Vintage U.S. Navy 68th SeaBees Surveyors Box

Description

The 68th SeaBees came about near the middle of WWII and served throughout both the North & South Pacific Theatre ending up at Okinawa in 45’ where the "Greatest Generation's" extraordinary efforts are very well documented.
The original owners full name is faintly stenciled on the box above the USN stencil and with initials only near the very worn handle. Please examine photos carefully.
The box is well worn with natural patina on the brass hardware, hinges and corners.
Nice grab for any collector of pieces for this era.
Shipping will be quite costly so local pickup is preferred but not necessary. This might take beyond the normal time frame for shipping preparation so please allow for that fact.
Measures approximately 27" x 18" x 12"
From USN History Museum;
‘Of the three Pacific roads to victory, perhaps the least significant was the one which wound through the North Pacific. At the outset of hostilities, however, this region, which included Alaska and the Aleutian Islands, had been a Japanese target. The Japanese campaign of 1942 that succeeded in seizing the Aleutian islands of Attu and Kiska was partly a feint, partly a serious probe of American defenses, and partly a move to prevent the United States from invading the Japanese homeland through the Aleutian and Kurile Islands. Many of the first Seabees were sent to the North Pacific to help forestall what appeared at the time to be a major Japanese offensive.
‘The Aleutian Islands Campaign is an often overlooked part of WWII history. Alaska – still a territory at the time – was a battleground. And as Gen. Billy Mitchell said before Congress in 1935, “… whoever holds Alaska will hold the world.”
By late June 1942 the 68th Seabees had landed in Alaska and had begun building advanced bases on Adak, Amchitka, and other key islands in the Aleutian chain. In 1943 these new bases were used to stage the joint Army-Navy task force that recaptured Attu and Kiska. While subsequent activity in the North Pacific was minimal, the long, flanking arm of Seabee-built bases pointing toward the Japanese home islands served as a substantial threat to the Japanese throughout the remainder of the war. Even as action in the Central, South, and Southwest Pacific areas became the major focus of attention, the Japanese continued to look northward in fear.’
‘The Seabees also played a key role in the last big operation of the island war, the seizure of Okinawa. The main invasion forces landed on Okinawa's west coast Hagushi beaches on Easter Sunday, 1 April 1945. Off the amphibious landing craft and over pontoons placed by the 130th Naval Construction Battalion went the 24th Army Corps and Third Amphibious Corps. Right beside them were the 58th, 71st and 145th Naval Construction Battalions. A few days later, two additional Naval Construction Battalions, the 44th and 130th, landed. The fighting was heavy and prolonged, and organized resistance did not cease until 21 June 1945.
The Seabees' task on Okinawa was truly immense. On this agrarian island, whose physical facilities a fierce bombardment had all but destroyed, they built ocean ports, a grid of roads, bomber and fighter fields, a seaplane base, quonset villages, tank farms, storage dumps, hospitals, and ship repair facilities.
Nearly 55,000 Seabees, organized into four brigades, participated in Okinawa construction operations. By the beginning of August 1945, sufficient facilities, supplies, and manpower were at hand to mount an invasion of the Japanese home islands.’
On June 3, 1942, a Japanese invasion force 8,000 strong, attacked and took control of Unalaska Island. In the following days they repeated this action on Kiska and Attu islands. The Japanese had designs to launch attacks against the West Coast of the United States from these bases.’