They Came To An Island (MN-5834) is a 1946 U.S. Navy film that gives viewers a look at just some of what the Navy’s Civil Engineer Corps accomplished in the Pacific during World War II. The film opens with a shot of the Navy Department Bureau of Yards and Docks, which is headquarters to the Civil Engineer Corps. In the unit’s archives are rows and rows of file cabinets containing the files of the men who served during the war. Navy men drill in full dress (01:28). Men climb aboard a ship with their gear; cargo is loaded onto the ship by cranes. Heavy machinery and tanks are also loaded onto the ship. The men kill time sitting out on the deck of the ship (02:38), some box, and others paint. A church service is held on the deck of the ship. Aerial footage shows the sea and the ships from planes. This is followed by explosions on an island and shots of Grumman F6F Hellcats and Vought F4U Corsairs. A pontoon causeway is dropped into the water. Seabees build a dock out of the pontoon bridges (05:43). Trucks drive off the ship and onto the makeshift dock as they head to the island. A tractor plows grass and clears underbrush. Men chainsaw down palm trees; another tractor knocks over a tree. A large tractor pulls equipment (08:00); earth is leveled and graded. Men cut logs, which are then trucked away. A blast destroys rock and a backhoe clears out the rubble to make way for an airstrip. More graters and bulldozers level the terrain. Rollers flatten the earth. 10:44 Men lay down steel Marston Mats and link them together for the air strip (10:44). Men move lumber in makeshift lumber yard on the island (11:14). The Seabees raise walls for buildings, then they put on trusses. What appears to be a Vought F4U Corsair takes off from the newly made runway (12:09). The Navy engineers set up a fuel pump. Men service a B-24 Liberator (12:51); the Liberator then takes off. There are some good shots of the island base being developed. Then the men are back at sea on their way to Iwo Jima. Men gather on deck for a briefing. The troops tend to cargo and clean their weapons (14:36). A ship in their convoy takes a direct hit off in the distance (14:58). The troops see Iwo Jima, and then the Marines move in. Seabees cling to cargo nets as they are moved from one ship to the next for landing (15:40). The Seabees head to shore in a LCVP to wait for incoming cargo. Large artillery guns are moved off the ship; trucks and other equipment are moved onto LSTs. An LST loaded with equipment heads to the beach near Mount Suribachi (18:38). Footage shows tanks, trucks, and artillery guns moving off the LSTs and onto the sand. Men form a bucket brigade line and pass along boxes and barrels of supplies. A truck gets stuck in the sand (21:07) and a bulldozer needs to tow it out. Men roll out the Marston Mats to make a better surface to drive equipment and supplies off of the LSTs. Seabees set up water hoses to distill water (23:00). The Seabees follow the Marines as they push the Japanese back on the island (23:50). A bulldozer moves earth at a new site (24:38). A lookout stands on the bulldozer blade searching for land mines. The film then shows the men living on the island, shaving, bathing, and cooking. A large shovel chips away at Mount Suribachi (26:27) and loads lava rock onto trucks. Tractors pull graters to build an airstrip, and then heavy steam rollers compact the earth. Some Seabees build a cemetery on Iwo Jima and put up grave markers. Other men walk around the cemetery looking at the graves of their brothers (28:45). There are fresh water wells, and the men shower with the new fresh water. Men build an underground medical center using leftover strips of Marston Mats (31:05); they add a weather-strip cover and then surround the building with sandbags. A bulldozer moves sand over the sandbags to camouflage the medical center. The Seabees are then back on the ships heading for Okinawa. Floating pontoons are dropped onto the water (34:24). Trucks leave the ships, driving to the island over the causeway. Trucks move through thick mud; a bulldozer pushes mud out of the way to make a more serviceable road. An aerial view of the island shows the ocean “pier” and the roads and airstrip built by the Seabees. (37:53). This is followed by a shot of “harbor” at Okinawa built by the Seabees (38:50).

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