General Patton and the Seabees

The very famous, Gen John K. Siglaub of WWII OSS and Viet Nam MACVSOG fame was credited with saying that the Navy Seabees would build anything, anywhere, any time, even under fire. He said that in defense of the Bees when after Viet Nam, the Pentagon was considering combining all combat engineers under one service. His argument must have worked as they are still around.
 
I doubt your bridges are exactly the same as this bridge is made of aluminum alloy. IIRC, it was designed for WWII by the British. It is packaged neatly on pallets to be dropped by parachute or cargo chute from low flying aircraft. It is used ahead of attacking forces to replace damaged bridges or were no bridge exist.

Heh heh, the way some of these were built-musta been strictly from after-thought. I worked for the Boll-wevil Foundation one season-many of the cotton fields I had to check--could only be accessed by crossing one of those R.R. tie bridges. :eek: You could hear them moan and groan--driving over them very slowly and carefully.
 
I suppose many may remember the WWII John Wayne movie "The Fighting Seabees." I suspect it was highly fictionalized. One of several in which John Wayne's character was killed at the end.

The club that houses the CPO & Officer's club as well as the EM club at Port Hueneme, CA( home of the west coast Seabees) is called Duke's in honor of John Wayne. The theme song of the movie "Fighting Seabees" is the anthem for the Bees. It was one of Wayne's more lame movies,IMO.
 
Chief you need to show the boys the marston matting for all the air strips . If you have any pic thanks OldSeabee

The marston matting was used for rapid runway repair. I couldn't find a photo of one but I did have a photo of NMCB-133 in Kandahar repairing a runway.

Also showing a photo of me that illustrates that some of us are grandpas.
Notice the ever present cup of coffee that CPOs are noted for.
 

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The club that houses the CPO & Officer's club as well as the EM club at Port Hueneme, CA( home of the west coast Seabees) is called Duke's in honor of John Wayne. The theme song of the movie "Fighting Seabees" is the anthem for the Bees. It was one of Wayne's more lame movies,IMO.

It was intended mainly as wartime propaganda and for morale building on the home front more than anything else, showing that our fighting men were invincible against the Axis.
 
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