Grieving the loss of a Pacific veteran this evening, I thought this might be appropriate.
Pretty fantastic branch of the service, I'd venture.
Having grown up in a "Stick Ship" environment, I can tell you that this one's pretty near bang on. Nonetheless, see if you can Catch the rigging nomenclature FUBAR....
"Seabees are a different breed of guy",....yup, eye test cheatin' cat skinners. Heartwarming,...
Originally Seebees were civilian construction workers and contractors hired for construction work by the Navy. Later with the war they became military personal and the Navy Seebees was born.
Seebees stands CB which stands for construction battalion.
Didn't seem right to clutter that thread up, and yet,.....
I dunno, seemed right to put up something Seabee related.
My Dad's WW2 shipmates and buddies included a fair number of serving and retired Seabees, and I was fortunate enough to meet and sit on the sidelines listening, a time or two. Great guys, that spoke little about the recently terminated unpleasantness, ....moreso about current "Projects", recent travels, families, fishing and hunting.
I have to confess, my first time even hearing about Seebee's was when I was deployed. I quickly made it a priority to get to know the local (FOB) guys personally. They sure made life much more bearable when you're so far away from home.
Cross, dad was a WWII Navy SeaBee who entered the service in March of 1942 and served for the duration.
He was a quiet man when it came to his service, he made little mention of it throughout his life - once identifying a waterfall in a New Guinea documentary we were watching,long before an announcer. Other times grousing about going shopping -he'd once been sent to places in this world where no man should have to go, back when he had no choice, now he did, so he wasn't going...
I learned much about his Sea Bee life at his funeral from members of his battalion that were there. I'd love to share them around a fire if we ever meet.
Here's something I grabbed of the internet some time ago and posted on a family group on FaceBook:
Dad was a Sea Bee in WWII. Doing a bit of a search I found these comments from two distinguished leaders from that war - H.M. (Howlin Mad) Smith and Roy Geiger. Fine tributes to those of our greatest generation:
'NEVER LET US DOWN' As the former Commanding General of the Fifth Amphibious Corps and Commanding General Fleet Marine Force, Pacific, it gives me great pleasure to send a brief message to the bi-weekly magazine SEABEE for their final and souvenir edition. In my humble opinion the formation of the Seabees was one of the finest developments of this last war. The outstanding work of the Seabees and their magnificent courage in battle played a most Important part in the successful prosecution of the war. It was not an unusual sight to witness the Seabees performing their duties under heavy fire. It was an inspiring sight, for instance, to see them working on one end of the airfield while the Marines were fighting on the other end. They were equally at home with the tools of their profession or with the weapons with which they were armed. The spirit of brotherhood existing between the Marines and the Seabees was forged in the holocaust of battle. Perhaps I can sum up this brief message in these few words, "THE SEABEES NEVER LET US DOWN." With sincere personal regards, H. M. SMITH Lieutenant General U. S. Marine Corps 'UNBELIEVABLE CONTRIBUTION' We of the Marine Corps know firsthand, perhaps better than anyone else, the almost unbelievable contribution that the Seabees have made to victory. Many times we have fought side by side in the early stages of battle, before there was room for you to proceed with your assigned construction projects. While we pressed farther Inland, you laid aside your arms-but not too far away-to pick up your working tools and build highways, airports, supply depots and innumerable other projects, It was a comforting thought to know as we pushed the enemy back that you were right behind us with your bulldozers and your tractors, your graders and your power shovels guaranteeing us roads to bring up our supplies and ammunition and to return our wounded, and airports for our planes to use in supporting our troops and in pushing the attack. During the interludes between operations, fortunate Indeed was the unit that was located near a Construction Battalion. Then, the more peaceful pursuits of erecting a flagpole, repairing a watch, were child's play at the hands of the Seabees. The Marines who have fought together with you against the Jap will never forget the support you have given us unfailingly from Guadalcanal to Tokyo. The bond of fellowship between Marines and Seabees, forged by the heat of battle, Is one which I am sure will last as long as there are veterans of these organizations left to recount firsthand experiences of the many hard-won battles of the war. On behalf of all Marines in the Pacific, I want to my thank you, and well done! ROY S. GEIGER Lieutenant General, U.S.M.C., Commanding General, Fleet Marine Force, Pacific
It gives me great sadness to know that we are nearing the end of the "Greatest Generation", we are losing these men way to fast.
I've had the honor of knowing a couple of these men and great men they were. All that I have known are now gone but it was a great honor just to stand in their shadows.
All should be proud of relatives that served with the Seabees. One of my friends served with the Seabees for 25 years. His wife was in the State Dept. & served at embassies all over the world. He was always transferred to what ever embassy she served at which included Russia, China, Saudi, North Korea, etc. He was a mail courier at these embassy's & both he & his wife were experts shots & hunters. Virtually certain both were deep cover CIA. Both are retired & have a huge secluded home in Oregon.
Thanks for the Honor you give my Father-in-Law Cross. It diminishes us all every time one of our Heros from long ago Passes. The memory of great events and incredible exploits in the minds of men still living gives us a connection to regular guys who did incredible things. The frail old man lying in that hospital bed awaiting his death was once a scared guy in terrible places accomplishing amazing things. Once mighty warriors are gong home every day. Maybe some day some folks will look at my generation with 1/10 the repect. I lift my mason jar of Kentuckys Finest in Salute to them all.
Many's the time I wished I'd gone into the Seabees instead of the Air Force. I would have loved building stuff and I would have known something when I got out.
My Dad and his two brothers were in the Seabees, all in Vietnam at the same time, MCB-53. Brother four was in the RED HORSE Squadron of the Air Force, also in Vietnam with them.
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.
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....
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.
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.
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.
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...
The 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
Quote
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.
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
Heartwarming,... ![[Linked Image]](http://mlblogsrickm.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/seabee.jpg)
W6WTB rutabaga. It's engrained in my mind from hearing it a thousand times.