Leaders from Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Southeast were invited to participate in a dedication ceremony, Nov. 13, for a Seabee monument and adjacent bench presented by The Navy Seabee Veterans of America Florida of Island X-19 of Daytona Beach at the Canaveral National Cemetery.  

NAVFAC Southeast Senior Enlisted Advisor Senior Chief Petty Officer Jason Fletcher and Public Works Officer Lt. Cmdr. Raul Depersia, Public Works Department Orlando, spoke to Seabees, Seabee veterans and their families who were in attendence.  

“We are here today to honor and preserve the history and traditions of the Seabees past, present, and future,” said Fletcher. “This Seabee memorial and bench offers a place for reflection on the sacrifices that all of our fellow Seabees have made.”

In 2007, The Navy Seabee Veterans of America started their mission of placing a Seabee monument in every National Cemetery. The Seabees and Honey Bees of Island X-19 of Daytona Beach, Florida, worked together to contribute $2,000 of their own assets towards materials. They also devoted numerous hours of manual labor to pour the concrete pad, transport and place the monument at the Canaveral National Cemetery. This was the 34th monument placed under this effort.

“This bench offers those visiting Canaveral National Cemetery, and specifically the Seabee monument, a place to sit and reflect on the many Seabees who are and will be interred here in the future,” said retired Navy Civil Engineer Corps Officer Cmdr. Bill Waters. “The bench offers the serenity to think about the contribution that these Bees made in serving our great nation and the supportive families who stood beside them in the honorable profession of being a United States Navy Seabee.”

The monument features the insignia of the Civil Engineer Corps in the upper left, the Seabee Veterans of America emblem in upper right and the inscription around the centered image of the Seabee Memorial in the Arlington National Cemetery says, “With willing hearts and skillful hands, the difficult we do at once, the impossible takes a bit longer.”

“There is still a lot more work ahead as there are about a hundred more National Cemeteries to go,” said Depersia. “However, history has proven that Seabees are not afraid of hard work and I have every confidence that the Navy Seabee Veterans of America will continue to band together and get the job done. Your dedication to service in and out of uniform is a testament to the history of the Seabees, the CEC, and the Navy Seabee Veterans of America.”

Today, there are over 13,800 Seabees serving worldwide.

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