THE NORTHERN ROAD TO TOKYO

[Music] [Music] the seabees naval construction battalions are the youngest and most unique development in our naval organization yet no branch of any of the services has a finer record of work accomplished the seabees have participated in practically every amphibious operation undertaken in all thirds of war landing with the first waves of assault troops getting equipment ashore and setting up bases of operations despite all the difficulties and hardships of war in all the widespread theaters of this global war no area has posed as many difficulties and hardships to our construction battalions as have the illusions not from the standpoint of enemy operation but from the continuous battle waged against the forces of nature these natural forces give no respite never retreat and can never be vanquished the best man can hope to do is to control them with an unceasing vigil the picture you are about to see is the little-known story of our northern road to tokyo a chain of islands extending from the alaskan mainland toward our enemy japan and our ally russia the aleutian islands [Music] the aleutians line the north pacific dividing that ocean from the bering sea this island chain stretches 1200 miles west southwest from the alaskan mainland forming stepping stones out toward japan russian siberia it is the key to north pacific strategy so when the japanese struck at our western defenses in 1942 they struck at both midway and dutch harbor going all out to unhinge the vital line defending our western coast american sea and air power crushed them at midway and at dutch harbor too where we sank six warships and two transports but the shattered japanese force swung west seized a foothold on kiska atu and agathoo our first job was to take the offensive and root them out we started with only one island base but we did throw them out the islands are anything but ideal spots for living or fighting their volcanic origin and some peaks are still active terrain is rough and rugged with sharply rising rocky shores the soil is either volcanic ash or tundra the climate is unpredictable usually bad none of the comforts or necessities of life exist on the island except fresh water on each island with every new phase of the job everything we need must come in by ship and lighter from a jeep to a can of beans some tanks to pile drivers all the gear and equipment large and small to build live and fight we didn't start out here to create just a camp or two but to convert the aleutian wastes into a system of permanent advanced bases a citadel of war rudely winterized tents provide shelter as we start our first airstrip which like many of the scores finally built began as a tidal flat under several feet of water army and navy engineers cut off the inlet and drained off the water then earth-moving machinery handled by men who understand it almost by instinct finish the job a guy who's grown up with his own jalopy has a natural sympathy for machines like these feverish work day and night the gray volcanic dust is shifted leveled pounded and compacted ready for its final surface no luxury of smooth concrete for flyers up here but a million and a half square feet of pre-formed steel matting laid by hands too bad we don't have a machine for this job but the original airstrip from the start of work to the first american plane to land consumed just 10 days and 11 nights of work just 10 days after the strip was started the first daily missions went out to blast the japanese on those western islands two hours flight away bomb them harass them wreck their supply ships start the hard job of driving them out of the aleutian islands our patrol fighter and bomber pilots learn to fly from a field that's constantly under six inches of water but they flew every day when it's emitting the lucian weather is to say the least undependable there's a permanent low pressure area here and when warm air masses from the south hit that anything can happen blizzard rain sunshine and fog all in one day and that fierce wind called the willow wars these islands are truly the birthplace of storms [Music] this weather starting here goes down over the whole north pacific so weather stations in the islands are a must for fleet operations a key part of our bases here regardless of whether though the work must go on planning and surveying for all the other facilities these bases need for more airstrips for roads and buildings and pipelines the one thing these barren islands give us is fresh water but getting it is another matter digging by hand through that frozen tundra to run a pipe back into the mountains that's no joke any kind of work is tough in the damn cold climate but gradually the things that go to make up a base take form buildings are erected to shelter men materials and supplies they're carefully dispersed against the always possible japanese air attacks while these developments go on engineers continually plan further ones on this job they have to be opportunists yet they must plan everything for top efficiency and using materials because of the supply problems they face at first on each island all the supplies must come by barge or lighter then the barge acts as its own dock while hard-working sea bees sweat to unload it this kind of logistics isn't very efficient so one of the first major installations on a base is appear to take deep water vessels even with only the simplest materials and the little help for mechanized equipment the job gets done in short order with the pier completed ships protected by the unceasing air patrol can dock and unload supplies and quantity there's a huge amount of organization behind every load figure out for yourself what it takes in thought paperwork detail planning handling and transport just to get one keg of nails from chicago to the illusions then multiply that by many thousand items large and small and again by the hundreds or thousands of each item we need it's quite a job but by far the most welcome arrival is the mail when you're far from home in a foul climate with little relief from the routine of your work with few comforts and no prospect of anything different for a long long time well then a letter from home is about the only thing that helps you forget where you are what you're up against power tools play an increasingly important part as the work develops and the installations become more complex with them material can be swiftly converted into mass-produced parts these parts can be combined into such work savers as prefabricated trusses for a hanger this is the kind of ingenuity and assembly line work that saves time and effort which is plenty important when you're building as many of these hangers as we did in the illusions here all the skills and know-how of cb brains and hands can go to work from concrete to carpentry plumbing to paint wiring to roofing to get a finished hanger in a hurry and it doesn't take so very long with every known construction skill every one of them a crack american skill working all at once for the kind of men who built the empire state building and the golden gate bridge this kind of job presents different types of difficulties and a chance to produce new kinds of construction records sometimes an airstrip calls for a lot of fill and that's one way to get it meantime the rooters and carry alls bulldozers and tractors are ripping and tearing at that tundra tundra is stubborn stuff a spongy mat of moss and other vegetation often many feet thick it's no fit foundation for an airstrip just to make it easier for the men and machines usually frozen solid so there's plenty of work to getting it out the machines are up against another menace too they'll find volcanic dust that heats engine parts like emery powder creating a colossal maintenance problem but in spite of every difficulty that tundra does come out and into its place goes some of the dynamited hillside and be leveled by our heavy artillery the bulldozers at the other end of the strip the fill has been compacted and the steel mats go down we've got to keep the work humming to build a field in 10 days or less and to build scores of such fields for bombers and search planes for fighters and transports or vital ferry stations on the way to our russian allies yes most of the planes that we lend least to russia the tank busting air cobras and twin engine hudsons came through these fields the final touch on the field is the electricians laying out the landing lights they're doubly useful here where the knights are almost twice as long as they are back home planes and ships both mean fuel and fuel these days means storage tanks and pipelines the kind of bases we're building up here have to have plenty of capacity too good-sized pipelines we run them right down to a fueling pier now no matter what ship comes to call we can naturally hard work breathes heavy appetites so the cooks are among the busiest men in the base the chow may not be very delicate but it fills the bill and gets a hearty reception from all hands seabees must be ready to fight as well as build rifle range not only keeps the eyes sharp marksmanship up to par but provides welcome recreation commodity that's never plentiful in these islands expensive radio installations serve recreation too as well as vital communication needs the whole problem of recreation is one of the worst up here especially before a base is well established no place to go in liberty little to do in your spare time that means when we finally get a place to show them that the movies whatever the picture are really popular with all concern the bowling alleys make a hit too on the more serious side of morale chaplains of all faiths not only with formal services but with advice and consolation worked wonders when the going got too tough as the work goes on all up and down the chain island after ireland has turned into a working fighting naval and military base first aid and after we got the japanese out kiska atsu and agatu and more coles bay great sitkin kodiak until installations like these run out all along the archipelago from dutch harbor toward japan one of the last stages in completion of a base is an enlarged water supply there's plenty of fresh water from the perpetual snows but it must be impounded behind dams held and fed out as needed far up in the mountains then men must go to work to excavate the frozen ground pour concrete and zero coal to dam the valleys and gullies to provide an unfailing water supply when the dam is finished it's no grand coulee but it will hold the thousands upon thousands of gallons of water we need to supply the base and to replenish the ships that come to the harbor clear and fresh naturally purified and filtered as it runs comes down to us already iced meantime in the pacific to the south our forces have rolled back the enemy one deep stab into his empire ran up through the marianas ewo and okinawa another slashed in through the philippines after the blow from the west from russia the aleutians provided the potential fourth member of a gigantic pincer and with japan's fall they became our main bastion in the north but even as that empire folded under our blows the other war in the aleutians went on the eternal sub-arctic war between men and elements storms come fast in this country violent and strong opposing all but insurmountable obstacles to human and mechanical strength eventually all other work must stop until the snow is cleared away the only way to get that done is with carry all bulldozers and plows mechanical snow shovels that multiply the strength of man a thousand times these ingenious machines may have been designed for clearing highways but they work just as well on an aleutian airspin between seabees and engineers with plenty of work a job gets done again the brain and brawn of man have temporarily licked the tricks and cruelty of nature and our bases can operate once more under the midnight sun flying patrols transporting supplies fighting the planes take off and land not only are the illusions now secure and safe we have in these islands a permanent operating base a weigh station on the shortest route to rli russia and a northern highway to tokyo a mighty force to keep the peace [Music] [Music] you