Today it seems fitting to focus on the Coast Guard veterans who participated in the invasions of D-Day which happened 65 years ago today. The Coast Guard, which was serving as a part of the Navy during the conflict, fought hard along side the other American service members, as Coast Guardsmen have been fighting in every major conflict since we were established.
Today I visited the National World War II Museum in New Orleans and got the chance to speak with many of the veterans that had come for the anniversary of D-Day. Each of them had such amazing stories to tell, stories that really helped me to understand why they are called the Greatest Generation. To a one none of them thought of themselves as heroes, to them what they did on D-Day just needed to be done. After hearing their stories and seeing first hand how much emotion there still is for all of them, when I sat down to write the post for the day I just couldn’t get those brave heroes out of my mind.
Here are some stories that are in the media today talking about Coast Guard veterans.
- A Time of Grace and Glory, a story from the Palm Beach Post, talks about a man named Joseph Teller, a 92-year-old veteran who served in the Coast Guard during WWII. At 28, he was an executive officer aboard the USS LST-21, a landing ship that carried British troops and Army tanks for the Normandy invasion on June 6, 1944.
- When he was 18, Raymond Pasek, participated in the Normandy invasion while serving in the Coast Guard. This is a brief piece honoring Pasek.
- Sadly Joseph Gonzales “J.G.” Duplantis Jr., a Coast Guard veteran, passed away this last Sunday. Duplantis was aboard the USS Samuel Chase during WWII and participated in the Normandy invasion. This story is a nice piece talking about him.
- At the Coast Guard Academy a new mural was unveiled depicting Coast Guard veteran Albert Green’s landing craft delivering troops to Omaha Beach during the invasion. This story in The Day talks about the D-Day experience of some veterans and shares some of their memories.
“coastguard”, can you please identify yourself or stop writing in the first person? Thanks.
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