Hollandia

[Tony Smith]

Originally Posted by Mike Kelly

I had the same thoughts - Marines .

Maybe they got hold of some marine uniforms but that is unlikely . Or it might have been a small Marine detachment on special duties .

Could they be SeaBees? Although they had military training from the USMC, they were technically speaking USN and could be expected to have slightly different uniforms.

[Lang]

There was a large contingent of Seabees in Hollandia (and everywhere else). I have looked at dozens of photos and find no camouflage except for Marine issue helmet covers.

They distinguish themselves as the scruffiest bunch of blokes in the islands with everyone wearing different clothing. It is interesting that photos of Americans without shirts are fairly uncommon while for the Australians it was standard dress. The Seabees adopted the Australian form and many shirtless photos are to be seen.

The Seabees also had a high percentage of black troops in their combat engineer units unlike the Army who commonly restricted black soldiers to transport and support units.

Here are Seabees at Hollandia.

[Lang]

Solved the camouflage troop question.

They are members of the 1881st Aviation Engineer Battalion. In current terms they would be an Air Force Airfield Construction Regiment.

They had been languishing at the huge air base at Nadzab for over a year (after building the strips their claim to fame was they built the largest playhouse and concert stage in the whole Pacific)

They obviously were issued with brand new clothing for Hollandia. I am sure they would have been the source of much joking in their jungle suits sitting on an airfield grader while the fighting troops wore plain old uniforms.

Lang