Letter To The Editor: 75th Anniversary Of The United States Navy Seabees

By David A. Ainslie, USA Ret Commander VFW Post 152 North Kingstown

On Saturday, September 9th, 2017, at 11:00 AM, the Navy Seabee Veterans of America will host a 75th Anniversary Commemorative event at the Seabee Museum and Memorial Park located in Quonset Point, 21 Iafrate Way, North Kingstown.

The guest speakers for this event are Director Kasim Yarn, Director of Rhode Island Veteran Affairs and Rear Admiral Troy M. McClelland, Deputy for Naval Construction Force, Navy Expeditionary Combat Command

Immediately after the opening ceremony there will be an open house complete with music by the Navy Band Northeast, displays and interpretative videos. The first 100 guests may partake in a pig roast and BBQ. Activities for the children will make it fun for all. Event is open to all at no charge, courtesy of your Seabees and local sponsors. Museum and interactive displays will also be available Sunday 10 September from 11am to 2pm.
The Seabee Museum and Memorial Park is part of what use to be Camp Endicott. It was a United States Navy Seabee facility, part of Davisville Naval Construction Battalion Center at Quonset and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The vast training camp built at Davisville, Rhode Island in 1942, provided more than 100,000 men of the U.S. Navy's Construction Battalions, also known as "Seabees," with construction training during World War II. During the Vietnam War, eight Naval Mobile Construction Battalions representing some 4,000 Seabees were homeported at Davisville, in addition to 1,200 civilians.
Frank J. Iafrate, a North Kingstown native and a civilian plan file clerk at Quonset Point was the artist who designed the original "Disney Style" Seabee in early 1942 with a large capital letter Q around the edge as border. This design was sent to Admiral Moreell who made a single request: that this reference to Quonset Point be changed to a hawser rope and it would be officially adopted. That design remains in use to this day, predominantly unchanged.
Camp Endicott (later established as the U.S. Naval Construction Battalion Center, Davisville) was also the birthplace of the Quonset hut. These semi-cylindrically shaped, prefabricated, portable buildings were designed and produced at Davisville and shipped to various places throughout the world. Because of its design and worldwide dispersion, the Quonset Hut is considered one of the most universal structures in the world.
At present, there are six active-duty Seabee units in the United States Navy, split between the Pacific Fleet (at Port Hueneme, CA) and the Atlantic Fleet (at Gulfport, MS). Some of these units are currently working hurricane relief efforts in the United States and Caribbean.