They call themselves seabees, im oliver north and this is war stories coming to you from the u. S. Navy seabee museum, port hueneme, california. Seabees landed on iwo jima and built the bunker i lived in. Their motto, we build, we fight, has taken them with a rife until one hand and a hammer to every major battlefield in world war ii, korea, vietnam and beyond. Today their cando spirit, ingenuity is evident in iraq, afghanistan and anywhere elsewhere the global war on terror is being fought. Join us tonight as we pay tribute to the men and women of the u. S. Navy seabees. December, 1941, before the seabees were created, some 70,000 civilian contractors employed by the u. S. Navys bureau of yards and docks were working on Construction Projects overseas. Most were spread out over the pacific, Building Bases on tiny specs of coral, like wake island, midway and guam. The civilian contractors were the same kind of construction workers who had worked on a lot of the big projectsike hoover dam, triborough bridge in the 1930s. Tell me about what the bureau of yards and docks does. The bureau of yards and docks was first started in 1842 to build naval shore establishments. Layer ra goodby is the director of u. S. Seabee museum in port hueneme, california. Where the navy basically refuels. They refuel their planes, their ships, refuels its personnel. As war engulfed europe and asia, there was great concern that it soon would arrive on our door step. 49yearold rear admiral ben moreel urged the navy to construct those who could fight. Was handpicked as chief of bureau of yards and docks. First night Japanese Forces attacked guam. And this morning, the japanese attacked midway. After pearl harbor, obviously, they couldnt have civilian contractors in the middle of a war zone. That is why the seabees were born. Barely a month after pearl harbor, the first unofficial seabees, calling themselves bobcats, left the United States for french poll knee shan. As the bobcats laborered in the pacific, admiral moreells wish was granted. In 1942 the seabees were official. Im ben moreell, im the first director of this new branch of the navy, king bee. They sent out recruiters and posters and said, this is what we need. And we need it now. And they were flooded with people who wanted to join and wanted to build and fight. Gina nichols archives 12,000 cubic feet of photo, films and documents at seabee museum. The average age of a seabee was 35 years old during world war ii, but they had found several of them that were well over 60. Each Naval Construction battalion, or ncb, had 1,000 men command by 33 men. The king bee themselves funnished them with their official motto, we built, we fight. The reason they were called seabees because they were construction battalion, so letter c, letter b. To boost morale they came up with this idea of having a logo. The brain child of a 22yearold talent the cartoonist, frank iafrate. His first drawing was of a beaver but he found out it turns tail and run. Then he thought of the busy bee, a hammer, a wrench, of course, a tommy gun for when he fights. The first seabees completed recruit training at camps perry and allen in virginia. Three more facilities were soon established. Davisville, rhode island, gulfport, mississippi, and port hueneme, california. The basic mission thought world war ii was to build advanced bases. Anything west of pearl harbor was an advanced base . Yes. And anything east of florida was an advanced base. They were building barracks, hospitals, all that kind of thing for any branch of the service who needed it. They would build more than 400 advanced bases as they traveled the five roads to victory. Theyre imaginary roads. It kind of shows the path that the u. S. Military took during world war ii to fight their enemy. Those that left from the east early went the north atlantic route and some went the southern atlantic route. From port hueneme they went either south pacific, Central Pacific or the northern pacific. The seabees were less than six months old when their first unit came under fire. Only three weeks after the marines hit the beach at guadal canal, seabees of the 6th Naval Construction battalion. Larry clat and ncb joined the 6th in guadalcanal. Our assignment was to build that fighter strip at henderson field, which our commander was going to see completed in the deadline time if it hairlipped him. He had everybody, including cooks and bakers, out there carrying steel. The 22yearold son of a colorado fruit farmer was an architects apprentice before joining the navy. What was your personal job . Was carrying mat to lay on the airstrip. Each strip of that marstan matting, thats heavy stuff. Well, each man was carrying about 50, 60 pounds. And used both hooks to carry it because the sheets are metal, perforated, you know, so two guys, one on each end, would carry a sheet and lay it in place. And youre getting bombed on a regular basis. We were getting air raids every night. In typical seabee fashion, the air strip was finished ahead of schedule. Larrys job was far from over. Next stop, bloody tarawa. The japanese simply held their fire. Then they opened up. They had us first dead in the water. And their for the fictions were the key to that kind of definite. Uhhuh. No one anticipated how effective their construction would be. And it turns out, youre given the assignment of actually showing the brass how well they built their fortifiction. It was imperative admiral nimitz knew what we were up against. What they could expect from here on out if we ever took another fortified drawing. The top drawing shows a beach implacement, something they had never seen before, tarawa. Right. They come close to the edge and you can see they built double layers of coconut filled with sand in between them with the steel plate over the top. Were you aware that the navy then built a gunnery range in hawaii based on your drawings so before a u. S. Navy vessel left pearl harbor, they had to fire and qualify on the range that your drawing were used to help build. I was unaware. Never knew that until this moment. Youre credited of saving the lives of a lot of marines. What do you know about that. What do you know about that. Well, its ver i hope the days come easy and the moments pass slow and each road leads you where you want to go if its cold outside show the world the warmth of your smile but more than anything more than anything my wish for you is that this life becomes all that you want it to your dreams stay big, your worries stay small you never need to carry more than you can hold and while youre out there gettin where youre gettin to i hope you know somebody loves you and wants the same things too yeah, this is my wish this is my wish by march of 44 the tenacious seabees were established as a vital part of our navy and caught the attention of john wayne who was in the movie the fighting seabees. The duke paid homage in his final production home to the seabees. Ill tell you whenever i reach the area, i always looked up the seabees because they were the best scroungers. They had the best chow, the best quarters, the best. Cando ingu any you it is the hall mark of the seabees typified by marstan matting and the tar poon, sometimes called the magic box. They could build causeways, ferries. It could build anything. First used by general George Patton in sicily and weighed a ton and floated in just 18 inches of water carrying up to 20 times its weight, it would serve faithfully again 1,000 miles away in france. Eisenhowers decide, were going into normendy. Theres no real port facilities there. Who comes up with the idea for the floating piers. The british idea came up with the idea of the mulberry. Operation mulberry was the code name of the construction of two artificial harbors, essential for landing troops and supplies to break through hitlers defenses. Rumor has it the Prime Minister Winston Churchill devised a mulberry plan while playing with miniature models in his ships bath tube on his way to the quebec conference. Found himself in this closeddoor meeting in london when suddenly in come mr. Winston churchill and he had his hat on and his cigar and said, gentlemen, we want you to know that we thought the seabees would be the best people to build and erect this portable harbor. The plan called for two harbors. Mulberry a for the american landing beaches and mulberry b for british. The prefabricated parts were built in english, towed across the English Channel assembled over the normandy coast. We chose where we wanted to come in. If we did not bring the equipment in, the invasion would have failed. Joining ray dpchlt ierks was cleveland native bobby pintar. First the pier heads maneuvered by charlie company. Pier head had a 200 by 60 foot wide steel pontoon deck. Each corner was a four by four steel 60foot long spud operated by electrical engines and cables. We could run the spud down into the sea floor and then the deck would go up and down with the water. Bobby pintars Alpha Company towed in the phoenixes, hallow concrete boxes sunk to provide a breakwater for the pier. They had a nickname the coffin. If you were on the catwalk, 160 foot between the bow and the stern, you fall in, youre falling down 60 foot into the solid concrete. And Delta Company positioned the whales, 80foot bridge spans leading from the pier head to the shore. All put together like a giant jigsaw puzzle forming two artificial harbors weighing a million tons each. But before the mulberries could be assembled and the rhino ferries could offload their cargo, seabees and Army Engineers had to destroy field marshall deadly atlantic wall. The seabees were attached to the demolition teams that went ashore and did a lot of the demo work. Normally, thats what the army corps of engineer. This is the greatest amphibious operation in military history. I had a front row seat for the all the shelling. Meanwhile, 19yearold bobby pintar was riding across the channel on a coffin. He was on watch when ten miles off the coast he heard two splashes. I haollered down there, mayday, mayday, torpedos, torped torpedos. The first two missed but next two german uboat torpedos came to bobby. When it hit us it was a thud, silent for a moment or two and then a very, very large kaboom. It blew us up. We were then pulled down with the sinking of the phoenix to the bottom of the English Channel. During that time, youre in the process of drowning. And your brain is passing you by with your whole life. Of the 12 men, only 6 survived. As seen here in this picture, they were picked up six hours later by the british ship hms vivacious. Bobby pintars phoenix never make it but bobby hooked up to the bridge span and mulberry was hooked up eight days after the invasion. We all clapped because we were so proud that they could go dry all the way to shore. Five days later the worst storm in 40 years destroyed the manmade american harbor, but some 9,000 tons of equipment, 11,000 troops had made it ashore. When my dads division landed at normandy, they walked across one of those causeways the seabees had actually built down there. Theres a story that George Patton managed across the rhine with the help of seabees. And it is a true story. However, he would not allow them to wear seabee uniforms. So, they were actually wearing army uniforms, but in many places, if you look hard enough on photos, you actually see the seabee on their shirt. A seabee who stormed the beachesim good. But i have a story [music] and i dont know where to start. Im good but i feel alone in a crowd. Im good but nobody understands. Im good but the past keeps coming back. But i cant get out of bed. But i cant sleep. Im good but i feel overwhelmed. Im good but i dont feel safe. But i dont even know who i am anymore. But i still have nightmares. But i dont need any help. Im good but i dont feel anything anymore. Im good but i cant live like this anymore. Im really not so good. But are you ready to listen . [text] Suicide Prevention is everyones responsibility. [text] listen to the Service Member or veteran in your life. [music] okawhoa ady . [ explosion ] nothing should get in the way of the things you love. Get americas fastest internet. Only from xfinity. By switching to xfinity x1. Rio Olympic Games show me gymnastics. X1 lets you search by sport, watch nbcs highlights and catch every live event on your tv with nbc sports live extra. Im getting ready. Are you . X1 will change the way you experience nbcuniversals coverage of the rio Olympic Games. Call or go online today to switch to x1. By early 45, the longrange bombing of japan was in full swing. Army engineers and 15 seabee battalio battalions, including the 18th, had turned the island into the Worlds Largest airport. We would see b29s taking off one after another. 19,000 combat missions were launched, including the two that ultimately ended the war. Still 1500 miles away from tokyo, we needed to be closer to japan. Why is the island of iwo jima so important . Because we were losing too many airmen coming back after bombing raids in japan. 23yearold joe shawinsky of the 133rd ncb was the son of a choir director from stanford, connecticut. He was attached to the 4th Marine Division for the invasion of iwo jima. You couldnt tell me from a marine. I had the marine fatigues, i had the emblem. The actual plan you guys were briefed on would have had the assault waves go ashore first and immediately thereafter, you guys would land behind the marines. It turns out, by mistake, youre landed in the assault waves. All i know is that when our battalion hit the beach, there were marines in front of us and marines in back of us. Its not clear why the events unfolded as they did, but the records speak for themselves. Joe shawinskys entire battalion had landed by Late Afternoon on dday, 19 february 1945. Colonel, when did you discover there was a seabee unit in the assaultway . C company of the 133rd seabee battalion was assigned to my ship and they landed with us. I can absolutely certify that. Shelton scales commanded 3rd battalion in the 4th Marine Division. Im going down that lift with that landing craft, i felt sorry for them. When you get on ashore, did you see any of the seabees . Yeah, working on the airfields or putting in telephone lines. We went right in and started working. Joining joe and shelton was seabee detachment and buddy white. We converted saltwater to freshwater. Then we also put up huge quonset huts and inventoried thousands and thousands of parts. You guys have got to clear the beach, build roads, under fire. Oh, yes. All the way up to where these airfields are going to be. You dont even know. When youre handling heavy equipment, you dont know that round is coming. And seabees were struggling for their lives, trying to do their jobs under extreme circumstances. Colonel, did you know that the seabees were taking horrific casualties . There were more casualties in iwo than along the front lines. By the end of the 26th battle for iwo jima, the 133rd suffered 42 casualties, 22, and 138 dead, the highest of any seabee unit in the war. For their action in seabees, they were awarded unit commendation. We were doing the same thing on the same beach. Even wearing the same uniform, but the puc doesnt come to us, i dont know how you can separate between a seabee getting the puc and the 4th Marine Division getting the puc. Somebody made a big mistake when they left them off. And i feel very, very strongly for them getting this. At least just honor those who are left. Korea, 1950, tip ka cando spirit, a group of seabees sneak behind enemy lines in a daring behind enemy lines in a daring esc and i i will always love you, i i will always love you i hope life treats you kind and i hope you have all youve dreamed of and i wish you joy and happiness but above all this i wish you love and i will always love you will always love you, i will always love you i, i will always love you, i. Business and financial news. Box business, giving you the power to prosper. The end of world
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