Fighting Bee Statue

The Fighting Bee Statue that currently stands on the grounds of the Seabee Museum and Memorial Park was constructed in 1971 by Seabees from the 21st Naval Construction Regiment. The statue was constructed in honor of Admiral Ben Moreell, the so-called "King Bee" who originally introduced the idea of establishing the Naval Construction Battalions, or Seabees, in 1941 and was scheduled to visit Davisville in March 1971 for the 29th Seabee Ball. It took the 21st Naval Construction Regiment 10 to 12 hours a day for three weeks to construct the statue, which was built out of 1/4-inch, 1/8-inch, and 16-gauge steel and then painted. Following its construction and presentation to Admiral Moreell, the statue was moved to stand by the main gate of the naval base in Davisville, where both the Davisville Construction Battalion Center and Quonset Naval Air Station were located. From its position by the gate, the statue greeted visitors to the base for over 25 years and became a well known landmark.

After the Davisville Naval Construction Battalion Center was decommissioned in April 1994, the Fighting Bee Statue remained relatively in the same spot until it was acquired by the Seabee Museum and Memorial Park in 1999. Following its acquisition by the museum and due to road construction in the area where it originally stood, the statue was moved several hundred yards to what would become the museum grounds, near to where it stands today. The statue has been restored and re-painted four times, most recently in 2018. Its repainting in 1999 was personally overseen by Frank Iafrate before his death in 2000.