U.S. Navy, 71st Battalion; Book of Memoirs
71st Naval Construction Battalion, c1945. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Hardcover. Book of Memoirs for the Members of the 71st U.S. Naval Construction Battalion. Illustrated endpapers. Profusely illustrated with black and white photographs. Tears to a few pages. First hand account of this battalion's service in the Pacific theatre during World War II. When WWII broke out the Seabees did not exist. The logistics of a two-ocean war was a major concern. Rear Admiral Moreell completely understood the issues at hand. What needed to be done was build staging bases and create a military construction force to do build them to take the war to the enemy. The concept of Naval Construction Battalions had been developing in the 1930s. The onset of war clarified the need to be able to develop advance bases to project American power. The solution was to tap the United States vast pool of skilled labor. Put it in uniform to build anything, anywhere under any conditions and get the Marine Corps to train them. More