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Part of A Seabee Team - Day of Rest

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UNITED STATES NAVY
CONSTRUCTION BA TT ALIONS

SEABEES IN ACTION
"CONSTRUIMUS, BATUIMUS - WE BUILD, WE FIGHT "

"CAN DO!"

Release No. (63)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
A SEABEE TEAM - DAY OF REST

A group of Americans in Vietnam over a month's time wired and installed
sanitary facilities in a house, wired a complete mechanic's shop, hauled 1,141
yards of fill to a storage area and spread it, completed a road by hauling
fill, grading, ditching, and cutting walkways on both sides of the road, hauled
78 cubic yards of fill to a refugee camp, graded 1,875 square yards for the
site of new houses at the same camp, graded 7,500 square yards for a football
field at a Vietnamese recreation center, graded 224 square yards at a new
school playground, widened one and one tenth miles of road from 16 to 32 feet
by removal of trees and stumps, grading, ditching, and cutting a 10 foot
wal kway on either side, constructed and installed Bulletin Boards, put up
clothes lines, installed sinks, screen doors and shelves, constructed a defense
bunker--but then the list could go on almost indefinitely.
Was this a battalion of engineers? NO! A company then? NO again! It
was a group of 13 men from the Uo S. Navy's Pacific Construction Forces designated as SEABEE Team 1007. This team, made up of one civil engineer officer,
eleven construction ratings from the Pacific SEABEE forces and one hospital
corpsman, were engaged in civic action work in Tay Ninh Province, Vietnam
~nder the sponsorship of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
One of four such Teams recently serving in Vietnam, SEABEE Team 1007 was compos e d of men picked from U.S. Naval Mobile Construction Battalion TEN and
extensively trained to perform. their civic action tasks in Southeast Asia.
The work projects completed above were accomplished as planned projects
to be completed during the normal 12-14 hour a day, 6 day work-week of Team
1007. The seventh day of the week is set aside for special projects for which
the members of the Team have seen a needo Typical of these special jobs is
one which they c0mpleted during the period mentioned above.
-more-

DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY • NAVAL FACILITIES ENGINEERING COMMAND • WASHINGTON, D. C. 20390

The Vietnamese Army in Tay Ninh Province needed an outpost constructed
near one of the smaller villages in the area. The need was urgent, as thi~
particular village had been the object of repeated harassment by the Viet
Cong. The SEABEES of 1007 heard of this need and volunteered to construct
the outpost. The following Sunday as dawn broke over the rice paddies in
the Mekong Delta region the SEABEE Team members, with some of their equipment, including a front end loader and a bulldozer~were on their way to get
the job started.
~

They started early and before very long the strange noises of the heavy
equipment brought some curious early-rising villagers out to see what was
going on. As word spread back to the village that American SEABEES had come
to construct a defensive outpost for their village the entire population of
the village came out to watch in wide-eyed wonderment as the strange, powerful
machines began to change the appearance of the area.
Knocking down trees and pushing great heaps of underbrush before it, the
bulldozer soon had an area cleared on which to locate the outpost. By early
afternoon the SEABEES had constructed a triangular earthen berm 7 feet in
height and 100 feet long on each side. But the job had just begun. Crawling
down from their equipment the men of Team 1007 took up shovels and began
filling sand bags with which to reinforce the berm . Soon a couple of the
bolder villagers shyly stepped forth and indicated they too knew how to handle a shovel and through the language barrier got the point across that
they would like to help. Before long the people of the hamlet, including
women and children, were matching the industry of the SEABEES, filling,
carrying, and putting the sandbags in place, stringing barbed wire and casting' eager glances at the big Americans to see if their efforts were receiving the approval of the SEABEE construction experts. The broad .smiles they
received in return indicated that they were doing just fine.
As the shadows grew long across the Mekong Delta the men of SEABEE Team
1007 stood back with hands-on-hips and surveyed the result of their "day of
rest". Beside them, standing quietly and equally proud, were their newly
won Vietnamese friends and workfellows (and women) (and children). all
greatly impressed at the terrific work that could be accomplished when everyone worked together under experc direction.
The SEABEES packed up their equipment and returned to Tay Ninh City.
At last report Viet Cong incidents in the area of the tiny hamlet were very
few and rapidly declining. The protection afforded by the new outpost has
taken care of that problem. Equally important, a new bond of international
understanding and good will between the Vietnamese and American people has
been forged through the efforts of SEABEE Team 1007.
-30DEAR EDITOR: We Seabees hope you can use this copy and we would appreciate
a tear sheet mailed to:
PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICE 09Dl
U.S. Navy Seabees
Yards & Docks Annex 2B-35
Washington, D. C. 20390