Field engineers served at 58 establishments and head- 

 quarters in 14 Naval districts; in eight Sea Frontiers; with 

 four fleets and groups in the Atlantic; eight .fleets in the 

 Pacific; IT schools and training activities; and at six 

 laboratories „ 



They served at Navy yards, operating bases, Navy commands 



and with the forces afloat from North Africa and Europe , 



through the Caribbean, across the United States, through the 

 Pacific Islands to Australia „ 



During a typical week, ZO engineers would be on field 

 assignment and at least 50 of them would move during the 

 weeko At any time of the day or night, an engineer might 

 receive orders to pack his gear, catch a plane and report 

 within 24 hours to a base 5000 miles away« Within the 

 United States the ,r traveled on public transport, but most of 

 their overseas transportation was provided by the Navy 



The men usually traveled alone or in pairs, but on one 

 occasion it was necessary to send 15 men on one ship to Pearl 

 Harbor o 



Their casualty and sickness record was excellent „ No 

 engineer was killed on duty, and only a fev, were injured in 

 accidents „ This does not mean they were not exposed to 

 risks o More than one engineer escaped death by having been 

 luckily "bumped" from a plane that later crashed. 



The need for strict security measures to protect vital 

 information is obvious But so far as is known no attempts 

 were ever made to steal data, and all -aterial issued to the 

 men in the field was returned or accounted for when the Group 

 was terminated „ 



Keeping the Engineer < I nforme d , 



From the first*, it was recognized that an information 

 service must be maintained to keep the engineers fully in- 

 formed on developments affecting their work, thus assuring 

 their value as consultants to the Navy„ 



Technical information was compiled from ever:' available 

 source, a complete library and file cf instruction books were 

 established, and the Field Manual was begun. The Information 

 Branch was organized to provide this service and to act as a 

 clearing house and source for assisting ube engineers in the 

 field. 



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