Evening star., 1945-01-07
By William G. Barnard,
Associated Press Staff Writer.

HOUSTON, Tex, Jan. 6.-The Seabees
have taken part in every invasion in
every theater of United States war
They go in with the first landing parties
to repair, to build and to fight. :. They
are the "can do, will do-did'' boys of
the Navy. {. .
Ofhcially, the Seabees are little
more than years old. Actually, they
date back to 1917 when public works
company was organized under Rear Ad-
miral Norman Murray Smith at the
Great Lakes Naval Training Station. -.
Admiral Smith, 81, stocky of build and
blue of eye, now is area superintendent
of civil engineers. In short time
perhaps a week or two-the Navy will
release him to assume the presidency
of the University of South Carolina, to
which he was elected last month.
Planning the Organization
r Meanwhile, he took time out one day
recently to recall the days when he be-
came, unofacially at least, the father
of the Seabees.
Early in the last war;" he said, while
I was public works officer at Great
Lakes, it was necessary to design and
build housing and facilities for thou
sands of men and officers.
Civilian assistance was not available.
Speed was essential. The officers and
men of the entire station were can
vassed and around 900 well-qualified and
experienced men and officers were
formed into a public works company.
This organization handled the de-
sign, engineering, accounting, inspec-
ton and supervision of material pur-
chased and the construction of four
camps at the station: Camps Decatur,
Farragut, Dewey and Ross. Camp Paul
Jones was actually constructed by en-
listed men under this organization.
I'm the fall of 1917 this public works
company organization was turned over
to Capt George Mckay and later op-
Grated under the late Capt. w. H. AL
len. During the middle 1930s, while I
was chief of the Bureau of Yards and
Docks I assigned Capt. Allen to the
bureaus Divisions for Civil Engineer
Corps Reserve Officers and War Plans;
also as the bureaus representative on
the Navy Departments War Plans
Board.
Construction Battalions
1T was during this time that Capt.
Allen and 1 worked up proposed Or
ganization that could be developed and
trained for the construction and main
tenance of Navy advance bases in time
of war. Such an organization would be
known as construction battalions, pat
termed on the public works company as
developed at Great Lakes but with suf-
ficient and appropriate officers and ar
tisans to handle all prospective prob
lens. This was approved by the de-
partment War Plans Board.
Additional officers were commissioned
In the Civil Engineer Corps. A cor
respondence training course was estab-
lished, SO that many reserve officers were
well prepared and on active duty when
December 7, 1941, came.
Overseas War Work
1.-THE part I played has been small
indeed. From necessity in 1917 public
works company had to be. formed to
carry out our objective. From this there
was born in 1884 or 1885 the idea of
construction battalions for overseas war
works 1t was something that had to be-
only a small beginning had been
made when the Japs struck But this
small beginning, under the guidance of
Admiral Ben Morell, his personnel
officer, Commodore John Perry, and
others, burst into sudden activity The
total force has now reached 262 900,
with at least 115,O00 overseas"
The admiral, serious man who
chooses his words carefully, says the
fighting the Seabees have done lis
remarkable when you consider that
many Seabees are getting on in years.
Hand-to-Hand Combat
"On Los Negros Island, Seabees were
in hand-to-hand combat with the Japs
while building vital airfeld. They
stopped three Japanese attacks cold.
Nineteen-year-old Edward OBrien, car
penter's mate, third class, killed 16 of
the enemy single handed. Then he
organized a 10-man Seabee patrol that
held a portion of our line for five hours.
A total of 800 Japs were slaughtered.
Yet, the Seabees prepared Los Negros
airfield for use in seven days, two days
under schedule. One officer and nine
men were killed and an officer and A
men were wounded.
In the Mediterranean theater the
54th Construction Battalion, under heavy
enemy fire, ran 875 feet of six-inch
water line across navigable channel
to provide water for our landing parties.
"At Tarawa, Seabees exposed them
selves to Jap fire by working under lights
at nights in order to do their vital work
as quickly as possible
Repairing Battle Damage
During so-called vacation of three
and one-half months, Chief Petty Officer
Richard Wood and detail of the goth
Construction Battalion installed intri-
cate electrical units on old destroyers,
assisted in repairing two squadrons of
PIT boats, helped to repair battle DAM
age on 30 destroyers and aided in con-
verting two destroyers to minelayers.
Some vacation"
The admiral took a deep breath,
cmiled and leaned back in his chair.
That" he said, will give you a
-ough idea of the drive, the energy and
he spirit of the Seabees. Every man
of them is volunteer and they work
nd fight like volunteers