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BOUGAINVILLE - On November 1 ,1943 a detachment of the 75th Seabee Battalion landed with the first wave of Marines at Torokina Point, Bougainville. The five officers and 95 men who composed the landing detachment were all volunteers. They came in with the Marines on the USS President Adams. For the landing they divided themselves into four units - one to unload ammunition, another to unload fuel, another to unload rations and packs, and the fourth Seabee unit manned the machine guns on all Higgins boats and tank lighters. They were to follow ashore immediately behind Company "C" First Battalion ? Marines Third Marine Division, which was the only assault force expected to meet any opposition. At the beach they encountered determined resistance, the 250 Marines and the 100 Seabees worked perfectly as a team. The Seabee gunners provided cover while the Marines advanced to erase the Japanese with grenades and flame throwers. When a marine was shot from a crippled tractor which was pulling in the first load of ammunition, a Seabee leaped to his place, repaired the tractor, and delivered the ammunition. The Seabees dug foxholes not only for themselves but also for the Marines and for all casualties who were unable to dig their own. When a group of Marines was about to be wiped out because of lack of supplies, three Seabees managed to get through with ammunition and to bring back the wounded. The first Seabee killed was shot by a Japanese sniper while he was helping to man the line of beach which the Seabees had been assigned to defend. They got the sniper. To begin the construction of the airfields around Empress Augusta Bay, the 71st Seabees began landing on the afternoon of November 1. there were many difficult construction problems. The ground was swampy, and the rains were unseasonably heavy. Part of the area on which the Torokina fighter strip had to be built was actually "beyond the front lines". The Seabees had to risk capture as well as death from enemy fire, and one man was captured while he was clearing the strip. A mental hazard for the men was Mt. Bagana, a volcano, which towered near the scene. The Seabees at Bougainville are the only ones who have had to work under an active volcano. In spite of all these handicaps, however, the field was superimposed on the swamp, and planes were operating from it on December 10. There is a bridge in this area named for Chief Carpenters Mate Elmer I, Carruthers. A detachment of Seabees under Chief Carruthers was cutting a road in advance of the front lines when the detachment and its Marine security guard were attacked by the Japanese. Chief Carruthers and six other men were killed and twenty were wounded. The entire detachment might have been wiped out had it not been for the gallantry of Chief Carpenters Mate Joe Bumgarner. Bumgarner and a detail were building a bridge when they heard the firing against Carruthers. Bumgarner led his men to the rescue, helped drive off the Japanese, and evacuated the Marine and Seabee casualties.The 53rd Seabees also participated in the assault on Bougainville. Their "A" and "C" Companies landed with the Marine raiders in the first two waves.