The huge landing ship tank (LST) beached and opened her immense bow doors to disgorge her cargo. Just then, a dozen Japanese soldiers ensconced in a cleverly camouflaged coconut-log pillbox eight yards from one of the LST’s doors opened fire with a machine gun. The precious transport ship had to be protected and her cargo quickly unloaded. Every minute’s delay increased the danger of a Japanese air strike. The enemy in the pillbox had to be swiftly eliminated. Allied infantrymen began to fire and throw grenades at the strongpoint. No tanks were available, but there were bulldozers.
A resolute American mounted one of the D-8 earthmovers, raised its blade to protect himself, and advanced on the pillbox in low gear. As machine-gun bullets rattled off the blade, the 24-ton machine approached the structure. Then, the American dropped the blade and buried the pillbox’s occupants under logs and sand. The time was about 0730 on 27 October 1943, and the place was Mono Island. A mixed force of New Zealand, or “Kiwi,” soldiers and U.S. Naval Construction Battalion personnel, “Seabees,” had launched Operation Goodtime, the invasion of the Treasury Islands. This was the first test of battle for the men of both groups, and they would emerge with profound respect for each other.
The Infantry Force
The Kiwis, nicknamed after New Zealand’s national bird, were part of 8 Brigade, 3 NZ Division. The division had been formed in 1942 under the command of Major General Harold Barrowclough, a seasoned soldier with experience on World War I’s Western Front and more recently during the Desert War in Libya and Egypt. Barrowclough had been sent back to New Zealand to command 3 NZ Division at a time when the country was thought to face Japanese invasion.
He faced a major problem: There was a manpower shortage and simply not enough men to complete what normally would be a three-brigade infantry division. He was limited to two infantry brigades—8 and 14—and so could undertake only brigade-sized operations. Both units would participate in the Solomons campaign, as the Allies advanced up the island chain toward the Japanese stronghold of Rabaul. The first into action in September 1943, 14 Brigade cleared Vella Lavella, in the New Georgia group, of Japanese troops. Commanded by World War I veteran Brigadier Robert Row, 8 Brigade was tasked with storming the Treasury Islands as a precursor to the landing of the 3d U.S. Marine Corps Division at Bougainville’s Empress Augusta Bay on 1 November 1943.
Operation Goodtime was conceived as a diversionary operation to draw Japanese attention away from Bougainville. In addition to seizing the Treasuries, the plan also included the construction of a radar station, a PT-boat base, and airstrips there. The Kiwis of 8 Brigade would provide the soldiers, and the Americans would provide the shipping and one of the secret weapons of the Pacific War—Seabees, the nickname being derived from the construction battalion acronym “CB.”
Sailors with Shovels
The brainchild of Rear Admiral Ben Moreel, Naval Construction Battalions were created on 28 December 1941. Moreel had foreseen the U.S. Navy’s need for heavy construction work involving the creation of bases and infrastructure. It was impractical to use civilian laborers in combat operations, not the least because they could be considered guerrillas and summarily executed by the enemy. He cleverly folded skilled civilians into the Navy’s structure by creating Naval Construction Regiments consisting of three Naval Construction Battalions (NCBs). A typical battalion consisted of 32 officers and 1,073 men.
Their primary purpose was military construction, but invariably they became involved in combat. One of their mottos, Construimus Batuimus—“We Build, We Fight”—was quite literal, as was a second one, “Can Do.” The range of work undertaken by the Seabees was truly awesome. Some were given special tasks such as stevedoring, others built ports or airfields and did heavy construction work. Although Seabees were deployed in several war theaters, they were particularly prominent in the Pacific because of the lack of port and other facilities and the need to create infrastructure as the Allies advanced from island to island.
What made the Seabees such a potent force was that skilled construction workers were its core, many of whom had been involved in construction projects during the Great Depression such as building the Hoover Dam. They tended to be older men with engineering and heavy construction experience. A Marine Corps joke was the admonition “Be good to the Seabees because they might be your fathers.” As the war progressed, younger men were taken from the Selective Service System pool and assigned to the Seabees, but in 1943 older men still predominated. To turn these civilian workers into Navy personnel they received three weeks of military training at naval construction training centers and then sent to an advanced base depot, where they were equipped and received further training prior to deployment. Although they were formally part of the Navy, most Seabees were essentially civilians in uniform.
The 87th NCB was assigned to Operation Goodtime. The battalion’s Company A—224 men and six officers—and 25 men from its headquarters company would accompany the New Zealand assault forces. Some of the Seabees would be sent to Soanotalu on the northern coastline of the Treasuries’ Mono Island to set up a radar station, while others would land at Falamai on Mono’s southern coastline and help unload equipment and supplies. With the Treasury Islands secured, the balance of the 87th would arrive. The battalion’s major task would be the construction of airstrips on nearby Stirling Island, and its activities involved the clearing of dense jungle and heavy construction work.
Operation Goodtime
The invasion of Mono Island took place on the gray, drizzly morning of 27 October. The initial landing waves of 8 Brigade faced machine-gun, mortar, and 40-mm gun fire as their Higgins boats surged down Blanche Harbor to land on the Orange Beaches near Falamai. The Kiwis splashed ashore and rapidly pushed inland, overpowering Japanese defenders in rifle pits. More New Zealanders soon arrived on Mono and nearby Stirling Island in landing craft, infantry (large). They were followed by the operation’s two LSTs, which beached near Falamai; however, two 75-mm mountain guns and mortars firing from the heights above Falamai were causing damage, threatening the vulnerable ships. Kiwi soldiers would advance uphill and seize the guns. By then, LST-399 had come under machine-gun fire from the log pillbox.
At this point, Machinist’s Mate Second Class Aurelio Tassone of the 87th NCB earned a Silver Star for using his bulldozer to crush the Japanese fortification. His exploit is commonly credited with inspiring the climactic scene in the 1944 film The Fighting Seabees, starring John Wayne. Tassone would return to the United States in 1944, where he visited the Peoria, Illinois, Caterpillar plant to inspire its workers and was featured in a War Bond rally. The destruction of the pillbox was a combined Seabee and Kiwi effort, with the New Zealanders throwing grenades and providing suppressing fire while Tassone maneuvered his bulldozer.
Desperate Fighting at Soanotalu
Also early on 27 October, a small Allied force landed unopposed at Soanotalu. Dubbed “Logan Force” after its Kiwi commander, Major Gordon Logan, the formation consisted of 20 Seabees, 60 radar specialists, and a Kiwi infantry company and its supporting elements. Logan’s primary task was to ensure the rapid construction of the radar station. The Seabees offloaded a bulldozer, which they used to carve a road through dense jungle on a 45-degree slope to the radar site on a precipice. They also unloaded radar equipment, and over the next few days the station took shape.
Logan’s nightmare was that the 10,000 Japanese on the nearby Shortland Islands, a short barge ride away, would attempt a counterlanding and his men would be in the way. However, the threat that eventuated came from the south.
Hammered by the Allied landings at Falamai, 80 of Mono’s Japanese defenders retreated northward toward Soanotalu, intent on reaching a barge on a nearby beach and escaping. Logan’s men hunkered down in recently dug foxholes and in improvised pillboxes. They also set up booby traps around their perimeter.
On the night of 1–2 November, the Japanese made a desperate, concerted effort to overrun Logan’s perimeter and get to the barge, but the darkness and terrain complicated their efforts. The action centered around a blockhouse built on the beach near the barge. It was defended by six New Zealand soldiers and three American crewmen from a landing craft under the command of New Zealand Captain Les Kirk. The group was armed with two Japanese machine guns taken from the barge, a Thompson submachine gun, rifles, and grenades.
They came under sustained attack at 0130. Staff Sergeant Hannifin was killed, and Captain Kirk momentarily was knocked unconscious by a bullet that grazed his head. Both sides began throwing grenades at each other from a distance of 10 to 15 yards. A rain of the explosives knocked out Kirk’s machine guns. Given the intensity of the Japanese attack, the captain considered withdrawing to the main perimeter, but he decided to hold in place. For Kirk, it would be a fatal decision. He was hit again and would die the next day. Command passed to Private C. H. Sherson. However, he was wounded, and command then was passed to Private Joe Smith, who was a cook. Meanwhile, the defenders met Japanese assaults with rifle fire and grenades. Just when it seemed they would finally be overrun, the attacks petered out.
At daybreak, a patrol was sent to relieve the men in the blockhouse and were amazed to find Smith calmly preparing breakfast. The wounded included Smith and one of the Americans. Daylight revealed the carnage—26 Japanese soldiers had been killed around the blockhouse and 24 others around the perimeter. Some Japanese had died near the barge, proof of just how close they had come to success.
Later that day, the Allies pinpointed Japanese positions near the Soanotalu perimeter, artillery support was called in, and Kiwi 25-pounder guns laid down a barrage. When the dust settled, Kiwi soldiers accompanied by five Seabees armed with Browning Automatic Rifles swept the area. They encountered Japanese, and some of the Kiwis and Seabees were wounded by shrapnel from their grenades.
On the following night, 2–3 November, the enemy again launched attacks that were of less intensity but nevertheless increased Allied casualties. The next two nights saw minor skirmishes, but organized enemy resistance had been crushed. Isolated groups of Japanese tried to evade capture but either succumbed to starvation and sickness or were captured.
By 12 November, when the Treasury Islands were considered cleared of Japanese, 40 Kiwis had been killed along with 12 Americans. Poignantly, Kiwi and Seabee dead were interred, albeit temporarily, in consecrated ground at a New Zealand–American cemetery at Falamai.
During the 27 October landing, Japanese fire had destroyed the islanders’ church in the village. The Americans and New Zealanders expressed their gratitude to the locals for their aid by rebuilding the church. It was a larger version with comfortable pews. The dedication of the church “was a colourful event” with services conducted by New Zealand ministers and an island missionary and attended by high-ranking Allied officers. Thereafter on Sundays, islanders, Kiwis, and Seabees worshiped there.
Work, Boredom, and Entertainment
Once the Kiwis had secured the southern beaches on Mono Island, attention turned to the task of offloading Seabee equipment on flat Stirling Island. New Zealand Second Lieutenant George Hodgson later was amazed at how the Seabees cleared the island using bulldozers to rip away the dense jungle vegetation and began crushing the island’s coral to build a runway. The pressure was on, and work was around the clock, with floodlights illuminating the area at night even at the risk of air attack.
To house the Seabees, they built Camp Ostman, named after Seaman Second Class Edwin “Swede” Ostman. The Seabee had been reported missing in action on the night of 29 October on Mono. The 87th NCB cruise book, The Earthmover, describes life at the camp as a “sterile existence,” with sleep virtually impossible in the bivouac area due to insects, incessant rain, and “the eerie wailing of air-raid sirens and the deep barking of AA guns . . . interspersed with weird jungle noises. Attacks of dysentery added to the general misery.” A pestiferous nightly visitor was “Washing Machine Charlie,” a Japanese plane whose desynchronized engine and whistling bombs also destroyed sleep.
The Solomon Islands with their incessant rain, heat, humidity, diseases, and hostile flora and fauna had few admirers among Allied personnel. The Seabees shared these conditions with the Kiwis, and this helped produce a bond. The Earthmover records: “The 87th quickly cultivated neighboring New Zealanders. The connection was usually good for tea or beer. However, the Kiwis generally contrived to get back more than they gave.”
Boredom was another commonality. To alleviate this, the Seabees built a theater, the Sea Beejou. It hosted films, concerts, and boxing and wrestling matches between the Seabees and the Kiwis. The Earthmover referred to the New Zealanders as “Good sports, they time and again proved themselves rugged antagonists.”
However, the most valued Kiwi contribution to alleviating boredom was not 8 Brigade’s All Brass Military Band, but the Kiwi Concert Party, a traveling variety show that featured comedians, vocalists, magicians, and the most popular of the lot—female impersonators. “If they weren’t the real thing, the mates thought they were certainly the best that could be had at the front.”
Work Well Done
As construction of the runway and supporting facilities continued, the 82nd and 88th NCBs arrived on Stirling to help with the work, which for the 87th included the construction of the PT-boat base on the island. By 25 December, well ahead of schedule, a 4,000-foot airstrip was finished that would be used by Allied fighters, including some F4U Corsairs from Marine Fighter Squadron 214, the famed “Black Sheep Squadron.” Another 6,300-foot bomber airstrip would be completed on 2 January 1944.
For Seabees in the South Pacific, there was no respite. Their skills were in high demand as the war moved northward into the Philippines and the strategic islands south of Japan. Sadly for the Kiwis, 3 NZ Division was disbanded in late 1944 due to severe manpower shortages and the need to reinforce 2 NZ Division in Italy. The Americans and the New Zealanders of Operation Goodtime came from very different worlds, and yet they formed bonds of comradeship and friendship under very trying circumstances.
Dr. Newell, a New Zealand lawyer who earned a PhD in history, is the author of Operation Squarepeg: The Allied Invasion of the Green Islands, February 1944 (2017); The Battle for Vella Lavella: The Allied Recapture of Solomon Islands Territory, August 15–September 9, 1943 (2015); and Operation Goodtime and the Battle of the Treasury Islands, 1943 (2012)—all published by McFarland.
Another Kiwi–Seabee Operation
The next time Kiwis and Seabees would meet was on Nissan Atoll, part of the Green Islands, between Bougainville and New Ireland. The New Zealanders had been tasked with taking the islands, and this time it involved 14 Brigade, with the overall command under Major General Barrowclough. The 33rd, 37th, and 93rd Naval Construction Battalions landed with the Kiwis on 15 February 1944. The invasion was unopposed except for Japanese air attack, but as the infantry pushed inland on Nissan Atoll, they encountered Japanese resistance at Tanaheran. This was quelled by a combination of mortar fire, tanks, and infantry assault. Later, the Seabees again created airstrips and facilities. William Bradford Huie wrote, “Working around the clock, using floodlights at night and daring the Japs to come over, the battalion completed the airstrip in nineteen days.”
Japanese snipers were a constant threat. Carpenter’s Mate Third Class Robert W. Conner, a Seabee in the 93rd NCB, landed on Nissan Atoll on 25 February. He wrote in his diary: “Only a few snipers remain and the New Zealanders—wicked fighters—have them under control. Our dozers started pushing roads through the jungle as soon as they landed and often times found themselves quite far ahead of the New Zealand patrols. Our boys can say only the best for the New Zealanders.”
As with the Treasury Islands, the Japanese staged air raids, mainly at night, and sleep often was disrupted by nocturnal intruders with desynchronized engines randomly dropping bombs.
Pilfering, Moonshining, and Other Ways to Beat Boredom
There was one activity that both Kiwis and Seabees excelled at: “Midnight Requisitions.” Both groups were inveterate pilferers of military supplies. The New Zealanders delighted in their larceny and described themselves as “Barrowclough’s Forty Thousand Thieves.” Likewise, the men of the 93rd NCB referred to themselves as “Harold Lynn [the commander of the battalion] and his Thousand Thieves.”
The war in the Pacific was a logistical war, and the food, equipment, and supplies shipped to the South Pacific had to be offloaded. This created opportunities for items to be pilfered. A standing American joke was that it would take the New Zealanders two days to end the war—one day to find the Japanese equipment and one day to steal it. On other occasions Kiwis were amazed by the extent of American generosity, particularly of food.
The range of items pilfered was extensive. Carpenter’s Mate Robert Conner, a Seabee with the 93rd NCB, quipped that “a man from the 93rd could be picked out because he wore army shoes, an officer’s pants, navy shirt, Marine hat.”
In comparison to U.S. servicemen, New Zealand troops were poorly supplied. It seemed that the U.S. supply chain was cornucopian, and no harm could come from pilfering things such as boots, clothing, and food, particularly when the takers were on the front line. A common conception among both Kiwis and Americans was that anything that left the continental United States was written off. There was a grain of truth to this; as American forces advanced toward Japan, it was not uncommon for trucks, mechanical equipment, and unused supplies simply to be dumped in the sea or destroyed.
In fairness, it should be stated that there were few Sergeant Bilkos in the South Pacific. The isolation of Pacific islands and shortage of shipping space meant that a black market did not develop. Anything pilfered either had to be used or consumed.
Another thing that the Kiwis and Seabees had in common was their skill at illegally distilling liquor—“moonshining.” Both the west coast of New Zealand’s South Island and the American Appalachians have a long tradition of moonshining. On Pacific islands, ingredients used to make the potent liquor included pineapple juice, potatoes, and even in some cases torpedo fuel. The results were rudimentary, and the effects were often devastating to consumers.
One of the problems faced by both nationalities was boredom. They partially alleviated that by making handicrafts. There were plentiful raw materials, especially mahogany and junked metal and Plexiglass off wrecked planes. The Seabees had a roaring trade selling fake samurai swords, battle flags, other Japanese militaria, and “authentic native art” to the crews of supply ships and newcomers to the South Pacific. The New Zealanders did likewise. Robert Conner made a grass skirt and seashell jewelry for his wife, Lib; mahogany gavels; and a silver-tipped cane. He wrote in his diary “Bought some shell beads for Lib that one of the New Zealanders made.”
On the Treasury Islands, Kiwis and Seabees invariably found themselves in close proximity, even if they were in separate camps, and they were curious about each other. George Tschudi, a 19-year-old Seabee truck driver, made daily trips to a fuel dump on Stirling Island and would pass by an antiaircraft position manned by New Zealanders. He recalled:
Each of these gun crews ate and slept in the immediate area of their gun locations. My partner and I often commented on how friendly these fellows were, always waving and shouting greetings to us as we drove by. One day we decided to stop and chat with some. From that day on and for many months to follow, tea with that particular gun crew became a matter of routine. They would share their baked goods from home with us and we in return would sometimes provide a tin of pineapple slices or pears that we managed to procure in our travels.
Contact between different nationalities and units often leads to friction and dislike, but not between the Kiwis and Seabees. The New Zealanders were impressed by the maturity of the Seabees and above all by the fact that they got things done “quick smart.” They got “stuck in” and achieved almost unbelievable feats of heavy construction in very short time, and they were not boastful, a characteristic that appealed to the Kiwis, who were an undemonstrative, reserved lot.
The New Zealanders’ practicality and toughness impressed the Seabees. In a postwar interview, Robert Conner was asked about how the Seabees got on with the Kiwis. He replied, “They were marvellous people.” He highlighted the difference in equipment between the two nationalities: “You would wonder how they could do what they did with what little they had. They would come up to us and offer us a half dozen Hershey bars for seven nails that long. Of course, we would give them to them. We would tell them to keep the Hershey bars—‘No, no you take the bars.’ They had so little, but they were smart.” He pointed out that the Seabees had four makes of trucks, whereas the Kiwis had only one and therefore had less of a problem with parts.
It also is significant that both groups faced equal danger from Japanese attackers and had to endure the same oppressive weather, diseases, and local flora and fauna.
Sources:
Robert W. Conner, interview by Floyd Cox, 19 October 2001, The National Museum of the Pacific War, Fredericksburg, TX.
Robert W. Conner, World War II diary and letters, edited by Susan Elizabeth Conner.
Oliver Gillespie, The Pacific (Wellington, New Zealand: War History Branch, Department of Internal Affairs, 1952).
George Hodgson interview with author, 13 June 2001.
William Bradford Huie, Can Do: The Story of the Seabees (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1997).
Reg Newell, Operation Goodtime and the Battle of the Treasury Islands, 1943 (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2012).
Reg Newell, Operation Squarepeg: The Allied Invasion of the Green Islands, February 1944 (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2017).
Maj John N. Rentz, USMCR, Bougainville and the Northern Solomons (Washington, DC: Historical Section, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, 1948).
George E. Tschudi, correspondence with author, 23 May 2001.
U.S. Navy, The Earthmover: A Chronicle of the 87th Seabee Battalion in World War II (1946).