Petty Officer 2nd Class Jerry Miller Smith, standing, a World War II veteran and one of the original members of the first construction battalion of the Navy, celebrated his 100th birthday Aug. 27, 2013, at the North Carolina Executive Governor's Mansion in Raleigh, N.C. Smith is one of the pioneers of the famed "Seabees" that became part of the militarized Naval Construction Force responsible for building advance bases, hospitals, highways, and airports in combat zones throughout the South Pacific Islands in the 1940s. Here he is shaking hand of a World War II Marine veteran, T.C. Lawson, who recovered in one of the medical facilities Smith helped build. (U.S. Army National Guard Photo by Sgt. Leticia Samuels, North Carolina National Guard Public Affairs/Released)