The official blog of the U.S. Coast Guard
Special Agent Keith J. Bassolino, United States Coast Guard Reserve When Alexander Hamilton established the “system of cutters” in 1790, the fleet was charged with enforcing U.S. customs laws, requiring revenue cutters to stop ships and board them. However, Hamilton’s cutters needed a way to identify themselves as federal vessels. Congress failed to appropriate funds
CWO Kurt N. Fredrickson, United States Coast Guard Public Affairs [Editor’s note: This article by PA1 Kurt Fredrickson originally appeared in a 2007 issue of Coast Guard Magazine. It has been updated for re-publication by PACAREA Historian, Dr. David Rosen] Our crew saved four people that night . . . and then my crew saved
J. Edwin Nieves, M.D., Public Affairs Officer, Coast Guard Auxiliary, Division 6, Flotilla 63 Born in the Canary Islands in 1862, Don (Mr.) Domingo Suarez y Rosa was part of the largest migratory wave of immigrants from the Canaries to Puerto Rico in the late 19th century. On March 6, 1887, after completing a rigorous
Cmdr. William A. McKinstry, United States Coast Guard Born in Morro Castle, Puerto Rico, on February 17, 1903, Henry Frederick Garcia would become a trailblazer in the history of the Coast Guard. Garcia came from a prominent military family. His father had a career in the U.S. Army and his younger brother would retire as
William Thiesen, Historian, Coast Guard Atlantic Area If you are subjected to miserable discomforts, or even if you suffer, it must be regarded as all right and simply a part of life; like sailors, you must never dwell too much on the dangers or sufferings, lest others question your courage. Lt. David Jarvis, Overland Expedition
William H. Thiesen, Historian, Coast Guard Atlantic Area To the officers of the Greenland Patrol vessels: This is your command. Your first command. Your first great chance. It is hard, responsible, vital duty. War duty. Don’t fail your country or your ship or me. Rear Admiral Edward “Iceberg” Smith, 1944 In 1944, Coast Guard Rear
BM1 William A. Bleyer, United States Coast Guard Although mortally wounded before he could deliver effective fire he remained steadfast at his post in the face of imminent death, thereby contributing materially to the protection of his ship against further attack. Scheuerman’s fearless action, great personal valor, and selfless devotion to duty under extremely perilous
J. Edwin Nieves, M.D., Public Affairs Officer Coast Guard Auxiliary, Division 6, Flotilla 63 . . . at daybreak, a shot was heard three points off the ship’s starboard bow. It was not long before the surfaced U-161, a type IXC German U-boat, came into view. CDR C. Douglas Kroll, Ph.D., Bulletin of the C.G.
BM1 William A. Bleyer, United States Coast Guard Occasion sometimes arise . . . in which the officers and crews are called upon to face situations of desperate human need which put their resourcefulness and energy, and even their courage, to the severest test. “The Influenza at Unalaska and Dutch Harbor,” U.S. Coast Guard
Cmdr. Timothy R. Dring, U.S. Navy Reserve (retired) U.S. Life-Saving Service Heritage Association, member The United States Coast Guard will soon be commissioning a new Fast Response Cutter named for John C. Patterson, a recipient of the Congressional Gold Lifesaving Medal for heroism. John Patterson was born in 1834, in the town of Howell, New