The Unit CBMU 552 came to the Green Islands in June of 1944.  We were previously at an Island called Nukufetau, in the Ellice Islands; when we left Green Island we were sent to Hollandia, New Guinea on March 20, 1945.

I was a First Class at the time I was at Green Island.  I had charge of all Diesel Generating Equipment on the Island and on the Air strip. I do have names of personnel attached to CBMU 553.

Troops from New Zealand disembarked from a U.S. Landing Craft Infantry ship LCI-444 to occupy Green Island on February 16, 1944.

Once secured, the Green Islands became a forward base for the U.S. South Pacific Combat Air Transport Command (SCAT), which supplied material and mail to combat soldiers and evacuated the wounded.

I spoke about the Island Nukufetau in the Ellice Islands.  The Island is now called Tuvalu.  The first inhabitants of Tuvalu were Polynesian people. The islands came under Britain's sphere of influence in the late 19th century. The Ellice Islands were administered by Britain as part of a protectorate from 1892 to 1916 and as part of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony from 1916 to 1974. In 1974 the Ellice Islanders voted for separate British dependency status as Tuvalu, separating from the Gilbert Islands which became Kiribati upon independence. Tuvalu became fully independent within the Commonwealth in 1978.

In 1892, the Islands became part of the British protectorate known as the Ellice Islands.