Show Merry Ge J Sea ea Bees Bees' Play a aI Big I Part in Navy Victories Victoria By fly Drew Pearson WASHINGTON When WASHINGTON When U U. SS S. S marines stormed ashore on the Gilbert Islands they found what the Japs Saps did not find two years before when they raided Wake and Guam Just after Pearl Harbor Harbor Har Har- bor namely tremendous concrete con con- concrete crete blockhouses which not even en big guns could knock out Today however I If the Japs should counterattack some of ot the Islands we have taken from them they would find miracles o of construction These miracles mira cles Iles have been performed by a a. branch ranch o of the navy which was thrown together only after Pearl Harbor and which this month celebrates its second anniversary sary the sary-the the branch known as the Seabees Seabee Official name of or the Seabees Is C C. C B. B Bs B.'s B.'s Bs sor or construction battalions Two years ago they did not exist And it was the killing and capture of or civilian civilIan civilian civil civil- ian construction workers on Wake Vake Guam a and n d at Cavite which emphasized the navys navy's need of or enlisting construction men and forming them into fighting engineer battalions There are 59 construction trades enrolled in the Seabees so so wide a range that their men can operate b bulldozers In Install install in in- stall water systems telephones electric light plants build cantonments cantonments can can- or even repair ships In the Aleutians at Salerno and especially In the southwest Pacific they have had to do all allor of or these things sometimes under under under un un- der enemy attack In the Solomons Solomons Solomons Solo Solo- mons for tor instance a 8 battalion o of Negro Seabees landed on a 8 jungle-covered jungle Island and began began began be be- gan construction o of a 8 vitally needed airfield A few days later despite enemy fire they had logged and milled their own lumber from native trees supplied supplied sup sup- plied water from a mountain stream installed lights and telephones telephones tele tele- phones and had the field in operation operation all all in addition to digging digging digging dig dig- ging holes Sox for themselves When United States stales troops landed on island a navy carried one terse sentence The corrugated road made possible the passage of ot all equipment which to toa a any n y engineer meant another construction miracle What happened was that the I oozy tropic muck of the shore made it impossible to I 1 land and a n d trucks tractors artillery am am- The Seabees first laid down a steel mesh net This merely sank into th the muck Trucks began to disappear as if ir irin in quicksand So an entire forest forest forest for for- est of ot palm trees was felled and their trunks laid across acrosS' the roadway y This was the corrugated road des described In Inthe inthe inthe the terse on one line lIne At Salerno the S Seabees together together to to- gether with the army's annys amphibious ous engineers did some o of the most heroic and Important iI work of that bloody landing laying out a a. network of roads road across the beach before heavy artillery could come ome ashore One Important factor behind the meteoric development of the Seabees in hi t two yo yo years Is t the e tough thorough going training they get before being shipped overseas This takes place at three U. U S. S camps one camps one at Davisville Davisville Davisville Da- Da R. R I I. under Captain Fred F. F Rogers one one at Camp Peary Va under Captain J. J G. G Ware and one at a location which must remain secret These camps In themselves have been near miracles of construction con con- When c Captain Ware turned up near near Williamsburg Va In September 1 1942 42 to command command com com- mand his new new S Seabee abee camp he found round nothing but 30 square miles of ot wilderness and swampland swampland swamp swamp- land so desolate that during the building o of the camp the skeletons skeletons tons o of several Negroes were found in the swamps Chief Chic residents of the district dis- dis district district dis dis- were Negro squatters There was also a large hog farm This was what gave Captain Ware the idea of raising hogs tv n t. t w. w D tv n t. t w. w D to provide extra meat for the Seabees and this led to reports that he was operating the farm for his own benefit Actually allo all o of the proceeds from the hog farm fann went to the ships ship's service fund to benefit bendit the Seabees Thou Though h In Its early stages Camp Peary was described by bythe bythe bythe the navy as hells worst mud mud- hole today Captain Ware Vare has transformed It into a neat orderly orderly orderly or or- derly stretch stretch 0 of hutments soldiers' soldiers barracks with rounded roofs stretching as far as the thousand men eye can see Many are now located there all training training training train train- inthe inthe in inthe ing for construction work wor the the Pacific Burma or on western front Morale always difficult In any new organization is now excellent The training th the Seabees Seabees Sea Sea- bees get in the swamps o of Virginia Vir Vir- Vir Virginia ginia under a retired nav naval l captain captain captain cap cap- tain called back to active duty is one big reason for the the feats of 0 heroism and accomplishment in the southwest Pacific In In In fact the swampy conditions in that part of ot Virginia Virginia Vir Vir- ginia ginia- have helped materially in in- training for jungle warfare abroad A good many of the men qualify qualify for petty officer ratings with base pay at 78 to a month If It they stayed at home in the relative safety of a war plant they would make two to three times that much h However r the Seabees have had so many recruits that the organization has reached its authorized strength Copyright 1943 United Features Syndi Syndicate ate J |