U.S. Forces Rebuild Captured Japanese Airfield - U.S. Army Piper Cub planes, used for observation flights, take cover behind an embankment thrown up for their protection while Seabees, members of the U.S. Navy's construction battalions, work with heavy equipment to rebuild an airfield captured from the Japanese in the Admiralty Islands of the Southwest Pacific. Seizing control of vital areas in the island chain, American forces severed Japanese supply lines to enemy garrisons on New Britain and on the Northern Solomon Island. April 17, 1944.