Repainted Seabee Statue Returns Home

November 1, 2018 5:26 pm

By: Tim Studebaker

DAVISVILLE, R.I. (WLNE) – The Seabee Museum in the Davisville section of North Kingstown sits on a former navy base: the Davisville Naval Construction Battalion Center.

The Seabee Museum’s Vice President of Marketing and Fundraising, Laurie Hughes Shields says, “In 1974, the base was decommissioned, and there was a strong group of Seabees that were reservists here that wanted to make sure that the legacy of the Seabees stayed.”

The Seabees are a military battalion of construction builders, like plumbers, carpenters, and welders. The name Seabee refers to two things. First, they were busy workers, like bees. It also refers to the initials of the name of the battalion.

Shields says, “It was ‘Construction Battalion’, so C. B.”

The museum has a familiar face out front greeting guests as they arrive, and that statue has been around for a while.

Shields says, “He was built in 1970, and he’s been restored 4 times.”

Like anybody else who’s been around a while, the Seabee was showing its age. So, thanks to a group of volunteers who donated their time and materials, the Seabee got a makeover, and it was quite the operation.

Shields says, “It took about six weeks for the whole restoration of the bee. And that was people working 24/7.”

Back at the museum, it was a long and tedious process, but the 4,000 pound Seabee was finally, carefully placed back on its pedestal. It will be officially unveiled on Veterans Day, Sunday November 11th.

For more information, visit the museum’s website here: https://www.seabeesmuseum.com/