Charles Wesley “Wes” Reed III retired from active duty as an U.S. Navy Seabee on Nov. 1 after 20 years of honorable service. He joined the Navy on October 19, 1993, and attended boot camp training in Chicago, Ill. He learned his rate, Construction Electrician, at Navy Construction Training Center in Gulfport.
Reed’s first duty station was Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 74 and included deployments to Puerto Rico, Cuba, Okinawa and Korea.
He then transferred to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and worked at the Self-Help which later merged with the Construction Battalion Maintenance Unit (CBMU) 413. During this time, he was deployed to Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand.
His next duty station was Naval Support Activity Souda Bay Greece. Reed returned to NMCB 74 with deployments to Ghana, Africa; Afghanistan, Okinawa; Seychelles, Africa; Kuwait; and Trinidad. He transferred to Naval Support Activity Chesapeake, Va., working for NATO Headquarters which moved to Norfolk, Va., his final duty station.
Reed is the son of Lella and Charles Reed Jr. of Columbus and a 1993 graduate of Columbus High School.
He has retired to Elizabeth City, N.C., with his wife, Buffy, and two daughters.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.