Brownie: Mascot of the Seventy-Fifth Naval Construction Battalion

By Martha E. Keller

When Roy Althouse rescued a little dog at Camp Hueneme in California in 1943, it was the beginning of a wonderful storyone that has finally been told by his daughter.

During their enlistment in the Navy Seabees, Althouse and his fellow members of the Seventy-Fifth Naval Construction Battalion all came to love the dog known as Brownie. He was smuggled aboard the USS Del Brasil and traveled with his master to nine different islands in the South Pacific.

Brownie became the official mascot of the Seventy-Fifth, and at each island Althouse kept a record of his stay in a small notebook. His letters home were often filled with the antics of his beloved Brownie while also providing a glimpse of what life was like for a Seabee during the war.

Against all odds, Brownie returned to the United States to live out his life with his best friend in a little town called Bucyrus. Their story is one of adventure, friendship, and love that spanned across oceans and time.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Abbott Press
• Release date: Nov 7, 2013
• ISBN: 9781458211255

Martha E. Keller

Martha E. Keller is the mother of two grown sons; she has been a church organist, pianist, corresponding secretary and writer for the Crawford County Chapter of Ohio Genealogy Society, an office manager, and a travelogue film producer. She is also the author of a genealogy book titled History of the Blackford Family. She currently lives in Ohio.

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CONTENTS

Introduction

Outward Bound

New Caledonia

Guadalcanal

Bougainville

The Russell Islands

Papua, New Guinea

Leyte Gulf

Samar Island

Calicoan Island

Bucyrus, Ohio

Home Again For Slim

Epilogue

Taps

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

T his book could not have been written were it not for my father’s many stories of the little dog that he adopted at Camp Rousseau, California during WWII. Little Brownie became his best buddy and accompanied him on many of the islands of the South Pacific.

My father, Roy Althouse had enlisted with the Navy in November 1942 and was in the 75th Naval Construction Battalion, better known as the Seabees. He never talked much about the war; so much of the information needed was gathered from Wikipedia, the Bureau of Yards and Docks and from the contents of their book Pacific Album, a history of the 75th Construction Battalion. Information was also obtained from the National Archives, Washington, D.C. Very helpful was the Seabee Museum located at Camp Hueneme and the Seabee Museum at Davisville, Rhode Island. My thanks to them all.

In a small notebook, my father keep a record of each island with the date of arrival, date of departure and the ship on which he was transported. His letters home were often filled with the antics of Brownie so this book is essentially Brownie’s story.

Most of the Veterans of WWII are gone now and it is so sad that many of their stories will never be told. My father was a natural story teller and my hope is that his enthusiasm comes through to you in this book.

PREFACE

A brief History of the SEABEES

I n December 1941, with U.S. involvement in war on both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, Rear Admiral Ben Moreell, Chief of the Navy’s Bureau of Yards and Docks, recommended establishing Naval Construction Battalions at a newly constructed base at Davisville, Rhode Island. With the attack on Pearl Harbor and the U.S. entrance into the war, he was given the go-ahead. The Davisville Advanced Base depot became operational in June 1942. Camp Thomas, a personnel receiving station on the base, was established in October of that year. It eventually contained 500 Quonset huts for personnel. On August 11, 1942 The Naval Construction Training Center, known as Camp Endicott, was commissioned at Davisville. The Camp trained over 100,000 Seabees during the Second World War.

In California in May 1942, a base for supporting the Naval Construction Force was established at Port Hueneme in Ventura County. This base became responsible for shipping massive amounts of equipment and material to the efforts in the Pacific.

The earliest Seabees were recruited from the civilian construction trades and were placed under the leadership of the Navy’s Civil Engineer Corps. Because of the emphasis on experience and skill rather than physical standards, the average age of Seabees during the early days of the war was 37. More than 325,000 men served with the Seabees in World War II, fighting and building on six continents and more than 300 islands. In the Pacific, where most of the construction work was needed, the Seabees landed soon after the marines and built major airstrips, bridges, roads, gasoline storage tanks, and Quonset huts for warehouses, hospitals, and housing. They often operated under fire and frequently were forced to take part in the fighting to defend themselves and their construction projects. In the Pacific theater they built 111 major airstrips and 441 piers, tanks for the storage of 100m gallons of fuel, housing for 1.5m men and hospitals for 70,000 patients. The Army and the Marines often said that the U.S. could not have won the war without their buddies, the Seabees.

Frank Iafrate created the Fighting Seabee emblem in February, 1942 while employed as a civilian at Quonset Point. Because of his talent for caricatures, he was asked to design an insignia for a special group of Navy men being trained in both construction and military skills. He considered several ideas, but centered his efforts on designing a busy bee, one that works industriously and can fight to protect itself. The name Seabee, phonetically identical to CB, (short for Construction Battalion), was his choice for the insignia. He produced a fierce looking bee wearing a sailor’s hat and carrying the tools and weapons of the trade. Iafrate became fascinated with the Seabees and enlisted with them November 16, 1942 and served until November 26, 1945. His logo is still used today, seventy years later to represent the many Construction Battalions of the Navy. Frank died March 30, 2000 but his Bee will live on.

THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS

’Twas the night before Christmas, and all thru the train,

A surge of excitement stirred in each brain.

A cargo of Boots, this troop train had brought

So the Seventy-fifth came to Camp Endicott.

A short week before, we were happy as kings,

Thinking of Christmas, and egg-nogs, and things.

And then came that letter-most awful of shocks-

A nice formal notice from the Yards and the Docks.

The Night Before Christmas, a thousand brave Boots

Arrived with their baggage and gay civvy suits.

The S.P.’s took over, and ordered us out

With an order, a curse, and an ungodly shout.

No Cameras! No Whiskey! Hey Mac! Let’s don’t lag!

Don’t loiter! Now hurry! Hey, Open that bag!

They moved us along thru the slush and the mud,

With a Hurry up, Sailor! You! Get along Bud!

So we marched to a building,’twas bigger’n a barn,

And Lordy! I wished I was home on the farm!

We each got three armsful of bedding to tote,

And stumbled thru mud that was up to the throat.

We arrived at the barracks after marching an hour,

And climbing in bed took the last of our power.

We had just hit the pillow-then a horrible shout;

Hit the deck! Rise and shine! Get up and get out.

So, Bright Christmas Morning we formed our first line-

Twas as long as from now to the starting of time.

We made breakfast by noon, and they gave us a tray,

We gobbled some gobbler, and started Our Day.

Lined up for a muster, we blushed red with shame,

As a smart boot instructor mispronounced every name.

We listened in wonder to Old Salts who cried,

You’ll be sorry! Poor Seabees, we thought that they lied!

Then we marched down the road that the devil had made,

And a Big Shot stepped up, and he asked us our trade,

Lectrician, we told him, and he said that was fine…

These clippers are ’lectric, just step into line.

And so we got haircuts… a shingled effect…

Not quite the style a man would select.

The hair of each outfit that came to that spot

Made a beautiful mattress for an officer’s cot.

The next day we stood in another long line,

And trembled in terror when we read this sign:

This way to the needles, both dull ones and square.

How we shivered and shook as we stripped our arms bare.

They shot us for typhoid, and small pox, and mumps;

Our poor arms were spotted with thousands of lumps.

We took off our clothes, and they hid them some place

And we stooped for the doctors with a sad, blushing face.

They gave us an issue of clothing next day,

As handy and neat as a forkful of hay.

You complained that your dress hat looked like a rag.

And you got but one answer, Put that hat in the bag!

From then on ’twas drill, ’till we nearly fell dead.

Right Dress! and Dress Right! You heard what I said!

Right Flank! To the rear! Double Time Now!

From bright early mornin’ ’till late evenin’ chow.

Bay’net and judo and hand-grenade drill,

Blood thirsty instructors to make your blood chill.

To top it all off, some backside of a horse

Went out and constructed a commando-boy course.

So we struggled and staggered thru three weeks of hell,

And instructors got medals ’cuz we did so well!

On a cold Sunday Morning the bugles were played,

And we marched in a flashy Battalion Parade.

With bright wooden rifles we marched down the Drive,

And we were commissioned Number Seventy-Five!

We stood at attention while the band played a song…

A Battalion of Seabees, a full thousand strong.

Yes, the Night Before Christmas of the year ’42,

We arrived in Camp Endicott, doubtful and blue.

They taught us to drill and to work, and to shoot.

We’ll never forget those Old Days of Boot!

(Thanks to Don Brooks for this fine description of Boot Camp.

INTRODUCTION

I t was December 21, 1942. Roy Althouse had his belongings packed and was ready to go to the train station. He had enlisted in the Navy on Nov. 19, 1942. The country was at war on two fronts, the European front with Germany, and the Western front in the South Pacific. Slim, as he was better known, had thought about enlisting for some time. He had missed WWI by two weeks. The Armistice was signed on November 11, 1918 and he became 18 years old on Nov. 27 th . He heard that the Navy was desperate for construction workers and mechanics, and because he saw an opportunity to serve he decided to enlist. In the induction papers from the Navy, they asked for three letters of recommendation and he had no problem obtaining the required documents.

From Kent-Owens Machine Company,

Toledo, Ohio 11/16/42.

To whom it may concern,

Please be advised that Mr. Roy Althouse was in the employ of this company for a period of two years starting Jan. 26th, 1931. During the course of his employment Mr. Althouse conducted himself in a commendable manner. Mr. Althouse was elevated to the position of sub-foreman in a short time because of his intelligence and dependability. We do not hesitate to recommend Mr. Althouse for the armed forces of our country. E. S. Conroy, Personnel Manager

From The Ohio Locomotive

Crane Company, Bucyrus, Ohio

11/16/42

To whom it