PRINTER'S NO. 367
No. 21 Session of 1999
INTRODUCED BY GREENLEAF, LEMMOND, BELAN, BRIGHTBILL, BOSCOLA,
EARLL, GERLACH, HART, O'PAKE, RHOADES, ROBBINS, SCHWARTZ,
STOUT, THOMPSON, TILGHMAN, TOMLINSON, WAGNER, WHITE AND
SLOCUM, FEBRUARY 9, 1999
INTRODUCED AND ADOPTED, FEBRUARY 9, 1999
A RESOLUTION
1 Designating March 1999 as "Seabee Month" in Pennsylvania.
2 WHEREAS, The Seabees were founded in March 1942 when it
3 became evident that there was a need for combat-trained
4 construction workers; and
5 WHEREAS, The United States Navy organized the Construction
6 Battalions or "CBs" and the name "Seabees" was quickly adopted
7 to identify the members of these units; and
8 WHEREAS, The Seabees' motto was and still is "Construimus
9 Batuimus" meaning "We build, we fight"; and
10 WHEREAS, More than 325,000 Seabees served during World War
11 II, participating in virtually every theater of the war on six
12 continents and more than 300 islands, constructing piers,
13 airfields, hospitals, housing and most every imaginable
14 facility; and
15 WHEREAS, Before the Normandy invasion, the Seabees along with
16 Army combat engineers formed demolition teams destroying
1 underwater mined obstacles and placing markers on the beaches at
2 Normandy and at Omaha to guide invading forces; and
3 WHEREAS, Many airstrips were constructed by the Seabees while
4 under enemy fire, with the Seabees often fighting their way to
5 and from construction sites and fighting off periodic enemy
6 attacks; and
7 WHEREAS, The Seabees of the 6th Battalion were taken off
8 their construction projects and placed in the front lines to
9 help Marines throw back the Japanese forces on Guadalcanal; and
10 WHEREAS, The Seabees assaulted the beach on the island of
11 Rota in the Pacific and took enough territory to start their
12 scheduled construction projects and to provide a beachhead for
13 the Marines even though the Japanese forces on the island
14 outnumbered the Seabees 300 to 1; and
15 WHEREAS, In addition to enemy action, the Seabees had to
16 endure jungles, swamps, insects, snakes and poor weather
17 conditions while breaking ground for landing strips for fighter
18 planes, hospitals for the wounded and roads and housing for
19 arriving troops; and
20 WHEREAS, Since their inception the Seabees have participated
21 in every military amphibious operation in which the United
22 States has been involved, serving in Korea, Vietnam, the Middle
23 East and Bosnia; and
24 WHEREAS, The Seabees have assisted and received commendations
25 from every branch of the military; therefore be it
26 RESOLVED, That the Senate designate March 1999 as "Seabee
27 Month" in Pennsylvania.
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