joe shawinsky's entire battalion had landed by late afternoon on d-day, 19 february 1945. >> colonel,e assaultway? >> "c" company of the 133rd seabee battalion was assigned to my ship and they landed with us. i can absolutely certify that. >> shelton scale's commanded 3rd battalion in the 4th marine division. >> i'm going down that lift with that landing craft, i felt sorry for them. >> when you get on ashore, did you see any of the seabees? >> yeah, working on the airfields or putting in telephone lines. >> we went right in and started working. >> joining joe and shelton was seabee detachment and buddy white. >> we converted saltwater to freshwater. then we also put up huge quonset huts and inventoried thousands and thousands of parts. >> you guys have got to clear the beach, build roads, under fire. >> oh, yes. >> all the way up to where these airfields are going to be. >> you don't even know. when you're handling heavy equipment, you don't know that round is coming. and seabees were struggling for their lives, trying to do their jobs under extreme circumstances. >> colonel, did you