Page 74 - South Mississippi Living - July, 2022

SEABEES 80TH
ON
THE
Seabees Continue Heritage of Building, Fighting During Vietnam War
story and photos courtesy of
NCBC Gulfport Public Affairs and the Seabee Historical Foundation
By the time the Vietnam War rolled around, the U.S. Navy Seabees had already proven themselves as seasoned builders and fighters during the Korean War and World War II. They brought their ‘Can Do’ spirit with them to the jungles of Vietnam, where they continued to lend their combat and construction expertise to the U.S. military in that theater of operation.
Officially, America’s military participation in the Vietnam War began in 1954, with a stronger military build-up and involvement taking place throughout the 1960s and early 1970s.
During the early build-up phase, Seabees and Civil Engineer Corps (CEC) officers from Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NFEC) worked together on various projects throughout Southeast Asia and particularly in South Vietnam (or the Republic of Vietnam), whose government and military the United States was supporting against the communist forces in North Vietnam (or the Democratic Republic of Vietnam), which was also referred to as the Viet Cong.
While in-country, the Seabees got to work on various construction projects, including the building of roads, airfields, hospitals, refugee camps, storage facilities, bunkers and
plenty of other facilities required for supporting U.S. military
operations there, as well as those of South Vietnamese and other allied forces.
Even though various Seabee Teams had been deploying to the country since the 1950s, the first full Seabee battalion, Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 10, didn’t arrive in Vietnam until May 7, 1965. It was tasked with building an expeditionary airfield for the Marines at Chu Lai in South Vietnam.
The Seabees also shared many of their construction skills with their South Vietnamese counterparts, exchanging
many tricks of the construction trade with their hosts so
the Vietnamese could work alongside the Seabees and on their own projects as well. They also worked on various humanitarian aid projects, building and repairing schools, roads and utilities, and working on projects that supplied fresh water to the local populace while also providing them with medical aid.
The Seabees’ presence continued to increase throughout
the mid-to-late-1960s. At their height during the war, there were more than 25,000 Seabees stationed in Vietnam between 1968 and 1969, a surge that occurred shortly after the start
of the Tet Offensive, a major series of military attacks by
the Viet Cong that began Jan. 31, 1968, and lasted well into
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