New Guinea

The 618th Engineers departed New Orleans 25 January 1944 on USAT EVANGELINE, arriving at Milne Bay on 25 February. There, they built roads, airfields, and other infrastructure in support of the Milne Bay build-up, and also were responsible for heavy equipment assembly, repair, and transshipment. They also had a few opportunities to see the sights. These photos document the men, their engineering work, company life, and local activities.


View of Milne Bay from officers' quarters. 1944. The profile of the land across the bay proves the 618th was located at or near what is now Alotau, on the north shore of the bay.	Another view across Milne Bay, same location. Annotated "Out the front door."	Unidentified river, best guess flows into Milne Bay.

Company area; album context indicates Milne Bay, possibly late 1944.	View across China Strait, toward Samarai Island, which probably is the lower island to the right in the background. China St. is just S of the mouth of Milne Bay, around the corner. Quite a few photos are probably or certainly from the China Strait area but none show engineering work. Perhaps men of the 618th went there on occasion for R&R.	Another view across China Strait.

Lt. Johnson, Oct. 1944. We concluded the annotation was almost certainly written by Drury. The original album page is titled "Milne Bay, New Guinea - Officer Personnel, 618th Engrs." by Johnson.	Lt. McEwen at Milne Bay, caption very probably by Drury.	Lt. Drury, Oct. 1944. Annotation handwriting is almost certainly his.

Lts. Johnson, McEwen, and Drury, at Milne Bay. The names were annotated by Johnson and the caption was written on the print almost certainly by Drury. Its meaning is mysterious; the Dad we knew was upright, somewhat stolid, perhaps even a little ponderous (although he did have a slightly weird sense of humor). There's a story here, sadly lost.	Lts. Johnson and McEwen, Oct. 1944	Lts. McEwen and Drury, Milne Bay, Oct. 1944.

Portrait of Johnson, Milne Bay, 1944. Annotated "Notice the press." Spiffy tailoring, New Guinea style.	Portrait of Johnson smoking a cigar. Milne Bay, 1944.	Believe this is Johnson; another print is annotated "The Whistler," probably by Drury. Dad had a whistle that could cut glass.

Informal portrait of Mathews (from Texas) and McEwen. Summer 1944.	Formal (sort of) portrait of McEwen at his desk. Summer 1944.	Drury, in skivvies, posing next to HQs 2nd Battalion Officer's Latrine. Context is unclear. Milne Bay, probably Summer 1944.

Johnson in front of the Officer's Latrine. Is there a subtext here?	Man posed standing in front of Officer's Shower.	Men entering Officer's Shower, might be Johnson and Drury.

Three men posed in front of Officer's Shower. Man on left could be McEwen, on right might be Johnson. Unknown what it is with all these facilities, was this one of Dad's editorial comments, or were those the only permanent buildings yet constructed? "First things first," as Dad used to say.	"618 on the job!" Portrait of Johnson, Milne Bay, 1944.	Balcom, Galloway, and another man apparently at leisure. The half-walled hut construction appears to be common. Summer 1944.

Group portrait of unit mechanics, Dec. 1944 in New Guinea.	Road construction with engineers sitting around or standing looking at camera, while somebody drives a bulldozer. Milne Bay, March 1945.	Probably road construction, with more engineers sitting around watching somebody else at work.

Grader and dozer at work, probably same road construction.	Grader, other equipment; a duplicate print is annotated "Tandem grading." Original album page is annotated "618 on the job!".	Lt. Drury apparently doing some surveying during construction of an airstrip in New Guinea. Original album page is labeled "Hilea," apparently a location. We have not been able to identify it. Annotation reads "Drury (S.I)"; meaning unknown.

Grading at the Hilea airstrip.	A couple of cranes during Hilea airstrip construction. The one on the left is labeled "Tourna-crane" (no reference). The one on the right is labeled "Track crane - Bay City", which likely refers to the Industrial Brownhoist Corporation of Bay City, MI.	Davis, Fenzi, and Sorrensen apparently surveying at the airstrip construction site.

A large crane removing sections of landing mat at the airstrip--perhaps job is near completion?	Drury standing in front of several vehicles at the airstrip.	Some evolution involving crane, bulldozer, other equipment. Annotated "loading trailer."

Trucks and crane, probably New Guinea location.	Loading up in a gravel pit. "2 cubic yard Lorain" refers to the shovel. Operator might be Lt. Johnson.	Another view of the gravel pit. Operator is unknown. Presumably they're not going to load the jeep.

Portrait labeled "Mac," presumably Lt. McEwen, standing in front of wheeled crane and other equipment.	Storage yard at the Engineering Depot, Heavy Equipment Yard.	Bucyrus-Erie 50 T crane and other equipment at the Engineering Depot, Heavy Equipment Yard.

Jeep versus truck--contrast, indeed.	A lineup of 618th equipment, most look like some sort of trailer.	More 618th equipment in New Guinea, including crane, road rollers, other unidentified vehicles.

The 618th was nothing if not resourceful. One entry in the unit history said, "Our mechanics have been successful in assembling a 30KVA generator and Diesel Engine from an amazing variety of salvage parts." This photo shows the result of a similar accomplishment. A 12-ton Lima crane crane arrived with motor trouble and no spare parts, so, according to the annotation, they "installed a D-6600 Cat. engine in Lima crane." (The unit history identifies it as a D4600 and notes that, owing to the larger size of the new engine, the cab needed to be modified and reinforced.) We assume "Cat" is Caterpillar and Lima refers to the Crane and Shovel Division of the Lima Locomotive Works, Lima, Ohio. The word "Corts" is unknown but might be a name.	Another piece of innovative engineering. They built a 5th-wheel mount to turn a Mack truck into a semi configuration, so they could tow a large crane on a flatbed trailer. This required 1-1/2 weeks work by two welders. Suspended structure in background is unidentified. Person is T/Sgt E.B. Thompson. The album page is annotated Dec 1944 but the unit history (which describes this construction in unusual detail) says the job was performed in April 1945.	Another view of the 5th-wheel setup with Sgt. Thompson.

Portrait of M/Sgt Brehmer and T/Sgt E.B. Thompson, apparently in connection with the fabrication of the 5th-wheel. This is almost the only annotation that includes ranks, which might be taken to suggest these men were key figures in that project.	The final result of the 5th-wheel construction. This rig became a key element of the 618th's operations and was used routinely to haul heavy equipment in the Philippines.	Although sometimes things went wrong. A large item of tracked heavy equipment is upside down. Annotation says "1-1/2 cubic yard Koering dropped while loading on ship." Man standing next to it gives an idea of scale. Album context implies New Guinea, perhaps early 1945.

Another view of the Koering. The name doubtless refers to the Koehring Company of Wisconsin, a major producer of heavy construction equipment. This event was not recorded in the unit history.	Company life in New Guinea. Johnson at his desk in Officer's Quarters, apparently taking care of the mail. Note the books in the bookcase in background--texts or references?	McEwen and Mathews in Officer's Quarters. The room looks the same; note the clothes bar and empty hanger, the radio (just visible in the upper-right corner of the previous shot), and the multiplug extension cord and the glass next to the radio (the sun helmet is missing in this shot). The family photo on the desk is the same but that end of the desk has been rearranged. Looks like they took turns? (And is that a pinup over the radio?)

McEwen and Mathews in Officer's Quarters, about to have a little lunch. Annotated "Snacktime, Mac - Mathews." Same scene as before except McEwen looks ready to open that tuna can or whatever with a screwdriver.	We don't understand this one. Man at desk in front of bank of pigeonholes, furniture looks homemade but solid and a bit stylish, crude sign painted on side of desk: "For Shipping Documents." Annotation "Funny?". December 1944 in New Guinea.	618th barbershop at Milne Bay. Barber is Rinehart, victim is Johnson.

Army-Navy Game (baseball), probably September 1944. Looks like a pretty good turnout.	Johnson and an unidentified man, wearing a baseball glove. Annotation, probably in Drury's handwriting, says "Umpire Johnson"--did he work the Army-Navy game? Milne Bay, New Guinea, 1944.	Group portrait of NCO's at a rifle range, probably vicinity of Milne Bay. May have been around Dec. 1944.

Target practice at the rifle range. It's a little rustic. The photos contain no indications that the 618th was ever in an engagement, but you need to be ready.	More target practice. Photographer is standing in a position that suggests the weapons were not loaded. Engineers carried M1 carbines, replacing the M1911 pistol (none of the photos show pistols).	Target practice. Note the annotation. With all due respect to Sgt. R. Lee Ermey and others, we believe "load and lock" is the technically correct terminology. We observe that W.F. Johnson's service records list "Qualification in arms: Rifle Sharpshooter, May 26, 1942" and "Expert with Caliber .30 Rifle M1".

Targets at rifle range. Dad was a marksmanship enthusiast; these scenes were almost the only times he used exclamation points.	Target line at the rifle range. The weapon in the foreground, which has a flash hider and apparently a bipod, seems perhaps a little fancy for engineers.	There were opportunities to take time out and see the sights in New Guinea. Three-masted ship in China Strait, near Samarai Island.

Small sailing craft, probably in China Strait; annotated "Trader." Seems to be taken from another boat.	Another view of the trader	Mission chapel at China Strait, exterior view.

Interior of mission chapel at China Strait. Look at that stonework and roof structure.	Local people near China Strait. Two outrigger canoes are visible, also some sort of boat (ferry?) in the water.	Annotated "trading with the natives," sort of an open-air market. Not sure if that's the chapel in the background.

Portrait of two New Guinea local people.	Another portrait, probably same two people. These might be the ones in the "Up the river" photo (see below).	Several people on shore, with a couple of dugout canoes. Image is poor quality and difficult to interpret.

Things to do in New Guinea. Original album page is annotated "New Guinea, Vacation Land??" Probably mid-1944. This may have been taken in China Strait, but several Milne Bay and China Strait album pages are interleaved, so it's hard to tell.	Another view. Platform sure looks like a wakeboard, which standard sources say was invented in the late 70s or early 80s, in this part of the world. Maybe a little earlier?	Drury diving, uncertain whether into Milne Bay or China Strait.

Drury on his way down. He looks like he's going to splash hard.	Portrait of unidentified woman, annotated "Dr. Dupre's home, Sunday, May 7, 1944" on back of print. We suspect this is near China Strait. Dr. Dupre seems to have been reasonably prosperous--a two-car garage and two cars. This indicates the engineers had made social contacts with the local community.	A brief holiday from the war. She is identified as "Denny" but no other information is provided. Mid-1944, probably in China Strait.

This is "Di", same boat and occasion.	Denny and Di on the boat. It is clearly a small pleasure craft, not military, and thus presumably belonged to one of the locals, who might have been Denny.	Di and Denny, flanking a cheerful-looking Lt. Drury. A wedding photo shows that Drury and Di (Diana) were married in late March or early April 1946.

Appears to be Drury, Di, and Denny on the same boat. A duplicate print is annotated "Up the river" by Johnson, who presumably is on the shore taking the photo. Natives in dugout canoes look like they're getting out of the way. Role of the boat in the middle of the river is unknown.	Unidentified person (Johnson?) in a small boat, probably China Strait. The boat looks similar to the one in the previous photos, but that's not clear. These photos were on an adjacent album page and could have been part of that outing. Original album page is annotated "Time out."	Portrait of Johnson in a boat, again from "Time out" album page.

View across the water, from the "Time out" album page.	Another mysterious image. Portrait of woman standing in front of jeep, smoking a pipe. Annotated "Ain't it the truth," significance unknown. Somewhere around China Strait.