 While there, he also organized and was the first chairman of the Joint Army-Navy Experimental and Testing Board (JANET).In April 1944, he was ordered to the Pacific Fleet and served at the Naval Combat Demolition Training and Experimental Base, Maui, Hawaii as the commanding officer of Underwater Demolition Team 5 (UDT 5); as senior staff officer, Underwater Demolition Teams, Amphibious Forces, Pacific Fleet; and as Underwater Demolition Training Officer, Amphibious Training Command, Pacific Fleet.As commander of UDT 5, he participated in the invasion of Saipan, and received a second Navy Cross for leading his team in a daylight reconnaissance of fortified enemy beaches under heavy fire, and on 10 July 1944, leading a night reconnaissance of heavily defended beaches at Tinian island.