46h Seabees or others who were part of Admiraty's invasion WWII

[princessnarmor]

My dad was in the 46th Seabees and in the first echelon to hit the beachhead of the Admiralty’s. When I read Wikipedia it states that the 40th Seabees were part of the invasion. Can someone explain to me how the navy broke down its battalion system. Would the 46th have been part of the 40th? I know he was there because his Battalion history book, “The Anxiety,” lists his name as one of the Seabees who received the commendation and a promotion from Machinists mate 2nd class to machinists mate 1st class. There is actually a readable copy of it on Google. https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Anxiety_of_the_46th_Naval_Constructi.html?id=4u8HrMokQi8C After he passed, I also read his diary from his time on Guadalcanal so I know the constant bombing by the Japanese was more than just a minor irritation.

My dad went fishing one time and suffered what I believe was sunstroke. At any rate, he was delirious and was re-living the beachhead experience on the Admiralty’s. Between that and the constant bombing on Guadalcanal, it had its effect on him even though he was very silent about it and we (my mom and I) really didn’t ask questions. We didn’t want to bring it all back up for him. I do know that he believed he was lucky/blessed to even have survived it. We did have that discussion. Later I learned that they lost almost 10% of their forces on the beachhead (Admiralty’s).

I was blessed and honored to have attended two of the 46th Seabees reunions in the late 1970’s and early 80’s and to have met several of his fellow Seabees. It is my theory that every Seabee Battalion from WWII had a guy named “Swede” or maybe even two (wink wink ). I know that in the John Wayne movie, "The Fighting Seabees,"there was a Swede in his crew, so I believe my theory is a sound one lol!!! My dad’s nickname was Pea eye because he has small blue eyes.

If you have any family stories from a Seabee relative involved in the invasions of the Solomon’s, Admiraty’s, or any relatives of the 46th Seabees, please post!!! I would love to read it. I was really too young most of my dad’s life to have truly appreciated his service in WWII. Now that he’s passed, it has become of much greater import. It’s a part of my dad’s life, which for obvious reasons, I missed out on.

We can read the History books, but its the stories of the real fighting men that I like to hear. Please share.

[Laconia]

Great stories from your father’s experience in the war as a Seabee. Mine was in the 122nd NCB during the years 1943 to 1946 and he died a few years ago aged 90. We got to the dedication of the WW2 Memorial in D.C. some years back and while there we visited the Seabee Memorial which is located just outside of Arlington National Cemetery.

Dad’s biggest memories were of the heat and the monsoon rains in places like New Guinea and the Philippines. He saw the gun flashes during the Battle of Leyte Gulf while on Samar and he ended up in China at the end of the war for a brief period of time. The 122nd was scheduled to be in on the invasion of Japan and he was ever grateful for President Truman’s decision to drop the atomic bombs. While overseas he also got to see a Bob Hope show, in fact as a Carpenter’s Mate he helped build the stage for the event.

[R_Leonard]

The Navy Construction Corps, generally followed the army style organizational structure, Construction Brigades, there were 12, which were made up of Construction Regiments, there were 53, which were made up of Construction Battalions, there were 149. Battalions could be moved from regiment to regiment as needed, just as regiments moved from brigade to brigade, or either, regiments or battalions, could be operated independently.

There were also 116 separate Construction Battalion Detachments, 133 separate Construction Battalion Maintenance Units, 37 separate Special Construction Battalions, and 5 separate Construction Pontoon Assembly Detachments.