Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 62 Alumni Group

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Minuteman Passes Away. NMCB 62 Command Master Chief Alex Christie passed away on 11-10-2013 in Gulfport. He spent twenty years in the Seabees and retired out of NMCB 62 in May 1984 as the CMDCM.

His biography and obituary are in our website "Members Only", link 21. Anyone who served with or knew him can leave a tribute to Master Chief Christie here in this guestbook. I will include your tribute in his biography.

We wish our Seabee Brother Alex Christie, Fair Winds and Following Seas.

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My dad is David Ball. He was in Vietnam in 67-68 in Phu Bai in the Headquarters Company. Anyone out there know him?

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I was BU3 stationed In Gulfport, MS 1981. Was in Rota Spain before that. Met a lot of good friends that I lost touch with. Pat Burke,Gary Fink, Dan Morgan, John Weiss, Cliff Brown,Dave Boyd, Herb Mueller from Echo Company. Give me a shout. Fitz

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Hello to all from "Cowboy" still kicken 2013;go figure

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Minutemen: I received this sad news from Admiral Kent Riffey, who was an XO of NMCB 62 and is an Alumni Group Member.

Hi Norm,

Wanted to make you aware of the sad loss on 25 October of one of 62's finest alumni, Captain Donald Keith, CEC, USN (Ret.). Don passed away at home in Bremerton, WA, following an off and on battle with cancer. Don was a rare breed, having enlisted at the age of 17 and progressing to Chief Utilitiesman, then Warrant Officer, and on to being commissioned as an LDO Ensign in 1968, and moving through the ranks to Captain with a level of professionalism that was a model for all. Among his assignments, Don served in NMCB's 1, 9 and 62 (two tours), Naval Support Activity DaNang RVN, NAS Whidbey Island, XO of the Naval Construction Training Center Gulfport, Chief Staff Officer of 20th Naval Construction Regiment, Chief of Staff and then Commander CBLANT and Chief of Staff at COMCBPAC from which he retired in 1990 after 36 years of dedicated and remarkable service. He's one of only two in the CEC to have risen from E-1 to 0-6, and the only former enlisted to ever become COMCBLANT. His awards include Bronze Star with combat V, two Legions of Merit, two Meritorious Service Medals, three Navy Commendation Medals, and Navy Achievement Medal, among other awards. Don was not only as not a great Naval Officer, but a superb American in all respects. Don is survived by his wife, Imma and sons Donald, Tony and David. His memorial service was held Thursday, 31 October, and he was buried with full military honors on Monday, 4 November at the National Cemetery in Tahoma, WA. Any donations in Don's memory should sent to the Seabee Memorial Scholarship Association, P.O. Box 6574, Silver Springs, Maryland 20916.

Wish I had better news but I know many 62 alumni will remember Don and want to know.

Kent Riffey

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Norm...
Just wanted to thank you for your continued efforts on behalf of the Battalion...and thank you also for the 2013 pics, next best thing to being there.

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Hello, my name is Lonnie I was in MBC-62 from 1971 to 1973. I was a BUCN on Diego Garcia from 1972 to 1973. Went to A-School in Port Hueneme, CA. I was there when Bob Hope and Red Foxx came and did the Christmas show. E-mail me if you know me.

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Just letting everyone know that my father, BUCS(Ret) James T. Richmond passed away on 1 October 2013. He was a Chief Builder with NMCB-62 during recommissioning of the battalion in 1966 and did two tours to Vietnam with the battalion. My mother, Patricia Richmond was a member of the Chiefs Wives Club and her name is on the Plaque located at the Seabee Museum in Port Hueneme.

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74-77 A Co. Rota, Diego Garcia twice. was on the water well rig first time and the crane crew the second time on the rock. got out and join the reserves. got my twenty. Now semi-retired.

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Shipmates: The Sea Beacon Jr. Newsletter

Here's an update of things happening on this website and elsewhere

We had two Minutemen join the alumni group during September: Kenny Weston, 68-69, Dong Ha, and Bubba Sokolohorsky, 80-82, Diego Garcia. Alumni Members can log into link 21 on the website to see their contact information and read their bios.

More photos have been posted on website link 2. The photos taken at the August 2013 NSVA Annual Convention and Reunion in Warwick, Rhode Island are on the top. Next are photos taken in May 2013 at the Annual Gulfport, Mississippi reunion. Our friends at Island X-1 Gulfport really do a bang-up job and this year was no exception. Then my friend Ken Penick, 66-68, Hue, Phu Bai, Da Nang who now lives in Newfoundland, Canada and I drove to Battleship Park in Mobile, Alabama on that Sunday and also have posted photos of that excursion. And yes, we did make it back to the Ramada hotel for the Sunday late afternoon and evening party.

While at the May 2013 Banquet Saturday night during the reunion we were all pleasantly surprised when Alice Huffman showed us an original copy of the MCB 62 Wives Club Cook Book, which none of us even knew existed. The exciting story of how Alice came to own the famous MCB 62 Cook Book can be read in her own words in Link 6 on the website; "Minuteman History". By the way, the entire Cook Book is also scanned-into that article. Alice's husband Dan was an EO1 in NMCB 62 from 88 to decommissioning.

Our good friend Commander Jerry Hubbs, CEC, long retired has shared some profound thoughts and words-of-wisdom from a time long ago, remembered by many. Read his wit and wisdom in link 13 on our website, "Seabee History".

Our next reunion will be in Hampton, Virginia, Feb 20 thru 23, 2014 at the Crowne Plaza Hampton Marina Hotel. A pretty classy joint. Nice bar, good food, great rooms, reasonable prices. We will be there for the 7th Annual East Coast All Seabee Reunion.
This is the reunion where we hold our annual business meeting and after take lots of pictures so folks will see how young we still look. To see reunion information, go to Link # 1 on our website. That's all the news that is news for now. Signing off.