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Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 34,261
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 34,261 |
I worked with a guy who was in the Seebees during the Vietnam Era. One of his deployments took him to Spain to a smaller town. There was a bar that all the service men visited. Unfortunately, said bar had a habit of rolling the sailors, Marines, soldiers, etc. Well one night the bar decided to hassle and beat up some Seebees. The Seebees retaliated by going back to the base and getting a big honking dozer. They drove the dozer to town and proceeded to level said bar to the ground. The brass was waiting for them when they got back to base with the dozer. He said they were treated fairly mild considering what the Spanish authorities wanted. Some article 15's and slap on the wrist. Seems the brass was trying to figure out what to do about the bar and the Seebees solve the problem for them.
Go Seebees!
Don't vote knothead, it only encourages them. Anonymous
"Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups." Anonymous
"Self-reliance, free thinking, and wealth is anathema to both the power of the State and the Church." Derby Dude
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Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 48,047
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 48,047 |
I worked with a guy who was in the Seebees during the Vietnam Era. One of his deployments took him to Spain to a smaller town. There was a bar that all the service men visited. Unfortunately, said bar had a habit of rolling the sailors, Marines, soldiers, etc. Well one night the bar decided to hassle and beat up some Seebees. The Seebees retaliated by going back to the base and getting a big honking dozer. They drove the dozer to town and proceeded to level said bar to the ground. The brass was waiting for them when they got back to base with the dozer. He said they were treated fairly mild considering what the Spanish authorities wanted. Some article 15's and slap on the wrist. Seems the brass was trying to figure out what to do about the bar and the Seebees solve the problem for them.
Go Seebees! My dad was stationed in Roda Spain and he got into a bar brawl with some of the locals there. He said one of the little Spaniard guys was about one of the toughest bastids he's ever came across. He chipped a plate with a bullfighter painted on it in that fight. Now every time we look at that plate (hanging in my grandmothers kitchen), we remember the bar room brawl story that happened in Roda....
I try to stick with the basics, they do so well. Nothing fancy mind you, just plain jane will get it done with style. You want to see an animal drop right now? Shoot him in the ear hole. BSA MAGA
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Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 28,197
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 28,197 |
My Grandfather was a Seabee to the bone, we used to call him McGyver, before McGyver. Ham radio operator in Guam and a few other places, he built three houses after the war, all of which had a mammoth radio tower in the back yard.  W6WTB rutabaga. It's engrained in my mind from hearing it a thousand times.
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Joined: May 2004
Posts: 56,129
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 56,129 |
Have lived in Sea Bee built quarters several times. First was fairly nice, the second not so much though it kept me dry.
I am..........disturbed.
Concerning the difference between man and the jackass: some observers hold that there isn't any. But this wrongs the jackass. -Twain
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Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 246
Campfire Member
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Campfire Member
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 246 |
My youngest son has got 15 years in the Sea Bees. He has been all over the mid east mainly with the marines. Then he recently promoted to ensign I think and went to the state department. He now frequently goes off the grid. We dont hear from him for months at a time. I will be glad when he finally gets back in the states.
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Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 7,866
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 7,866 |
Speaking of Seabees....
Anyone read William Bradford Huie's two books?
"Can Do!"
"From Omaha To Okinawa"
I've got em both and they're fascinating reads. I'm in the construction business so it doubles the interest.
It ain't what you don't know that makes you an idiot...it's what you know for certain, that just ain't so...
Most people don't want to believe the truth~they want the truth to be what they believe.
Stupidity has no average...
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Joined: Jun 2013
Posts: 4,826
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Jun 2013
Posts: 4,826 |
Grandpa tried to enlist for WWI, but they said come back when you're 18 son. He did...turned 18 the day after the Armistice. No go.
Fast forward , 25 years and now he has a family of 6 and a growing construction business as well as plowing all the roads in Red Lake County, MN. He figures he's a shoe-in for the SeaBees, so he tries to enlist again. The Navy said no; you've got to provide for your family, you're 43 years old, and we need you plowing roads here at home.
He was crestfallen and never got over it.
"A Republic, if you can keep it." ~ B. Franklin
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Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 7,866
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 7,866 |
That's kind of surprising. The books I mentioned cover WWII and the SeeBees were definitely the 'older' guys. IIRC, most of them 30+ yrs old.
As an aside, in the second vid Greg posted they talked about civilian contractors early in the war. My boss had two uncles on Wake Island working for Morrisen-Knudsen out of Boise.
Both were captured by the Japanese and survived the war as POWs. No mean feat, in and of itself...
It ain't what you don't know that makes you an idiot...it's what you know for certain, that just ain't so...
Most people don't want to believe the truth~they want the truth to be what they believe.
Stupidity has no average...
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Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 53,303
Campfire Kahuna
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OP
Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 53,303 |
Tough contract, that one, for DAMN sure. ..I have to wonder how many of the 1,616 Americans made it all the way through THAT debacle,.... Link: http://www.historynet.com/battle-of-wake-islandThe Japanese came back December 23 with more force and power and within a mere five hours the island had to surrender. Commander from the U.S. Navy Winfield Scott Cunningham was in charge of the forces and their eventual surrender. The result was 1,616 Americans being captured and in turn being evacuated then to Japan and even China. Though the Japanese heavily fortified the island and attempted to hold it, American aircrafts repeatedly attacked it throughout the war creating major devastation. It was again surrendered on September 4, 1945 back to America Adjunct to Wake's re-taking An interesting and sad historical note is that on October 5, 1943 when the Japanese saw imminent invasion an execution was ordered of 98 American civilians. They were taken to one side of the island and shot with machine guns. A prisoner escaped and returned to carve a memorial into a large rock �98 US PW 5-10-43,� and it can still be seen there today. This prisoner was caught and also executed shortly after.
Member, Clan of the Border Rats
-- “Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it.”- Mark Twain
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Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 17,230
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 17,230 |
As a kid growing up around WWII vets, I always heard the Mark 2 knife called a Kabar, or a Marine knife. The Mark 1 was always called a Seabees knife.
I'm sure people used whatever they were issued, or bought, or had.
Sycamore
...Actually Sycamore, you are sort of right....
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Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 17,173
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 17,173 |
My dad lived by the "can do" attitude. When I was young, I thought my dad could make, build anything. He was a great guy when he wasn't drinking. Thank God, he found a better way of life and stopped drinking. Changed man over night.
He is 82 now living with and battling Alzheimer's
Randy
NRA
Patriot Life Benefactor
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