My late father (T. J. McDaniel, Jr. of Bogalusa, LA) served with the 73rd SeaBees in the Solomon Islands during WWII. I have his military records and some chronological information on where he went and even a photo of his group (Electrical Personnel) on one of the islands. I would like to know about a Presidential Citation (or Presidential Unit Citation) his Battalion earned as the result of fast repair of Munda Point (New Georgia) airfield. Any help would be appreciated. I am willing to share the photo if someone is interested. THANKS!
Hello, my father who is 93 was in the 73rd battalion and helped build the air strip on Munda. He is still sharp in the mind and currently my grandson is doing a school project on his years in the service so we are discovering lots of great history. He lives in Bush, LA and lived in Covington when he enlisted at age 19. It’s possible he knew your father. I’ll see what I can find out.
For what it is worth, the official history of the 73d Naval Construction Battalion can be found in it’s entirety here:
https://books.google.com/books?id=_tPvJqZCFnoC&pg=PA11&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=3#v=onepage&q&f=false
I see individual Navy Commendations, Bronze Star medals, Purple Heart medals and such, but no PUC noted. If one was awarded, it must have come after the book was published.
I’ve a pdf with the historic text, some chronology, and pictures, for the 73d (in fact I’ve just about all the CB units as well) but I’ll be dogged if I can figure out how to post it here. Shoot me a PM & we can work out getting it to you if you want a copy.
RAL