Be-Ge Manufacturing Co. played major WW II role
Begun in 1933 as the Gilroy Welding Shop with seven employees,
the firm, which expanded into the Be-Ge Manufacturing Co., employed
175 men and women at the height of World War II. By then, the plant
was turning out $1.25 million worth of products per year and was
one of the area’s largest manufacturing plants.
Be-Ge Manufacturing Co. played major WW II role
Begun in 1933 as the Gilroy Welding Shop with seven employees, the firm, which expanded into the Be-Ge Manufacturing Co., employed 175 men and women at the height of World War II. By then, the plant was turning out $1.25 million worth of products per year and was one of the area’s largest manufacturing plants.
The impact of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941 not only made the United States aware of its unpreparedness for war, it also spurred small production companies to stretch themselves to the limit. One such was the Be-Ge Manufacturing Co., which in time became one of leading industries in Gilroy. At first the company had two owners, Albert Gurries, and James Bussert. The name, Be-Ge was taken from the first letter of the men’s last names, with an added “e.”
The Gurries family was already well-known in Gilroy. Albert Gurries, a 1918 graduate of Gilroy High School, at first farmed on the family ranch before becoming interested in land leveling equipment. His pioneering work led to the development of the hydraulic pump. Gurries’ earth-moving equipment and hydraulic controls were used in the construction of Bay Meadows and Tan-Foran race tracks and other land-leveling projects across the state.
The company, which made replacement parts and hydraulic units, began with a machine shop, shipping department and space for testing of hydraulic pumps. By 1936, Be-Ge was also making land levelers. Gurries bought out Bussert’s share in 1941, and took over sole ownership.
In January 1942, a month after Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Defense Department awarded contracts to the company, whose wartime manufacturing expanded into fabricating ship sections from steel plate, producing road scrapers, and building amphibious tank sections such as armor plate. In 1943 the company added a large welding shop, a cutting shed and a warehouse. The company welded parts for the sturdy and compact Liberty ships, which, manned by the Merchant Marines, carried needed supplies across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans to the servicemen fighting overseas.
The Be-Ge company’s metal planers could handle four pieces of work at a time, turning out not only parts for the engines which ran the Liberty ships, but also parts for bulldozers and loaders.
By July 1944 Be-Ge was doing so well the company expanded its operation with a plant in Alviso, located on the waters of San Francisco Bay near San Jose. Parts for ships manufactured at the company were taken across the bay to the Richmond shipyard to be fitted onto cargo ships.
The company received a U.S. government commendation in October 1944 when Be-Ge received a telegram from the Bureau of Ships. It noted “[the] successful landings in Saipan and Peleiu would not have been possible without LUTs produced by the company. Under heavy Japanese fire, the amphibian tractors brought troops, reinforcements and supplies ashore despite the worst coral reefs encountered in the Pacific.”
Bows for tanks called the “Water Buffalo” were also made by Be-Ge. The water-land tanks were famous for being versatile and hard-hitting. Besides Saipan and Peleiu, the company’s tanks were instrumental in the successful invasions of Kwajalein, Okinawa and Iwo Jima.
By December 1944 additional precision machinery was installed at Gilroy’s Be-Ge plant, making the company one of finest machine shops in the state. After the war ended, beginning in January 1946, Be-Ge made plans to double its plant size.
Housing for all the new employees was a problem. During the war, building materials had been in short supply, going instead to the war effort. By December 1944, when demand had reached its peak, Be-Ge announced it was ready to add more men to the production line as soon as housing was available. When no builders stepped forward, Albert Gurries decided to construct apartments for his employees. Ground was broken in April 1945 for the first Gurries housing project, which was three, four-unit apartments.
An article on Dec. 20, 1945 in the Dispatch announced, “Gurries Subdivision to begin, sponsored by Albert Gurries of Be-Ge Manufacturing; Sydney Johnson, local attorney; Harlow Bennett, manager of Gentry; Albert Bettancourt, grocery store owner; and William G. Winn, Dispatch owner.”
In early January 1946 with so many men coming back home from the war, it was announced that 50 homes were to be built on the Gurries Tract.
Postwar government manufacturing continued when, in April 1946, the Army and Navy needed airstrips for cantonments and supply depots on captured Pacific Islands. Welders at Be-Ge made prows for Kaiser ships, parts for Hendy engines and for food machinery. And they made more “Water Buffaloes.” The company was featured in a Saturday Evening Post article published April 13, 1946 called “Small Town Industry Makes Good.”
By November 1946, again back at making farming equipment, Be-Ge enlarged its plant by 100,000 square feet in order to build earthmovers and land levelers for farmers who couldn’t get them during the war. Even after the war was over, the employment level remained high, with 125 employees kept busy on the job.
It seemed there was no end to the company’s success, which meant further expansion with the 1955 acquisition of seven additional acres on which to build more work space. In time, the company was sold to the Oliver Tractor Company. Not a man to let the grass grow under his feet, Albert Gurries went into real estate development, not retiring until 1975.
