Wednesday, November 13, 2013

You never know where the Seabees will strike next . . .

 

November 11, 2013

My cousin Craig Garofano, and my friends Bill Thibideau, Chet Urbati, Larry Anderson and John Waltner, all were in Vietnam as Seabees. A childhood friend, Marine Russ Roulier, stayed there forever. 

Sometimes on a Cajun dance floor, sometimes just walking down a street, a sticker on the back of (usually) a pick up truck, "Seabee" written across a ball cap, sometimes from a commuter's "Bus Stories" high in old New Mexico, you will hear of the Navy's Construction Battalions: The Seabees. Construction Battalions. Get It?  C.B's  

We build. We fight. We build airfields and barracks and roads and harbors. A leading general during World War ll said, "The only problem with the Seabees is that we don't have enough of them." There were 256,000 of us.

After the Ninigret Music Festival this past year, Sandy and I visited Davisville, Rhode Island, at Quonset Point. It once was the largest Seabee base in these United States. Dad shipped out from there in '44 headed to a beautiful tropical island in the Pacific called Okinawa. He was there on the day I was born.

Bacon R.F. 693-10-63   
Construction Electrician CEW2

10 being the month, 63 being the year that I enlisted in the United States Navy Seabees

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

A veteran's day salute to you and all your fellow Seabees.

Anonymous said...

I forwarded this link to JM, Bob. She'll appreciate it. She & Mike have an annual Polish dinner for all their friends -- and she makes everything just like her Babcia.