Document Source: Log Book of the 85th Naval Construction Battalion & History (EUCMH Archives) 85th Naval Construction Battalion February 6, 1943. Following in the footsteps of the 84 Groups ahead of them, 27 officers and 1079 enlisted men who had been through an initial three weeks training period, paraded in ceremonial review and also the thick mud of Virginia, with the group officially named the 85th US Naval Construction Battalion and the battalion standard presented to the Officer in charge, Commander Fred­erick C. Ray, by Commander A. G. Hillberg, CEC, USNR, who was the Military Training Officer at Camp Allen (Texas),...