My father in-law was a Seabee in WWII Pacific..he worked on many runways.
My Dad always told the story of how he realised the US knew it was going to be in WWII well before Pearl Harbor (in hindsight not a major piece of perception).
As a boy in Derry in Northern Ireland he was impressed by the arrival of US construction workers who were “helping” the British Navy upgrade their base. It was never made clear what role these men were playing but they were seen each morning being trucked down to the base in their civilian clothes.
Until the morning after Pearl Harbor when they were trucked to the base wearing their USN uniforms, they were all Seabees.
I wonder how often this was being repeated at “British” bases (that immediately transformed into US bases) across the world before Pearl Harbor.