U.S. Navy Aviation Construction Unit 524, Battalion Color, Pacific Theatre, WWII.
The Latin phrase "Construimus Batuimus" curves across the top of this machine sewn, blue, wool flag. It translates as "We build, We fight" and is the motto of the United States Navy Construction Battalions (CBs), commonly known as 'Seabees'. The unit designation "CB Maintenance Unit 524" under the light blue anchor identifies the unit that carried this color in WWII.
The flag is based on the 19th century Naval Infantry Battalion flag, which had been adopted to identify sailors ashore when organized into naval infantry. During the American Civil War the US Navy participated in their first large scale amphibious operations where sailors participated in assaulting Confederate fortifications. The genesis of this flag seems to be an 1864 memo from Rear Admiral John Dahlgren who outlined some requirements for the flag, "…distinguishing pennants for the battalions of the fleet brigade . . . marked with an anchor."
It would appear that the flag was unofficial until the 1890s, when it came to represent both Naval Battalions ashore and the crews of specific ships (See ZFC5998). Without designation or inscription the flag came to represent the United States Navy as a service, and would continue to do so through both World Wars and the Korean War until the US Navy's ceremonial flag was adopted in 1959.
When the Construction battalions were created in 1942 it was only natural that they adopt a variant of the Naval Battalion Flag. In the CB variant the anchor seems to have been changed to Light Blue, a homage perhaps because the branch color was once used to distinguish officers of the US Navy's Civil Engineer Corps. Whether this practice was service-wide or unique to the 524th in unknown, but variants for CBs can still be seen today.
CB Maintenance Unit 524 served in the Pacific Theatre during WWII, where they served on Midway Island.
Provenance:
• Color made for U.S. Navy CB Maintenance Unit 524, 1943-1945.
• Acquired by James Mountain, Ashburnham, MA.
• James Mountain Collection, until 2009.
• Sold via Alderfer Auction, to the Zaricor Flag Collection, 2009.
ZFC Significant Flag
Sources:
NTP 13(B) Flags, Pennants & Customs manual, Naval History & Heritage Command, 4 October 2011 from: http://www.cnic.navy.mil/NDW/About/CeremonialGuard/CeremonialGuidanceandResources/NTP13BFlagsPennantsCustoms/index.htm
Navy - Battalion Flags (U.S.), Flags of the World, 10 October 2011, from: http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us%5Envbn.html
Navy Infantry Battalion Flag, Sea Flags, 10 October 2011, from: http://mysite.verizon.net/vzeohzt4/Seaflags/parade/colors.html
Seabee, Wikipedia, 6 October 2011, from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Construction_battalion
Camp Peary, Wikipedia, 6 October 2011, from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_Peary
CBMU 524, Battalions, 10 October 2011, from: www.history.navy.mil/museums/seabee/content/UnitHistory.pdf
