From Oklahoma to Okinawa: Wally Sloan shares his experiences as a Seabee

Saturday, August 22, 2009
Wally Sloan, in his home west of Nevada sharing a picture of some terraces taken in Okinawa when he was there as a Seabee. --Carolyn Gray Thornton/Special to the Herald-Tribune

Wallace Eugene Sloan (Wally) was only 15 when World War II broke out. He was a student in Fallis, Okla., where his father started oil pipelines from Cushing, Okla., which was the oil center of the nation at that time. Sloan had worked with his father, even driving teams of horses before he was 8 years old. He wanted to enlist, but his father wanted to keep him out of the service by getting him a deferment for his work on the pipelines. For two summers, Sloan (the oldest of four children) worked on large equipment in the oil fields and on the pipelines, but when he reached 18, he went to the county seat to register for the Seabees.

The Seabees had not existed at the beginning of the war, but to meet the need for construction workers in Iceland, where civilian workers did not want to go, the Construction Battalions (CBs) were formed as part of the United States Navy. The official motto of the Seabees is "Construimus Batuimus" ("We Build, We Fight") but their best unofficial motto is the phrase "Can Do." All through the war the Seabees were instrumental in building airstrips, roads, buildings, and anything needed to allow the Marines and soldiers to do their part in the war.

This type of service appealed to Wally with his background of working with large machinery in the oil fields. However there was no opening for him at that time, but his application took him off the deferred list. To keep from being drafted into the army Wally enlisted in the Navy, requesting the Seabees. He took his basic training in San Diego, California. At the end of this period there were 15 openings for the Seabees, but Wally's name wasn't called. However a name was called of a man who was in sickbay, so they took the next on the list, Wally Sloan.

He was transferred to Rhode Island for training in bomb disposal, demolition and unexploded ordinance. Then he was transferred to Port Hueneme, California for further training in construction. Wally believes that his two years working on the pipelines as a youth during the summers was the experience that got him on the list for the Seabees.

Every Seabee is trained to do two jobs, one military and one construction. Wally's training in unexploded ordinances was put to the test when he arrived in Okinawa with the 137th U.S. Naval Construction Battalion April 1945.

He and some other Seabees had the job of moving a 2,000-pound unexploded shell down from a hill where it had landed. They pried it to slowly roll to a spot where it could be deactivated. It turned out to be a dud but they couldn't know that for sure as they were moving it.

He spent 8 1/2 months on Okinawa building airstrips by digging the coral rock out of the hill and pushing it into the water to work their way out into the ocean for the Yona Baru airstrip. This was the work they were doing when the atomic bomb was dropped on Japan, and their work was halted. The airstrips were never used, but there is now a big airport there.

He was then transferred to the 109th Seabees and was sent to Guam to build roads for about four months. The Seabees were shut down May 1, 1946 and Wally was transferred back to the regular Navy. He received a 30-day leave and finally was able to receive the first pay from his months of service. Until then he had just received $5 monthly from the Red Cross for personal items.

After his leave he was sent to the 8th Naval District in New Orleans where he served as Shore Patrol. He received an Honorable Discharge at Norman, Okla., on Aug. 6, 1946. At that point he joined the Naval Reserve for four years. Due to the Korean uprising President Truman extended his reserve enlistment for one year. He was not called into active duty during that time as he was again working on the oil pipelines and that was a priority. His final Honorable Discharge was Aug. 6, 1951, for six years, 8 months and 7 days of service to his country. He received the ASIATIC-Pacific Campaign Medal and the World War II Victory Medal.

The skills he gained as one of the Seabees continued on into Vernon County, where Sloan used his earth moving training in establishing a business here and built many miles of terraces, dozens of ponds and other work.

When he was discharged he intended to return to Oklahoma to live, but came to Horton to work on some timber on an Uncle's land. He broke his watchband and went in to Flory's Drug Store on the North side of the square to get a new band. He had trouble getting it put on his watch and Maxine Carlini who was working in the store said, "Here, let me put that on for you, Men don't know how to do things like that".

The rest is history. They were married June 3, 1948, and have raised two children, Ron and Connie, and live west of Nevada.

Sloan is retired from his earth moving business but is still active in community affairs.

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