04-01-2008, 02:47 PM
I dug the poem (even as a Marine!) My experience with SeaBees has been limited to a brief time with them in Iraq. My platoon was assigned the task of security for the digging up of a Kuwaiti mass grave in Iraq. We actually did it twice; there were about 50 bodies in pits at each site. The CB's used heavy earth movers to do the digging. They were awesome! The main excavator operator did it in his civilian job (he was in the reserves) and he moved it like he was an extension of his body. He and the rest knew their stuff.
The practice of "absorbing" Seabee units into Marine units was commonplace in the Pacific, with one result being high casualty rates and another being under-reporting of their contributions to the cause, at places like Guadalcanal, Tarawa,Saipan, Peliliu, and Iwo Jima. Not many know, that besides Corpsmen, many Seabess also wore the USMC uniform.