Seabees

When I started keeping bees and put up my bee yard, my plan has been to adorn the fencing with various bee/nature related themed art. I had Buddha on the ground and the Virgin Mary to keep him company, but the fencing has remained pretty bare.

One piece I wanted to have was a Seabees plaque. When I was a kid growing up in Rhode Island, I remember going down to Quonset Point Naval Air Station with the Cub Scouts. Those were the days of GI Joe (before the life-like hair) and I remember being impressed that this was in my own back yard! Quonset NAS is where the ubiquitous Quonset Huts got their name (Camp Endicott next door was home to the Seabees). The Seabees put up a lot of Quonset Huts during World War II (as well as building airstrips, roads, etc), fighting in the Pacific. John Wayne starred in a movie about them in The Fighting Seabees, a movie I loved as a kid. So, I ordered a Seabees license plate plaque a while back, but it’s been sitting around in my house and I never got around to mounting it.

Either I had forgotten (most likely) or never new this, but my Uncle Bill was a Seabee during WWII. A recent Facebook post had a picture of him in front of the Seabees statue during visit to the Seabees Museum and Memorial Park. (photo credit to Kim Brown). His smile tells how delighted he was to see this part of his history. Thanks for your service, Uncle Bill!