 When the enemy struck at Pearl Harbor, the whole of America's mighty productive machinery was thrown into high gear to place the country on a full war footing. Recognizing the need for an organization of skilled workers to build advanced bases in active theaters of war, the Bureau of Yards and Docks obtained authority for the establishment of the first naval construction battalion. The primary difference is the CBs are on land and the sailors are on the sea. That's the distinguishable difference. During World War II, the CBs were established and we were going all over the world building airfields, building complexes. I went into the CBs and right out of boot camp in 1946 and went to Carpenter School and then shipped off to the Philippines. I asked for a battleship and they were like, I got the CB instead of a BB and I don't regret it. I enjoyed the CBs when the earthquake went into Kodiak, Alaska. It shut down the base, everything's a little tsunami coming in at that particular time. Within 24 hours, from the time that we notified that, we was on that station. My boss said that you're reservist, I said, yeah, he says, well, it's in the Navy. He says, how come you're not a CB? I said, what's a CB? I didn't know what a CB was. You're construction electrician, you should be a CB. I said, this beach rowing a boat around Boston Harbor, so how do I get in this outfit? In the CBs, you get to know a lot of people in the Bs, a lot of shipmates and you might go from one battalion to another, but eventually you meet up again. It's a lot closer than your family in the CBs. I enjoyed it, every bit of it. I did not want to get out of the Navy. I was in the Bs, they had to carry me out. The CBs is a great opportunity for young men and women today to advance their life. The Bs today are just as hard working as the Bs were in the old days. And just to stay with it and to work hard at it and advance in it, and you'd be surprised at the dividends in your later years in life.