A legendary figure within Navy circles, Captain Bucklew devoted his entire Navy career to scouting, raiding, and intelligence. One of the Navy's first "frogmen" and a charter member of its Scouts and Raiders of World War II, he scouted the beaches at Normandy, Salerno, and Sicily weeks before Allied invasions. Then, in China, he slipped by Japanese occupation troops to conduct a 400-mile overland scouting trip of the coastline near Hong Kong. In 1964, Captain Bucklew led a study team to investigate the communist infiltration problems in South Vietnam. Prior to his Navy career, Captain Bucklew was a collegiate and professional football star.