News Analysis WWII Seabee Says Guam's Apra Was Bigger, Better Than Pearl Harbor
| WWII Seabee Says Guam's Apra Was Bigger, Better Than Pearl Harbor |
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| News Analysis | |||||||||
| Written by Jeff Marchesseault | |||||||||
| Tuesday, 11 August 2009 12:56 | |||||||||
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And He Served On Both Islands! By Jeff Marchesseault GUAM - A World War II-era Seabee who served at Apra Harbor and Pearl Harbor tells the Midland Daily News that Naval Station Guam had a leg up on its Hawaii counterpart by the time 1945 rolled around. Here's an excerpt from the Midland Daily article profiling former Seabee Harry Field: He also smiles when he says, “By the end of the war, the Naval port at Guam was better and bigger than Pearl Harbor,” knowing he had been a part of the former. It’s still a major Navy base in the Pacific, according to Field. Seabee is the nickname given to men who worked in C.B.'s, or "Construction Battalions", during World War II. Here is an enlarged version of the photograph heading this column, which, along with the caption below, supports Field's claim that Apra Harbor was a busy place indeed by war's end.
One can see the massive military buildup of Guam in this 1945 photo of Apra Harbor and what is now the Naval Station. By August 1945, more than 220,000 people called Guam home, but only 22,000 or so of those were Guamanians. The rest - 65,000 Army, 78,000 sailors, 59,000 Marines. The code name for the Liberation of Guam was Operation Stevedore, a clue to the island's future role in the war. Apra Harbor became one of the world's busiest (ports), operating as a major conduit in the supply of U.S. forces pressing the attack on the outlying and home islands of Japan. Read more about Guam's Liberation at the War In The Pacific website, nps.gov. Read the Midland Daily News story, "Midland teen became WWII Seabee", August 10, 2009. Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites          
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