To Be ... MCB-6 Through the Years

The photo to the left is captioned:

Cmdr. Joseph Blundon, SIX's first CO, peers out of his "office" on Guadalcanal during World War II.

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From the bloody beaches of Guadalcanal to the jungles of Vietnam, U.S. Naval Mobile Construction Battalion SIX has upheld the Seabee motto - "Can Do!" The first Seabee battalion to work under actual combat conditions was Naval Construction Battalion SIX.

This unit went ashore with the Marines on Guadalcanal in 1942 under the command of Cmdr. Joseph P. Blundon. From. Aug. 7 to Dec. 9,-1942, NCB SIX fought beside, and built reinforced positions for, the first Marine Division. During this period, the men of NCB SIX worked as combat engineers, aviation engineers, and construction engineers 24 hours a day.

For the heroic efforts of 6th Naval Construction Battalion under fire, the battalion earned the Presidential Unit Citation. After building and fighting on Guadalcanal, Espiritu Santo, Tulagi, Auckland, Noumea and Okinawa, 6th Naval Construction Battalion was decommissioned in October of 1945.

Six years later America again needed military construction units which could fight as well as build, so the NCBs were reactivated. On May 3, 1951, 6th Naval Construction Battalion was recommissioned as Mobile Construction Battalion SIX under the command of Cmdr. R. D. Pinkerton in Norfolk, Va.

The change from NCB to MCB was in accordance with. a 1949 order by the Chief of Naval Operations designed to emphasize the mobility of the Navy's Construction Battalions. Upon being recommissioned in 1951, Mobile Construction Battalion SIX became the only Seabee battalion in commission entitled to display the Presidential Unit Citation.