US Navy Seabees Fighting Bee Large Back Patch

The Seabee was very nearly a beaver. Frank Iafrate, a civilian file clerk at Naval Air Station Quonset Point, Rhode Island, drew the mascot in early 1942 and passed on the beaver because he did not think it had the fight the job called for. He picked a bee instead, a hard worker that will defend what it builds. His first drawing set the bee inside a letter Q for Quonset Point. The Q later gave way to a hawser rope, and the rope has circled the bee ever since.

The name came from the initials CB, for Construction Battalion, and the Chief of the Bureau of Navigation approved SEABEES on March 5, 1942, the date the Seabees still keep as their birthday. Rear Admiral Ben Moreell, remembered as the father of the Seabees, wanted battalions of skilled tradesmen who could build under fire and hold what they built. Advance Base Depot Port Hueneme, California, opened on May 18, 1942 to train, stage and supply them for the Pacific. In Vietnam, Construction Mechanic Third Class Marvin Shields of Seabee Team 1104, Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 11, fought at Dong Xoai on June 10, 1965. He was awarded the Medal of Honor after his death, the first and only Seabee to receive it, and the frigate USS Marvin Shields FF-1066 carried his name.

This is the big one, a 7 by 7 inch round back patch with a cut edge that follows a gold twisted rope border. On a royal blue field the bee charges left with white speed lines streaming off his wings. He wears a sailor's white Dixie cup and a scowl that says the job gets done today. Count his hands: four white gloves gripping a submachine gun pointed forward, a wrench and a hammer. Tools to build and a gun to fight, with SEABEES in gold stencil letters underneath. It has an iron-on backing, and at this size most owners also sew it down for a permanent hold.

Seabees come from the construction ratings: builders, steelworkers, equipment operators, construction electricians, construction mechanics, utilitiesmen and engineering aides. They have poured runways, raised camps and built roads in every conflict since World War II, and they show up after hurricanes and earthquakes with the same gear. Their motto is Can Do, and their reputation in the fleet is that they mean it. A Seabee battalion arrives with its own equipment, builds what is needed and stands security on it. Plenty of Marines and sailors have slept, eaten and flown off something a Seabee built.

Sew it across the back of a denim jacket or riding vest, or frame it in a shadow box with your battalion patch and rate badge. It also makes a fine gift for a father or grandfather who served in a Naval Mobile Construction Battalion. The bee has been on the job since 1942.