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Seabee71 At Work

Seventy-One was a busy bunch of 'Bees for the 7 months we were in Chu Lai. We had teams and detachments off on special assignments in the Delta, Saigon, up in DaNang, and 30 miles south in Quang Ngai.

     Within the Chu Lai Enclave, we were fixing runways,. building heliports for the Army, barracks for the Korean Marines, erecting observations towers along the permitter, and re-building the entire compound's drainage system in preparation of the monsoon rains.

     Small teams were drilling wells to supply water for the various bases; divers were working 50 feet underwater repairing leaks in the offshore fueling pipeline, locating lost helicopters and A4 jet fighters.

     Bob Hope and and his USO Tour was due form a visit and a show the following Christmas, and he needed an amphitheater, a big one, large enough to seat nearly 10,000 men. We got the job, but left two months before Hope and his tour arrived. But we hear it was a helva blast.  

     There are more stories and photographs of Seventy-One's projects on tis website and in the book: Seabee71 in Chu Lai..

     The official report on all the projects Seabee71 completed in 1967 can be found by clicking here:

MCB-71 Official Completion Report 1967

Seabee Diver Bill Johnson returnes in a cloud of buddle from the bottom following inspection of the offshore pipeline.

The center line joint on the two-mile long concrete runway needed replacing. Who better than Seabee71 for the job. The job came in 3 days early.

Bob Hope and his USO Christmas Tour was due in Chu Lai and they needed a stage and seating for 10,000 US Servicemen. Seabee71 got the job, which involved some tricky engineering to keep the amphitheater from washing  into the South China Sea come Monsoon time.

Seabee71 re-engineered and re-built the drainage plan for the entire Chu La base.

Seabee71 divers surface after replacing an underwater pipeline for the Army

The carpenters from Seabee71 built more than one of these churches with in the Chu Lai complex.