the 12 men inside. Tassone earned the field debris before construction work Beach. Silver Star and out of his impromptu could begin. Their job was to build Many Seabee reservists were with the actio'1. came the armored bulldozers everything from sidewalks to bomb new 1st Amphibious Naval Construc which were used so effectively in later proof storage plants for diesel and fuel tion Battalion when it was activated campaigns. oil. and rushed to the Far East in the sum Seabees landed with the first waves By the end of World War II there mer of 1950 following the outbreak of of assault troops in virtually ev~ry · cam were 12 Seabee brigades, 54 Seabee hostilities in Korea. When General paign of the war. The Seabees were in regiments, 151 construction battalions, Douglas MacArthur's planning staff de on the North Africal1. invasion and they 136 CBMUs, 39 special battalions, 118 vised the end-around landing at Inchon were on the beachheads at Sicily and detachments, and five Seabee Naval it was at first opposed by the Navy be Salerno on D-Day. It was at Salerno Pontoon Assembly Detachments. Of cause of the 30-foot change in tide. But that Lieutenant C. E. Olson died a this vast working force which num MacArthur's officers were adamant. In hero's death and his name was later bered more than 325,000 men only four chon was the place to land. given to a new type of landing ramp battalions failed to see overseas service. It was the Seabees of the 1st Amphib which was devised for the cross-channel Few U. S. outfits were as well-frav Batta.lion who came up with the blue attack. eled as 'the Seabees. For example, the prints for an extended pier that would The Seabees were on the Normandy 9th Battalion which began its overseas permit around-the-clock unloading de beaches and among the first into the career in Iceland finished up the war on spite the tide. On both coasts of Korea Port of Cherbourg. Some of them Tinian from where the first A-Bombs the Seabees equipped with new seago moved across France to help the Army were launched. There was the 70th ing 'dozers worked the causeways and cross the Rhine. One battalion, the Battalion which was at Oran and Bi conducted salvage operations. 69th, went all the way-into the heart zerte and Salerno and got to the Pacific The old Seabees of Bora Bora, of Germany. in time to see service on Guam, Iwo Guadalcanal, New Georgia, the Philip They labored to construct giant bases, Jima, and Okinawa. pines, Guam, Iwo Jima-and 393 other 18 that cost the U. S. more than $10 There were the 81st Seabees who wartime base operations-are in civvies million each. All of the 18 except ranged from Falmouth, Britain, to Utah like most of the other naval veterans Trinidad, Argentia, Espiritu Santo, Beach and Paris-then Eniwetok, of that war which ended 11 years ago. Bermuda, New Caledonia, and Milne Ulithi, and Okinawa. There was the Few of them ever learned a belaying' Bay had to be captured from the enemy 146th Battalion which traveled from pin from a capstan, after all. They and cleared of enemy troops and battle- Iceland to Okinawa by way of Omaha were too damn busy! *THE END
REPRINTED FROM
SAGA MAGAZINE stink and grime of Guadalcanal and out of the muck .and able to see its occupants-laughing, grinning and wavini fever of New Georgia. Can do! to them as the train sped through on its way back to the This was the creed of the horny-handed construction rear area. Crestfallen, a young Marine private turned to men of the Navy-the steam-fitters, cat-skinners, loggers, his platoon sergeant, a middle-aged veteran who had hard-rock drillers, pipe-line experts, and steel-workers seen action in World War II. "Imagine that, Sarge," he who manned the Seabee Battalions from Iceland to said with a sad shake of his head, "there was a bunch of Samoa, from the Aleutians to the Normandy Beachhead. 'doggies' out ahead of us." Now it is a legend, one that is as much a part of "Naw," replied the sergeant, "it's just them damn Naval history as John Paul Jones and "I have not yet Seabees at it again!" begun to fight!" and David Glasgow Farragut and "Damn The Seabees' association with the 1st Marine Division the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!" is an old one which dates back to Guadalcanal and the Nor did the Seabee legend end with the victory over frightful battle for Henderson Field. It was there that the the Axis in World War II. Already there are new chapters old 6th Seabees (properly, the 6th U. S. Naval Construc in the story. There is, for example, a story that is told tion Battalion) fought the Japs and simultaneously re of an incident {hat took place during the heavy fighting built Henderson and readied it for the arrival of U. S. Hacking through thousands of miles of coral, for Inchon and the approaches to Seoul on the west coast air support. And it was there that a Marine officer of Korea in September, 1950. The grimy men of the 1st reported to his commanding general: "Those Seabees and jungle, the pick-and-shovel sailors laid Marine Division were pushing inland when a locomotive build roads so fast the Japs are using them for avenues came toward them, chugging its way up tracks miracu of escape." the roads and airstrips that led to victory lously left intact following a vicious mortar and artillery "I don't know how we would have gotten along with duel. Marines swiftly maneuvered into position along the out the Seabees," declared General A. A. Vandegrift of railroad embankment and two of them busied themselves the Marines. General H. M. ("Howling Mad") Smith of with a bazooka as the train came nearer. To their the Marines called the Seabees "the find of this war." BJr BRUCE JACOBS astonis~ent they recognized green fatigue uniforms of And a career Naval officer, Rear Admiral 0. 0. a strictly GI cut. "Wait a second," somebody said, "Those ("Scrappy") Kessing who had a gang of Seabees (from guys aren't North Koreans." the 27th Battalion) under his command in the islands Shell fl.re and bullets raked the cab of the locomotive said of them: "They're a rough, tough, loyal, efficient as it neared the Marine position until at last they were bunch of men who don't give a damn for anything but OOici.al U. S. Navy Ph.otos
The Seabees pitch into a military jig-BBw puzzle, deaning up and rebuilding an island blasted to pieces by bombs and artillery. Even their most ardent supporters agreed that signboard adjacent to their Bougainville camp which the men of the United States Navy Construction proclaimed: Battalions were the most unlikely-looking sailors ever to wear the Navy's blues. Their disregard for When we reach the Isle of Japan with our caps conformity was notorious, their penchant for the spec at jaunty tilt, tacular was monumental. We'll enter the city of Tokyo on roads the Organized for immediate overseas duty in the most Seabees built. crucial days of World War II, the pick-and-shovel sailors, the swashbuckling Seabees, became a colorful legend in Seabees saw service in the Mediterranean and in the the jungles and atolls of the Pacific. They shipped out to European Theater of Operations, too. But it is for their the hot spots in the global war before most of them could Pacific duty (82 per cent of the Seabees served in the tell a belaying pin from a capstan and they won a Paul Pacific) that they are best known. Their success was Bunyan-ish reputation for being men who could get spectacular and they were unique in that, despite the things done under the worst conditions available. inter-service rivalry prevalent in the area, the Seabees They were equally expert at fighting and working but were highly regarded by all. They were a hardy lot working was their primary duty. In the Navy there is an particularly the men of the · early battalions (the term old saying that the fleet is as good as its advance bases. Seabees comes from the initials of Construction Battal With their trip-hanuners, bulldozers and giant cranes, ions) who were recruited directly from civil life on the the Seabees gave the Navy-as well as the Army and the basis of their experience in the construction business. fly boys-a string of advance bases and airfields from They were supreme in their self-confidence and it can ·the far reaches of the South Pacific to the doorstep of be truthfully said that they never tackled a job that Japan herself. stumped them. They built airfields at the height of a All told, by V-J Day the Seabees had built more than rainy season when veteran engineers said it couldn't 400 advance bases in the Pacific and in the Atlantic be done. And they did it in record time. They liked to construction jobs that involved the expenditure of the boast that they were among the first to land and the last staggering sum of two billion dollars. The highways they to leave. For the Seabees to put "their mark" on an hacked out of jungle and the airstrips they carved out island meant to transform it from a wilderne:is into a of coral would, if placed end to end, circle the world modern base of operations. twice! Their familiar corps insignia was a fighting bee whose It was out of sheer admiration for the Seabees' effi arms bristled with a tommy gun, a hammer and a wrench. ciency that Admiral William F. (Bull) Halsey once Less well known was the Seabee official motto: Constri remarked, upon returning to his flagship from an in mus, batuimus-We build, we fight. spection trip ashore, "I had to move lively to keep from But it is in keeping with the character of the Seabees being bulldozed off the beach!" that the catch phrase for which they are best known is And a famed Marine raider battalion posted a huge one that they devised for themselves. It came out of the after the war and earned a brilliant a pair of shorts when a couple of happy Seabee, "that's exactly my prob reputation. soldiers asked me how much I charge lem. l just can't seem to get the hang In the Navy an officer may be des to weave a grass skirt!" of the Navy way!" ignated "line" or "staff duty." The lat The fact is the Bora Bora Bob Cats All through 1942 Seabee recruits ter assignment tends to permit a more came early and stayed late. Theii early swarmed into the Naval Receiving Sta stabilized home life (shore duty as days were murder--even without the tions and were funneled to the training signments) but few promotions. Nev presence of any hostile Japs. They camps set up for Seabees at Camp ertheless Moreen, at 51 was destined slithered through the mud of a rainy Peary, Camp· Allen, Camp Bradford to become the youngest three-star ad season that wouldn't end, encountered (all in Virginia), Camp Endicott, Rhode miral in the Navy. monstrous land crabs and learned at Island, and Camp Lee-Stephenson in It was to Moreell's request (whose first hand of the dread disease called Maine. CEC in 1940 consisted of 125 officers elephantiasis. They went ten weeks Out of the training mill poured fresh and no enlisted men) that the Chief of without any mail from home because battalions to be processed through the Naval Personnel issued orders on Octo they were whisked away so swiftly 3.dvance base depots as they headed ber 31, 1941, directing the formation of that even the super-efficient Fleet Post for overseas assignments. The principal a naval construction battalion for duty Office was unable to figure out what port of embarkation for Seabees headed in Iceland where 369 civilians were had become of them. But they con 'for the Pacific was Port Hueneme, Cali then at work. The men were to be re structed the tank farms that contained ·fornia, which later became a sort of cruited directly from civilian life and the fuel · for the planes and ships that Seabee shrine. Today it is the Con were to be awarded "rates" on the would ultimately fight the Battle of struction Battalion Center for Seabees basis of their civil experience and pro the Coral Sea. assigned the Pacific area as well as the fessional background. The Bora Bora Bob Cats were fol home of the Seabee Museum where Moreen had nearly all of his Iceland lowed overseas by the 1st and 2nd thousands of items used by Seabees in battalion enrolled and in training· when Naval Construction Battalions which combat and equipment captured from developments in the Pacific dictated a were also rushed to South Pacific is the Japanese may be seen. In addition sudden change of plans. As the Japa lands. The 3rd Seabees headed for the to busy Hueneme there were advance nese swarmed down upon the islands Fijis while the 4th Battalion sped north base depots at Davisville, Rhode Island, like a locust plague the Allied high to Dutch Harbor where it promptly lost ~d Gulfport, Mississippi. command began to make plans for the most of its heavy equipment and ma nuring the summer of 1942 the 9th establishment of "blocking positions" chinery in a Jap bombing raid. The 5th Seabees, the first Nava:! Construction astride the sea lanes that the Japanese Battalion raced to Samoa while the 6th and 7th Battalions joined forces at sea Battalion to head east, crossed the At A pla:toon awapa ita pick.a for rifles to acout a Jap-infeeted would attempt to dominate. and eventually reached Espiritu Santo lantic to Iceland. They were set to eeeior of the front where the Air Force wanta a landing field. The most urgent requirement was for work on the runways for Meeks Field, a construction force to build fuel in the New Hebrides. It was from here soon to l;>ecome an important Air Force storage tanks on Bora Bora, a small that the 6th jumped off for Guadal bomber base. As the huge airbase isla:p.d in the Society Group, 140 miles canal where its members earned im doing the job and getting the damn war over." Moving mountairie wa1 child'• play to the Seabeee, but n~t even· mortality as "the Seabees of Henderson neared ·completion there was ever-in In the early days of World War II a Naval chaplain, from Tahiti. creasing concern as to which of the their ingenuity could do anything about the mud oil Guadalcanal. Thus was the Seabees' first mission Field." services would have the honor of mak deeply concerned over the fact that the Sea:bees were born. The word came as the first naval In later years Rear Admiral Joseph F. ing the first landing on the new field. "older men" (average age: 33),expressed a desire to learn construction "boots" struggled with Jelley, ·Jr., as a successor to Admiral The Air Force claimed the prerogative their bell-bottom trousers and learned Moreen; was to comment, "The extreme what could be done to make life in the Navy easy for pressure on the Navy to get the Seabees on the basis of ownership. But blood them. "Begging your pardon, Padre," one Seabee told to rig hammocks and salute. Nearly 200 is thicker than water. The, airmen failed of the construction men who had en out into the advanced areas allowed to remember that the Seabees'who·were him respectfuny, "but I got into this outfit to give, not listed for Iceland plus 103 general serv too little opportunity to acquaint the building the field were Navy men at to get." ice recruits were officially designated men with the ways of the Navy. But heart-even if most of them didn't know the 1st Naval Construction Detachment that did not stop the Seabees from a capstan from a belaying pin. Under It is in the record that when the 8th Seabees got to accomplishing their purpose." Bremerton, Washington, en route to .an overseas assign and rushed aboard ships in a convoy cover arrangements for a "tip off" were poised to sail from the east coast. Sometimes Seabees found that their made ·between the Seabee boss and ment in 1942 more than 200 men passed up their last When Moreen first learned that his ·ignorance of the "Navy way" was actu Captain (later Rear Admiral) Daniel liberty on the town and volunteered to chip paint on the "Iceland Battalion" was to be en ally a blessing in disguise. V. Gallery. USS Nevada. just back from the inferno-of Pearl Harbot. trusted with the Bora Bora mission he There is the story of an Army unit, set up near a Seabee outfit, which prided One brisk mornlng the word was The Seabees were like that. began to look around for a pipe-line flashed to Reykjavik where Gallery, as expert. Several top civilians mentioned itself on knowing all about the Seabees In order to arrive at a clear understanding of the and their midnight raids. ("The Seabees Commander of the U. S. Fleet Air Base Morris T. Duddleston of St. Louis who Iceland, had his headquarters. Gallery reas0ns that lay behind the creation of the Seabees it ·is was then finishing the job of laying 141 never steal," an Army man once re marked caustically. Then he added, grinned as he listened to his excited important to go briedy into the history of Nav'1 advance miles of pipe (at the rate of a mile a ·seabee conspirator: two hundred feet day) for the Portland-Montreal Pipe "Anything that's so big you couldn't base construction. The advance bases required by the bundle it off in a 2112-ton t:r:uck.") of runway was fully paved and finished. Line Company. Moreen decided Dud A few moments after he received this fleet were by custom constructed by civilian workmen dleston was just the man to supervise Accordingly the soldiers took ex under contract to the Navy's Civil Engineer Corps. tensiv.e precautions and organized spe "flash" from his secret agent at the the Bora Bora job. After two days uf airfield site Gallery leaped into a little Every job was done under the surveillance of CEC lengthy long-distance telephone nego cial guard details to safeguard the batta;tion's automotive supplies. There Navy utility plane. Several minutes officers but the construction gangs were composed of tiatfon, "Dud" flew to Washington for later he landed ori the spanking new a conference with "the Chief." He was fore ._it came as something of a shock to civilians. the Army commander when he realized runway to the utter dismay of all Air commissioned a lieutenant commander Force personnel concerned. Tl:;tus first This was never a satisfactory system in the judgment in the Naval Reserve and assigned ·as one day that Seabee vehicles were tearing up and down the roads while landing honors went to 'the Navy of many •senior Naval officers beciuise of the obvious executive officer of the detachment thanks to Seabee connivance. It was a whose C.O. was Cdr. H. M. Sylvester. most of his vehicles were halted for fate that awaited these workmen should the base · at The Seabeee claim credit for the biggest secret weapon of the want of spare parts. bit of teamwork that Gallery never which they were employed come under enemy attack. war, a tricky device for opening a can of beer with one punch. The paperwork was expedited - but forgot. When he went to sea in the even so Duddleston was aboard ship and Strongly suspecting skulduggery he "baby flattop" the USS Guadalcanal he Not only were they unfamiliar with ordinary weapons on ·his way to the South Pacific before asked for-and got-an official inquiry into the matter. nick-named the vessel, Can Do. but by the terms of International Law they could not be were 1,931 at Midway, 1,149 at Wake, 71 at G:uam, 3,412 his commission was fully written up. The world over Seabees were re armed at all. In Washington, however, there was con at C::avite in the Philippines, and 207 on Corregidor. Bora Bora was code-named "Bob Cat" Diligent 'investigation finally pinned ·garded as big-time operators. James and the Seabees of the 1st Detachment down the key man in the great spare siderable opposition to the i!fea of Naval construction The man to whom the Navy turned was then Rear parts mystery: a Seabee warrant officer Michener, who probably had the best detachments. There were those wbo feared that these Admiral (later four-star Admiral) BenMoreell. The inan, were henceforth known not by their eye for detail of all those who have number but as the "Bob Cat Detach who blandly confessed that he had written· about the war in the Pacific, units would be sent into Stateside Navy yards to replace wh.o w.as to become known as the. "King Bee" by the ment." They were destined to become "imported" a machine shop from New Zea1and! came up wi~ the very personification of civilian workmen and stevedores. An outgrowth of this is Seabees, was Chief of the Bureau of Yards and Docks the Old Settlers of the Pacific War and the beau ideal Seabee in his .Luther a policy which exists today--Seabees are employed only and, therefore, the Navy's Chief of CJ.Vil Engineers. saw service at Tutuila, Kwajalein and As a. former· machine-top! company Billis of Tales of the South Pacific fame. Eniwetok before being disbanded 39 executive he· had recalled the names of The Seabees were big-time operators on overseas projects. Born in Utah, raised in .St. Louis, Missouri, Moreell months later. some customers in New Zealand. He The anticipated tragedy became a reality with fright graduated with high honors from Washington University. -and they gloried in the role. Their The favorite story ·of the Bob Cat bummed a ride on an airplane bound lockers of cold beer and their ice cream ening suddenness on December 7, 1941. At. that time there His engineering degree got him a job with the city of St. Seabees concerned the time one of their for Auckland and upon arrival called on beachheads were part of a proud were no· less than 70,000 unarmed civilian contract 1 ouis but when the U, S. entered World War 1 Moreell number overheard several sailors fresh upon his company's old customers and cajoled them into parting with · their tradition. Their windmill washing ma workers employed on naval-base projects. Among them entered the Navy. He stayed on in the regular service from Pearl Harbor admiring the sun chines were Pacific landmarks.• In their tans they had acquired on shipboard. tools "for the duration." In this way he 6pare time they built motor scooters, "You guys· make me laugh," the Bob put together a complete machine shop: sailing boats and surf boards out of Cat Seabee finally exploded when he A Navy captain told the Seabee· that material taken from the junk piles. In could c1:mtain himself. .no longer. "You this wasn't precisely the Navy way of; at least one outfit worn-out truck tires think you're sunburned. Well, Just yes handling a · procurement problem. were "salvaged" and turned into rubber terday I was walking near the docks iii, "Doggone it, sir," exclaimed 'the un... heels. In another outfit the "kingpin" was a :fellow who :fashioned a two bloody, begrimed flag. trigger-happy Marine sentinels, when Construction Battalion Maintenance used them for bridge pilings. Bofors gun as they chased the Japs pronged device for opening beer cans. "This is supposed to be the 'chop' of called upon to identify himself the Sea Units (CBMUs) and the Naval Pontoon Simultaneously with the operations on back to the beach. Its magic (and its appeal to the gadget the most famous movie actress in Ja bee officer would roar, "Commander Assembly Detachments. The former B'undon, dammit!" Tarawa and Makin the Marines secured When morning came the Seabces of happy Seabees) lay in the :fact that it pan," he said glibly, quoting his Sea were small detachments formed to re Apamama in the Gilberts and in short the 40th Battalion counted 47 casual enabled drinking hole and air hole to bee benefactor. "I guess this Jap was Blundon's Seabees of the 6th Bat talion helped write the text book on place regular Seabee Battalions once the order the 95th Seabees were landed to ties including nine killed in action. It be made in one easy movement! her lover-or maybe just a fan." major construction job was completed build a fighter strip that became known had been a bitter night's work and out For the most part Seabees were overly Then he turned to the Nisei. "Hey! Guadalcanal. They functioned as combat engineers, aviation engineers and con and the war moved on. as O'Hare Field. They had it ready by of it came an award, to the Seabees, of generous. A visiting Marine or infantry Can you translate the whole business Today the Seabees are organized into December 10 and the first plane landed the Army's Distinguished Unit Citation. soldier could always get a hot meal at for me so's I can write it down?" struction engineers on an around-the• Amphibious Construction Battalions on December 13. a Seabee mess and when he left it was The Nisei broke into a grin at this clock schedule. They found that Seabees Later the 515th CBMU, which took (such as the unit which served in Korea For the Seabees there weren't enough part in the assault on Guam with the usually with a fresh shirt (stencilled point. "What it says," he told the Navy had to handle assignments that weren't from 1950-53), Mobile Construction Bat hours in the day as they converted the "USN") in place of the mud-crusted officer, "is that you have been taken laid out in the training manuals. First Provisional ·Marine Brigade, was Working under gunfire and bombard talions, and CBMUs. The amphib Sea beautiful little island into a war base named as one of the Seabee organiza fatigue shirt he was wearing when he for a ride by the 133rd Seabees!" bees are even trained as frogmen. with tank-fuel farms, taxiways, Quon arrived. It is, in a sense, misleading tq relate ment they found that 100 Seabees tions to win the Navy Unit Commenda could completely repair the damage Around the time that the 6th Seabees set huts-the works. tion Ribbon. It is a matter of historical fact that a the stories of Seabees as big-time oper were getting ready to make their move unique rivalry developed between the ators and good-will ambassadors. It done by one 500-pound aerial bomb in And in their spare time the Seabees When the brigade became the Sixth to Guadalcanal another battalion that brought a touch of the outside world to Marine Division on Guadalcanal in the Seabees and the Marines. should not, for even one moment, be just 40 minutes. During one terrible was to enjoy a long and interesting "Actually," says a former Marine forgotten that they were fighting men. bombardment when 53 bombs struck a tired old French priest and three nuns fall of 1944 the 58th Seabees, who were Corps combat correspondent, "it was They did not win their battle honors Henderson Field the Seabees worked association with the Marines was (the only white women on the island) already veterans of Cape Gloucester, sort of an undercover mutual admira and their rapid acceptance among the until they were about to drop. Another formed under Commander L. E. Tull. of the Society of the Sacred Heart, a put their talents to work and created a tion society." services because of their kindnesses to time they filled 13 holes in one hour, In World War I, Tull had served as a Catholic mission. By the time the Sea "Japanese Village" in the jungles of the An anonymous bit of Seabee doggerel stray soldiers or because they could be during an artillery shoot, as a crippled 2nd lieutenant in the Army Engineers bees of the construction battalion moved Tassafaronga area-complete with a that helped to fan the flames of the counted upon to produce a cold can U. S. plane circled overhead, waiting and subsequently had spent many years out (in May, 1944, when a CBMU was bank, a bar, and a luridly decorated feud is reprinted herewith. It is said of beer. to land. building Methodist Missions in South moved in to take over the job) they geisha house. All simulated, of course. to originate with the Seabees who were The Seabees fought and worked hard "But the very worst thing," recalls Africa. Before he joined the Seabees had equipped the tattered old Mission Months later the 58th Battalion saw in the New Georgia campaign. -and they almost never complained one of the Seabees of Henderson, "was he was a construction engineer for the with electric lights and had taught a action with the Division on Okinawa. about their lot. when a bomb didn't go off. We had to Treasury Department and the Federal native how to run the portable gener At Camp Tarawa, Hawaii, the 31st The admiral just dropped around The quarter of a million men who dig it out anyway." Works Administration. ator. They installed an electric pump Seabees hooked up with the Fifth Ma to chat the other night. served in the Seabees in World War II The first combat hero of the Seabees His outfit, activated as the 18th Sea so neither the sisters nor the priest, rine Division-and promptly appropri Said he, "Now boys you're here to work, (like the 10,000 who served during the proved to be Seaman First Class Law bees, was ordered to Norfolk to ship out who was quite sick, would have to carry ated the division's "Spearhead" nick but you've been trained to fight. Korean emergency) worked for officers rence C. (Bucky) Meyer of Toledo, for overseas. At Norfolk the Seabees water from the well; they installed a name. Commander D. T. Ermilio's vet So if there's any trouble, don't stop who were basically engineers or vet Ohio. Meyer "obtained" (a Seabee Were issued Marine Corps clothing and kerosene refrigerator, taught the sisters eran outfit was new to the Pacific, being to put on your jeans, eran construction men. Few of the Sea expression which can mean anything) equipment and told to send their how to make ice cream by using on a "second cruise" after duty in Ber Just drop your tools and grab your bee officers were regulars, practically a machine gun and set it up in his fox scarcely used Navy "blues" and "whites" powdered milk and fruit extracts-and muda. It was destined to accompany guns--and protect those poor Marines! none of the troop commanders were hole. Next he got a supply of ammuni back home. On November 11, 1942, the brought their isolation to an end by the the Marines to the sands of Iwo Jima. tion from the Marines. One day he battalion arrived in New Caledonia. It crowning gift of all-a radio that was The "Spearhead" Seabees took part in It was during the assault on one of ~*************************** raced for his gun as the Jap raiders was soon on its way to Guadalcanal powerful enough to pick up programs the shore-party operations on the hotly the New Georgia beaches, as a matter appeared overhead. As the enemy be with a new designation: 3rd Battalion, from Sydney, Australia, and San Fran contested beachhead where (like the of :fact, that when the Marine landing gan his bombing and strafing run Meyer 18th Marines, 2nd Marine Division. The cisco. On leaving, the Seabees apologized sister 31st, 62nd, and 133rd Battalions) party hit the shore it was astounded INVEST IN trained his machine gun upward and 18th Marine Regiment was the engineer for being unable to furnish the Mission it endured the fierce shot and shell on when the bushes parted - and out began pumping lead. He knocked down regiment of the 2nd Marine Division. Its with an electric washing machine. In the tiny island at Japan's doorstep. stepped a welcoming party: Seabees a Jap Zero and helped break up the 1st and 2nd Battalions were regular the months that lay ahead the Seabees It was here that a dilemma was posed led by Lieutenant Commander Robert attack. He was awarded the Silver Star, Marine engineers. By the time the of Apamama were destined to see action when Army-manned amphibious trucks L. Ryan of Santa Paula, Calif. U. S. SAVINGS BONDS the first decoration for gallantry in campaign had come to an end and the in the Marshalls and on bloody Iwo trying to land sorely needed Marine "Major," the 50-year-old Seabee of combat given to a member of the Sea 2nd Marine Division was ready to de Jima. Corps artillery on the beachhead on the ficer told the Marine commander with bees. Meyer was later killed in a Jap part for New Zealand the 18th Seabees Seabees continued to serve with afternoon of D-Day found that the a broad grin, "it is always a pleasure to NOW EVEN BETTER air raid while working on a pontoon were hard at work expanding Henderson assault troops (of both the Army and place selected for their lodgement was · welcome the Marines." (Later it was barge. Field into a major airdrome and so Marines) but as "Corps Troops," which not a sloping beach but a shelf-like disclosed that Commander Ryan and ***•************************ Seabees Duncan Giles and Howard they were left behind when the Division is to say they came under command formation. some of his men had made a recon Osborn got the Silver Star on the 'Canal pulled out. Later the battalion caught of the Corps Commander-a step up Annapolis graduates. Nearly all of the up with the others at "Moonshine ward in the echelon of command. The DUKWs were unable to make it patrol prior to D-Day to locate the best 10,000 officers of the Seabees were des for digging eight men out of a foxhole onto dry land-until an intrepid Sea site for an airstrip on Segi Point. For that was caved in by a shell. Under fire Camp'' in Judgeford Valley where the Although they earned their greatest ignated as CEC, USNR, Class V (S). Seabee-engineers shared in the good fame operating with the Marines, few bee leaped into a bulldozer and raced his subsequent job in rushing the air That is supposed to stand for Civil the whole time (around three hours) down the beach with a grappling hook. strip to complefam Ryan was awarded they finally pulled out the Marines, times enjoyed by the Marines. incidents of Seabee valor can surpass Engineering Corps, United States Naval The 6th Seabees were replaced in the that of the 40th Battalion with the 1st As enemy mortar and machine-gun fire the Legion of Merit by the Army.) Reserve, Volunteer Specialist. The of seven of whom were still alive. Un rained down, the unknown hero hauled The Marines rarely got sore at the able to use their shovels in the mud 1st Marine Division by the 19th Seabees Cavalry Division of the United States ficers themselves joked about this des who then became known as the 3rd Army in the "Brewer Force" assault the artillery-packing DUKWs from the Seabees. They just growled their slogan: ignation and claimed that "V ( S) " meant and slime the two Seabees dug with water-until at last he was struck down "Never slug a Seabee-he may be some their hands and helmets while steel Battalion, 17th Marine Regiment. on Los Negros in the Admiralties. "Victory-then Scram." Naval Construction Battalions served The vital airfield was overrun by by enemy fire. Marine's father." One of the most colorful figures in rained all around them. Seabees armed with rifles and auto All inter-service friendships were More Seabees (14th and 26th Bat in the Marine divisions in the Pacific the Gis of the 5th Cavalry Regiment the Seabees was Captain Wilfred L. until the spring of 1944 when the and a perimeter was hastily organized. matic rifles moved forward at an awk out the windoy.r of course, when it came "Wild Bill" Painter who hailed from talions) reached Guadalcanal to pitch ward gait, into the swirl of battle. In to souvenirs. This was a serious busi in and help out as the malaria-weak engineering regimental organization was When the Japanese launched a counter Seattle, Washington, but had spent most abolished by the Marine Corps and re attack against the still-thin U. S. lines, the 133rd Battalion alone there were ness and one in which the enterpris of his adult years in China and there ened 6th struggled with the limited more than 200 casualties by the time the ing Seabees participated with all their facilities at hand. In two months every placed by pioneer and engineer bat the senior Army commander issued abouts. Painter's specialty was behind talions. The principal reason for the terrible ordeal' of Iwo was over. hearts. The most celebrated instance in the-lines forays to scout sites for piece of lumber that the 6th used was crisp orders to the Seabees: "Move in the writer's memory concerns a trans salvaged from Japanese material. When change was the fact that all available and hold the line!" The fortunes of .war assigned the Sea airfields. Frequently he landed on Seabees were required for important bees to an Army task force when the action that took place on Iwo Jima. It enemy-held beaches to pick the landing they couldn't get the parts they needed On shore at the time was an advance was a time when the Army Garrison to keep their U. S. vehicles in operation, construction tasks and the Navy did detachment of two officers and 100 men 24th Seabees were landed at Munda site for an amphibious assault. At 35 with the 172nd Infantry Regimental Force had taken over and the island he was the youngest four-striper in the Seabees pressed 25 Jap trucks into not want entire battalions tied up with from the 40th Battalion. They swiftly seemed to have been picked clean of service. divisions that were largely inactive took over a sector of the perimeter on Combat Team of the 43rd Infantry Divi the Navy. A reservist, like most of his sion. Commander Roy Whittaker's bat worthwhile souvenirs although Japa fellow officers in the Seabees, "Wild They worked and fought and died. between campaigns. the right flank of the beachhead. nese canteens, mess kits and cartridge One time a Jap sub surfaced and fired Thus after Tarawa the 2nd Marine The battalion's ditch-digger was used talion was faced with the job of building Bill" was famous for the "Painter Ex an airfield at the worst of the rainy pouches were still plentiful. Then it pedition" into Jap-held China when he point-blank at a ship the Seabees were Division and the 18th Seabees parted to scoop out a trench 300 yards long and became knovvn that certain Seabees working on. By mid-January when the company as did the 1st Marine Division into this ditch piled the Seabees armed season. The site indicated was little was a civilian oil man before our entry more than a bog. Nevertheless the big had a . stock of samurai swords, Jap into the war. 6th Seabees departed for New Zealand and the 19th Seabees after New Britain with an array of BARs, rifles, and sharpened knives. The battalion's 20 mm bulldozers moved in and the work be helmets, and highly prized battle flags. There was Commander Joseph P. (the 1st Marine Division had already But the Marines of the 2nd Division been relieved) it counted 56 casualties. would long remember how Commander gun (truck-mounted) was set up be gan. They were bombed and in one A 'Naval officer ashore from an LST Blundon, who was probably the first vicious raid lost 26 men, their biggest made contact with the traders and Seabee under fire in World War II. Among the lessons that the Navy Tull's Seabees drove their bulldozers hind the trench and ordered to place its .negotiated for a blood-splotched battle learned on Guadalcanal in the early against enemy positions on bloody Betio. fire upon a grove that was thick with bulldozer, five tons of dynamite and all Commander Blundon came to Guadal snipers. their supplies and equipment. When flag. It was a steal at 50 bucks and a canal ahead of his 6th Seabee Battalion days of the campaign was that civilian By the same token the 1st Marine bottle of stateside bourbon. stevedores could not efficiently unload Division would always remember its While this 100-man force prepared to they pulled out all they owned was the and in the course of inspecting the per clothing on their backs. The average It wasn't until weeks later when his imeter of Henderson Field he was cargo on a beachhead. This too became 19th Seabees and the amazing speed help hold the line other members of the a job for the Seabees and an outfit with which they built the bridges over battalion landed and began to grade Seabee in the Munda campaign lost ship was back at Pearl Harbor that the pinned down .by machine-gun and over 20 pounds. Naval lieutenant had an opportunity to mortar fire. Blundon found to his dis known as the 1st Special Naval Con which the Marines' tanks advanced to and clear the taxiways and runways display his proud possei;;sion before an may that a slight speech defect which struction Battalion was rushed to the Hell's Point and to the airfield. under fire. The Seabees introduced a new style admiring throng at the .Moana Hotel at mattered little back in Keyser, West 'Canal to unload the boats. This was "If any operation was ever won by The major Japanese counterattack of warfare during landings in the Treas Waikiki. Among his drinking com Virginia, coud be the difference be the forerunner of 41 special battalions the Seabees and their bulldozers-that came March 3-4 and it was a night of ury Islands. When a Japanese pillbox panions was a Nisei interpreter who tween life and death on the 'Canal. employed on beachheads in every the was it," the Marines said of the New terror and confusion. In one place, held up the works and pinned down the listened, along with the others, as the Like our adversary, the Japs, Blundon ater of operations as the war progressed. Britain campaign, when most of the Army guns went Marines a 28-year-old Machinist Mate Navy man pointed out the Japanese was unable to properly pronounce "l." Besides the "specials" the other off Only the signal people were unhappy. silent the Seabees rushed forward to First Class, Aurelio Tassone, drove his characters scrawled in ink upon the After a few unhappy experiences with shoots of the Seabees were the Naval They claimed the Seabees stole their lend their supporting fire. They recap bulldozer right up to the pillbox and hard-to-come-by telephone poles and tured two machine-gun positions and a dumped a ton of earth on it smothering