It never caught the public imagination like Midway or Iwo Jima. But the tiny Green Island atoll just below the equator in the South Pacific was a busy crossroads of WWII. Its bases and guestbooks boasted such names as Lindbergh, Nixon, Roosevelt, Hope, Bush, Kennedy, Benny. Most of its residents, however, were Toms, Dicks, and Harrys - with a couple of Janes.

The capture of the Green Islands (OPERATION SQUAREPEG) was carried out largely by New Zealand Infantry troops on February 15, 1944. US Navy Seabees rapidly plowed essential roads and leveled two airstrips on the main island: Nissan. US and NZ Marine and Navy fighter and bomber squadrons began moving in. Across the lagoon where Catalina "Black Cats" were bobbing around their tender ship, PT squadrons set up camp on Barahun Island. The US Army and New Zealanders manned anti-aircraft stations at the northern and southern ends of Nissan. Within weeks, the atoll’s narrow perimeter was home to 17,000 New Zealand and US troops.

Supplying the needs of this hungry, gas-guzzling, construction and fighting boom was a stream of troop and supply ships; the Cassiopeia, Harper, Talbot, Unicoi and others who often rendezvoused with smaller transports to convey their wares through the shallow channel and across the lagoon to the unloading beaches.

The occupation of this fragile atoll boasted a major strategic difference from its more famous landmarks. Enormous Japanese garrisons of planes and boats, including Rabaul, occupied neighboring islands. Capturing them would cost untold lives and time. Could Allied air and sea power just shut down supply lines and disable this Japanese war machine? The main force of the war could then by-pass and press northward to liberate the Philippines. The strategy was successful and spared tens of thousands of Japanese and Allied lives. Thus the 93rd Seabees paved a road for saving lives and speeding the end of the war.

The Diary of Bob Conner of the 93rd Seabees, the original basis for this website, is a daily chronicle of his life on Nissan. His letters and footnotes, illustrations and photos, and the few memoirs and photos we have of his comrades add to the picture. It is a rare picture, because Seabees rarely considered their creation of roads, airports, docks, hospitals, and living quarters for thousands exceptional. Many were veterans of the massive WPA and skyscraper building projects of the 1920s and 30s. They came home at war’s end to their children and grandchildren and to continue their demanding construction work, creating the vast post war metropolitan areas.

So most of the stories of the Green Islands are told by those who launched their boats and planes for combat from the Seabees’ air strips and ports. They returned to eat and sleep in tent cities and Quonset huts the Seabees erected, and relaxed at Seabee-developed ballfields and theatres. And somewhere in their photos or cruise book is a signature photo of the Owl Drugstore at Hollywood and Vine; a route sign indicates [ U.S. 93 n.c.b.]. They lived in the city the Seabees built.

The 93rd Seabees welcome all our fellow travelers; their stories are our story. We especially hail our New Zealand comrades; their strategic and fighting skills earned them our lasting respect. Their leadership and collaboration were exemplary. We are pleased to have a number of personal accounts of the war and post war years that originate on our site. They are marked ‡.

~ ~ ~

I. In Memoriam

II. Strategy, Reconnaissance, Capture, Maps, and overviews

III. New Zealand Administration, 2nd and 3rd Divisions

IV. United States Administrative units, Navy, Marines, Army

NABU-11 (Naval Advance Base Unit 11) (Create Naval base as combat troops land)
www.history.noaa.gov/storiesathfinder.html

Profile of each ship in Dictionary of Naval Fighting Ships
http://www.hazegray.org/danfs
USS Anthony (DD-515): Landing Day:supported LSTs and firepower
www.budget.net/~dnolan/uss.html
bobrosssr.tripod.com/515mad.html
USS Bennett (DD-473): Landing Day
www.domeisland.com/fletcherclass/ussbennett/finn.html
USS Bryant ( -09): landing day
www.hazegray.org/danfs/volume_b/vol_b_09.htm
USS Cape Johnson (AP 172) troop ship, Commander L. C. Farley
Boarded 93rd Seabees on Oct. for removal to Leyte
‡ Bob Conner’s Diary and Letters: 93rd Seabees History
http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/22172.htm
http://www.hazegray.org/danfs/auxil.htm (scroll down to click on Cape Johnson)
USS Cassiopeia (AK 75): supply ship: David A. Friederich's colorful memoirs, including the Noumea explosion and the mystery of Bull Halsey's liquor. Also describes complex procedure for Green Island deliveries Friederich letters to Seasbees93‡  Noumes link to Mem
USS Wadsworth  DD-516
USS Dempsey (DE-26): http://www.ussdempsey.com  supplied Nissan June 21web.ics.purdue.edu/~stevec/WWII_Diary/wwii_diary.html
web.ics.purdue.edu/~stevec/Ship_s_History/ ship_s_history.html
USS Fullam (DD-474): Flagship of reconaissance group p.174
http://www.nzetc.org/etexts/WH2Paci/index.htm
www.destroyers.org/nl-histories/dd474-nl.htm
USS Guest (DD-472): Landing Day
USS Halford (DD-480): Landing Day Flagship carrying Adm. Wilkinson, Cmdr. Burroughclough
www.history.navy.mil/danfs/h1/halford.htm
www.bobrosssr.tripod.com/480hist.html
www.specwarnet.com/USSWard/history.htm
USS Hudson(DD-475): patrolling between Buka, New Ireland and Green Island, January 1944
bobrosssr.tripod.com/contrib.html
USS Middlemas: freighter: boarded equipment and a few men of 93rd Seabees for removal to Leyte
USS Pathfinder (AGS1): Oceanic Survey Data Collection: Surveyed Russel Islands and provided detachment to NABU-11 to reconnoiter and survey Green Islands.
www.history.noaa.gov/storiespathfinder.html
USS Rochamborn: Micky Flynn transferred from Cassiopeia
USS St. Louis: Only direct hit on landing Day (NZ 180)
http://www.probsolve.com/ussstlouis/
USS Talbot II (DD-114): 30th NZ reconnaissance and Landing Day
http://www.multied.com/navy/destroyer/ dest2/TalbotIIdd114.html
http://www.geocities.com/Heartlandlains/5850/amburgey.html
USS Tappahanock (AO-43): Tanker, delivered fuel
USS Taylor:
www.domeisland.com/fletcherclass/usstaylor/text2.html
USS Uncoi: supply ship: Uncoi was trapped in Barahun passage
 William Johnson: Nothing Else Like It in the Navy:
www.gtalumni.org/StayInformed/techtopics/spr95/ww2.html
USS Vanuna (AGP-5): tender for PT Boats
USS Wadsworth  DD-516
USS Waller
usswaller.com
web.mountain.net/~tedallen/ww2hist.html
web.mountain.net/~tedallen/warrecord.html
USS Ward (DD-139/APD-16): 
www.destroyers.org/nl-histories/dd474-nl.htm
www.hazegray.org/danfs/destroy/dd139txt.htm
http://www.rpadden.comearl/ussward.htm
http://www.history.navy.milhotos/sh-usn/usnsh-w/dd139.htm
www.multied.com/navy/destroyer/dest2/Warddd139.html
www.specwarnet.com/USSWard/history.htm

Destroyer Squadron (DesRon 23): "Little Beavers"
www.domeisland.com/desron23/

Landing Craft Infantry 

LCI(L)LCI(L)-357
www.navsource.org/archives/10/150357.htm
LCI(L)-358
www.navsource.org/archives/10/150358.htm
LCI (G)-560
www.usslci.com/html/lcimessages3.html
LCI Ships Stores: LCI Videotapes: Green Island landing
LST Photo: LST unloads at Green Island
http://www.yauctions.com/y/search?q=Army
LST-220: First echelon of 93rd NCB on Landing day
LST-247: Timeline: 20 Feb.1944 - Invasion of Green Island. Beach 32 
www.dalebroux.com/lst/Bigalkarvid.asp
www.dalebroux.com/lst/Timeline.asp
LST-466: damaged on Landing Day NZ p. 180
LST-486

US Naval Warships camouflage: Notes and suggestions regarding the Green Island invasion
www.shipcamouflage.com/5_2.htm
www.shipcamouflage.com/5_3.htm