the retail business. He feels that it's important to remember the war and those that fought in it, but again, everyone was just doing what had to be done.