Bluie West One:
Secret Mission to Greenland, July 1941
The Building of an American Air Force Base
by William Kray
A Merriam Press Original Publication
Military Monograph MM76
- Second Edition
- 106 – 6 x 9 inch pages
- Paperback (ISBN 978-1-4357-5864-3) — #MM76-P — $19.95
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PDF (Adobe Acrobat) file sent by mail on a DVD data disk — #MM76-PDF — $4.99
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PDF file with immediate download after purchase ($4.99) available here.
- 54 photos from author's personal collection
In 1940 a decision was made between the U.S. and Great Britain to build an air base in Greenland. The mission for the airbase was to patrol the North Atlantic shipping lanes, to protect the cryolite mines at Ivigtut, Greenland, from German occupation. (Cryolite is a flux used in the refining of aluminum-the only known source in the world), and to act as a rescue station for any Allied planes that encountered trouble along the route.
This is the story of the building of that airbase—codenamed Bluie West One—by 2nd Lt. William Kray, a member of the 3rd Battalion, 21st Aviation Engineer Regiment, which was tasked with building the base.
The trials and tribulations of unloading the ships bringing the supplies and materiel was a mission in itself. The inability to build an unloading dock required a crude but effective improvisation. The problem was sufficiently grave to force the War Department to send a civilian contractor with the proper equipment for the task.
The discovery of the misrepresentation of the so-called gravel surface for the initial runway was a further stunning blow. The original survey stated the surface was gravel. They were told just grade it, lay a surface of Pierced Steel Planking (PSP) and they would be home in three months. The magnitude of the problem is difficult to describe. The gravel turned out to be sprinkled with boulders three to twenty feet in diameter. How they combated this problem is a story of untold heartache and depression. In addition, they simultaneously had to build quarters for themselves and the occupying personnel.
Other projects were added including building a roadway up the mountain to erect a radar station. They were also ordered to build a radio direction finder station on the island of Simiutak, at the mouth of the fjord. Later they were ordered to build emplacements for 16-inch naval guns ten miles down the fjord at a bend, to protect the base from ships sailing up the fjord.
Contents
- Introduction
- Greenland Prologue
- Greenland
- Unloading
- First Storm
- Psychology of Personnel
- Flight to the East Coast
- December 7th
- Mountain Road
- Radio
- Work and Life at Bluie West
- Final Chapter
Reviews and Testimonials
I have just today received the book I ordered from you a short time ago. Very nicely packed, quickly posted and well shipped. Thank you. I am very happy with the book. But one question - do you have any idea if the author is still alive? If so, do you have his address (e-mail), because I am very interested in getting in touch with him. I have a lot of questions for him, and maybe some info he might find interesting. I have salvaged the AT-6 he tells a story about, and have pictures of in the book. The aircraft crash-landed in 1942 and was wrecked. I took the wreck out in 2000, and brought it to Denmark for rebuild here.
—Otto Leth, Denmark
The Author
William Kray graduated from the University of Illinois in Engineering and received his Reserve commission as a Second Lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers. He spent some time as Assistant Commander of one of the CCC camps.
He was called to active duty in the Corps of Engineers and assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 21st Aviation Engineer Regiment at Langley Field, Virginia.
After Bluie West he was sent to England where he helped build an airbase for the Eighth Air Force at Stansted Mt. Fitchett which is now the third airport for London.
He was assigned as Director of Training for the School of Military Engineers in England prior to the Normandy invasion. He helped build the first airstrip on the Normandy beachhead on D-plus-25.
He fought across France and Germany, building airstrips for the Ninth Air Force. He was discharged from the service with the rank of Major in 1946.
He married his college sweetheart in 1938 and had three children, two girls and a boy, plus six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. His son died from cancer after serving in Vietnam.
As a civilian, he has been in the construction business all his life. He is now retired and living in Arizona. He celebrated 62 years of married bliss in April 2000.
Excerpt from the Book:
Introduction
A decision was made between President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill to build an air base in Greenland in 1940. The main mission was three-fold:
1. To patrol the North Atlantic shipping lanes and warn convoys on the way to England of submarines.
2. To protect the cryolite mines at Ivigtut, Greenland, from German occupation. (Cryolite is a flux used in the refining of aluminum—the only known source in the world).
3. To act as a rescue station for any of our planes encountering trouble on their way to England.
The taming of this Arctic wilderness was almost beyond our belief of accomplishment. The trials and tribulations of the matter of unloading the ships bringing the supplies and materiel was a mission in itself. Our inability to build an unloading dock required an improvisation which was certainly crude but effective. The problem was sufficiently grave to force the War Department to decide to send a civilian contractor with the proper equipment for the task. That plus the installation of fuel tanks.
Our discovery of the misrepresentation of the so-called gravel surface for the initial runway was a further stunning blow. The original survey stated the surface was gravel. We were told just grade it, lay a surface of Pierced Steel Planking (PSP) and we would be home in three months. The magnitude of the problem is difficult to describe. The gravel turned out to be sprinkled with boulders three to twenty feet in diameter. How we combated this problem is a story of untold heartache and depression. In addition, we simultaneously had to build quarters for ourselves and the occupying personnel.
Other projects were added to our scope of work. We were ordered to build a roadway up the mountain and to erect a radar station. We were also ordered to build a radio direction finder station on the island of Simiutak, at the mouth of the fjord. Later we were ordered to build emplacements for 16-inch naval guns ten miles down the fjord at a bend, to protect the base from ships sailing up the fjord.
There were examples of bravery exhibited by some of the men above and beyond the call of duty. Yet none were ever recommended for medals. Their morale was exceptionally high at all times.
I am dedicating this work to the men and officers of the 825th Aviation Engineer Battalion.
Greenland Prologue
This mission was born at a secret meeting between President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill at Argentia Bay, Newfoundland, in 1940. Great Britain was taking a severe beating of their convoys on the shipping lanes between the United States and Britain by the German’s submarine campaign. Apparently it was determined that an airbase in Greenland would allow aircraft to patrol over those shipping lanes, helping to protect convoys from the U-boat attacks.
Major Gorlinski, Corp of Engineers, was chosen and given the task of making a survey of Greenland to determine the best location for such an airbase. He consulted whatever technical experts were available in the United States that were the least bit familiar with Greenland. They must have determined that the most expeditious means of such a survey was by flying over the terrain.
Greenland is the largest island in the world, approximately fourteen hundred miles long by about six hundred miles wide. It is enclosed by a range of mountains 11,000 to 12,000 feet high except for the far north portion. Enclosed by these mountains is a pack of solid ice to a depth of 9,000 feet. It is claimed that were this ice to melt it would inundate the North American continent as far west as the Mississippi River. At any rate, Major Gorlinski made his survey by plane at an elevation of approximately 12,000 feet.
The only organization in the U. S. Army partially trained and equipped to perform such a mission was the 21st Aviation Engineer Regiment stationed at Langley Field, Virginia. I was not privy to the following information, so I am only guessing. Someone must have concluded that a battalion of Engineers would be sufficient to complete such a simple task of building a runway for planes to take off, patrol the shipping lanes, and return and land.
I was part of the 3rd Battalion of the 21st Aviation Engineer Regiment. The Battalion was detached from the 21st Regiment and re-designated the 825th Aviation Engineer Battalion. Rumors began circulating that we were going on a secret mission somewhere. No one had any idea where we were supposed to be going. Some rumors said we were taking cotton uniforms, so it must be Africa. Other rumors said we were taking woolen uniforms so it must be the Arctic. Meanwhile, in a deserted area not too far from our base, we practiced grading land, pulling trees, and laying PSP as a surface for runways.
In March 1941 we were alerted that we were going somewhere. In April 1941 all officers were notified to give up their quarters and be prepared to leave at a moment’s notice. We relinquished our quarters at the end of April. My wife refused to leave for home until she was sure I was leaving. As a consequence, all through May my wife and I lived like gypsies. We moved from one friend’s home to another. Finally on June 16, 1941, we were ordered to catch a train for the NYPE (New York Port of Embarkation). Laid over at Fort Slocum, on June 19, 1941, we arrived at the NYPE and were loaded aboard the Navy ship the Munargo (AP-20). As the ship was pulling away from the pier a runner came speeding up, jumped aboard ship, and handed Major Chambers a secret letter from the First Army Headquarters. The Major signed for it and the runner jumped ashore about five feet from the pier. At noon that day we were officially informed that our destination was Greenland. I was then given the secret report of Major Gorlinski, which I studied it very thoroughly.
As I mentioned earlier, the survey was by plane and he discovered a terminal moraine in the southwest of Greenland approximately one and a half miles wide by about three miles long. A beautiful area of gravel, it would be a simple matter of running a drag line to level it, place our PSP, and be home in three months. This is a very brief summarization of his report. His aerial photographs did look like there was a gravel surface.
As we laid to outside the NYPE, we dropped our pilot and were joined by the Army freighter Château Thierry (AP-31), the Navy tanker Sapelo (AO-11), the Coast Guard cutter Comanche (WPG-75), the ice breaker Raritan (WYT-93) and three destroyers. We then headed northeast toward Newfoundland.
We dropped anchor in Argentia Bay, Newfoundland, on June 24, 1941, at 1:21 a.m. This was the site of a new naval base. Two destroyers and the aircraft tender Albemarle were present when we arrived, plus sixteen seaplanes floating in the harbor. Our skipper must have been the senior officer present because the other skippers came aboard to pay their respects. We laid to to obtain weather reports of Greenland and pick up a pilot.
On June 28th the Atlantic Fleet arrived: two battleships, two heavy cruisers, four huge troop transports, a Marine Regiment and a defense battalion, plus adequate supplies and twelve destroyers. The Marines were on a secret mission to Iceland. They had left San Diego on May 1st, with a week’s shore leave in Charleston, South Carolina.
We sailed Monday afternoon, June 30, 1941. The sea was a lot rougher than it was on the trip to Argentia. We instituted iceberg watches. We had men stationed on the forward gun deck for that watch. The Coast Guard claimed the sea was clear of icebergs all the way to Greenland. Captain Forney, Battalion Executive Officer, corralled me to explain the function of my Company when we landed in Greenland. We had brought some aluminum pontoons along which were normally used in military bridge building. We were to use some of these pontoons as floating rafts and build a pontoon pier out from the shore and begin unloading operations.
I must describe Captain Forney, for he did a magnificent job as Battalion Executive Officer. The Battalion Commander, Major Chambers, was incapacitated most of the time, confined to his quarters. Forney was a man of about medium height, blond hair, blue eyes and generally light complexioned. He had a youthful appearance, but could be very stern when required. He was a graduate of the West Point Military Academy. I was constantly reminded of an incident that occurred when he first reported for duty with the 21st Aviation Engineer Regiment. Forney was a native-born Virginian, but he had been stationed in New York prior to joining the 21st. After finally finding quarters in Hampton, Virginia, when he pulled up to the quarters there were some children playing in the street and when they saw his car with New York plates they called out “Damn Yankee.” Rather embarrassing. At any rate, Captain Forney took over as acting Battalion Commander and did a tremendous job.