See-Worthy

Visitors will have a chance this weekend to preview the Seabee Museum of the future at the Port Hueneme base.

The occasion is Seabee Summerfest 1997, an annual event. But this year’s fest will be special, organizers say, because it marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of a base museum commemorating the contributions of the U.S. Navy’s famous builder-fighters.

Activities will include special tours of the museum Saturday and Sunday at noon and 1 p.m. At 2 p.m. there will be a screening of the classic John Wayne film “The Fighting Seabees.”

As museum director John Langellier explained, the Ventura County facility is the U.S. Navy’s second-oldest museum, predated only by the museum at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.

According to Langellier, the Port Hueneme museum was established shortly after the end of World War II by veterans of the Navy’s Construction Battalions, who brought home everything from a Japanese Zero to jewelry handcrafted from artillery shells and other unlikely materials.

“The base commander at that time gathered these donated and abandoned items and created a museum to honor the exploits of the Seabees of World War II, who had become legendary for innovative military construction in Europe, North Africa and the Pacific theater,” he said.

The Seabee Museum, which attracts an estimated 30,000 visitors a year, first opened on July 4, 1947.

Since then, Langellier said, the museum has continued to acquire material related to the ongoing history of the Seabees, including, most recently, artifacts from their deployment to Bosnia.

Covering almost 40,000 square feet, the museum includes the official archives.

Since Langellier came to the museum in 1996, the facility has been undergoing complete renovation.

“We have revamped every exhibit, starting with the creation of the Seabees in 1942 to the end of their participation in the Vietnam War in the early 1970s,” he said.

Improvements include the installation of a mini-theater that provides a five-minute overview of the Seabee story on video.

“We’ve also added exhibits that acknowledge the changing role of women in the Seabees and the early efforts of the Seabees to integrate blacks,” he said.

In the Seabees, African Americans served alongside white troops before any of the other armed services, including the rest of the Navy, were integrated, he pointed out.

“The collections were already splendid, but they were eclectic,” Langellier said. “The main thing we’ve done has been to begin to organize them into a recognizable story line.”

Future improvements will include a hands-on education center and interactive exhibits.

“We’re evolving into a state-of-the-art museum,” he said. “We want to employ the most up-to-date technology to ensure that our audience comes away with a greater appreciation of what the Seabees and Civil Engineer Corps have accomplished.”

Officers of the Civil Engineer Corps command the Seabees.

Langellier estimated that two-fifths of the exhibits have been revamped for a total cost of less than $30,000. The reason for the low cost? The work, he said, is being done by Seabees, whose motto is “Can do.”

“The materials we have to buy, but the rest we get from a tremendous pool of talented Seabees who are right outside our door,” said Langellier, whose father shipped out of Port Hueneme as a Seabee in 1944.

BE THERE

Seabee Museum--located at the Naval Construction Battalion Center, Port Hueneme. Admission, tours and parking are free and open to the public. (805) 982-4493.