Viet-era Kangaroos return to NCBC

GULFPORT, Miss. - It’s been 50 years since the Kangaroos of the 133rd Seabee Battalion deployed from Gulfport to Vietnam. This past week, a handful of those sailors gathered at their homeport for a reunion at Naval Construction Battalion Center. The 133rd built roads, airports and bridges in Vietnam. Tom McCormick of New Orleans, who organized the reunion, remembers his first impressions and all the activity going on upon arriving at Da Nang airport. Trucks, machinery and weapons were “everywhere, going everywhere,” he said. “I shook my head and said 'Holy (expletive), I’m in a war now.” The reunion group toured the Gulfport Seabee base and took in all of the improvements made over the years, and later gathered for an oral history recording session. Having the opportunity to reunite after 50 years has meant a lot to the Vietnam-era Kangaroos. “The guys you go to war with, you never forget … we were just that close,” McCormick said. More than 20 Naval Mobile Construction Battalions deployed to Vietnam. (Source: WLOX 03/28/19)