This candid snapshot from a personal wartime photo album shows U.S. servicemen working with pierced steel planking (PSP), or 'Marston Mat,' at a tent encampment in the Pacific Theater. This perforated steel matting allowed forward units to rapidly build airstrips, roads, and hardstands on newly secured islands, and images like this one document the everyday construction labor that supported combat operations during the island-hopping campaign. Project: 218184