{"id":298151,"date":"2026-05-03T17:52:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T17:52:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/298151\/"},"modified":"2026-05-03T17:52:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T17:52:19","slug":"seabees-gather-in-long-beach-to-mark-35th-anniversary-of-operation-desert-storm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/298151\/","title":{"rendered":"Seabees gather in Long Beach to mark 35th anniversary of Operation Desert Storm"},"content":{"rendered":"

LONG BEACH, Miss. (WLOX) \u2014 Veterans of Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 74 gathered this weekend to honor their service and remember their role in the Gulf War.<\/p>\n

\"VeteransVeterans of Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 74 gathered this weekend to honor their service and remember their role in the Gulf War.(WLOX)<\/p>\n

More than 100 former Seabees gathered in Long Beach to mark the 35th anniversary of Operation Desert Storm.<\/p>\n

\"MoreMore than 100 former Seabees gathered in Long Beach to mark the 35th anniversary of Operation Desert Storm.(WLOX)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really hadn\u2019t been in any situation like that since Vietnam,\u201d said Jeffrey Robinson, a Seabee construction mechanic during the Gulf War. \u201cMost of our experience was from Vietnam veterans training us to go back over there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Robinson said he felt a mix of caution and confidence before deployment.<\/p>\n

\u201cA little fear in your mind, but you\u2019re letting your training and stuff that you went through encompass you and make you strong to go,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Robinson turned the pages of photo albums from his deployment overseas. Each image pulled him back to that time and to what he still calls the mission that mattered most.<\/p>\n

\"JeffreyJeffrey Robinson turned the pages of photo albums from his deployment overseas, with each image pulling him back to that time.(WLOX)<\/p>\n

\u201cYou deploy, you complete the mission and you bring everybody back home safe,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Kenneth Cater was a Seabee for six years, serving as a construction electrician petty officer during Desert Storm.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was kind of tense. You know, kind of worried, kind of scared because of the unknown,\u201d Cater said.<\/p>\n

\"KennethKenneth Cater was a Seabee for six years, serving as a construction electrician petty officer during Desert Storm.(WLOX)<\/p>\n

Cater said the memories are about the bond that kept them steady in the unknown.<\/p>\n

\u201cI watch your back, you watch mine, and if we ever get in a situation, we know that we have each other\u2019s backs and everything is gonna be okay,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Cater watched silently as the bell tolled for the Seabees lost over the years.<\/p>\n

\"DuringDuring the ceremony, the bell tolled for the Seabees lost over the years.(WLOX)<\/p>\n

As they mark 35 years since Desert Storm, the reunion was about reliving the closeness they shared and the brotherhood built far from home.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not only us coming together, it\u2019s the families understanding a lot more about what we went through over there,\u201d Robinson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you have your brothers, when you have that relationship and you have that bond that no matter what happens, if they need you, you be there for them,\u201d Cater said. \u201cBecause if I was in that situation, they would be there for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

After decades, the bond between Seabees remains strong, forged in service and carried forward in the way they still show up for one another. <\/p>\n

As they celebrate the 10th reunion next year, they hope to see more Seabees connecting with one another.<\/p>\n

See a spelling or grammar error in this story? Report it to our team HERE<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 WLOX. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LONG BEACH, Miss. (WLOX) \u2014 Veterans of Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 74 gathered this weekend to honor their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":298152,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[126359,131,133,126358,132,126356,126357,126355],"class_list":["post-298151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-gulf-war-reunion","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-mississippi-veterans","tag-long-beach-news","tag-naval-mobile-construction-battalion-74","tag-operation-desert-storm-35th-anniversary","tag-seabees-desert-storm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=298151"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298151\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/298152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=298151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=298151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=298151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}