This Day in History: The Seabees of the United States Navy
At about this time in 1942, the United States creates a different kind of fighting force. These men didn’t rely on rifles, though. Instead, they drove bulldozers, concrete mixers, and cranes. They operated jackhammers, shovels, and welding torches.
“The Seabees of the United States Navy were born in the dark days following Pearl Harbor,” the Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC) website explains, “when the task of building victory from defeat seemed almost insurmountable. The Seabees were created in answer to a crucial demand for builders who could fight.”
Someone had to build the ports, roads, airstrips, and hospitals needed to win a war. Before World War II, the task was often delegated to private companies, but that solution had become impracticable.
“Under military law,” Rear Admiral Ben Moreell later explained, “civilians could not offer resistance when attacked. A civilian bearing arms would be considered a guerrilla, liable to summary execution if captured.”
FULL STORY: https://www.taraross.com/post/tdih-seabees













