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Arlington, Va.: Coast Guard Petty Officer 1st Class Harmon, a company commander, stands at attention during the annual Flags Across America event at Arlington National Cemetery. (U.S. Coast Guard Photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Etta Smith.)

Lake Erie: Crewmembers aboard the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter *Morro Bay*, a 140-foot icebreaking tug temporarily assigned to the Great Lakes, prepare to pull alongside the Canadian coast guard ship *Samuel Risley* to transfer a rescued snowmobiler. (Photo courtesy Canadian coast guard ship Samuel Risley.)

Diamond Shoals

A letter to the editor of the old Coast Guard Magazine, written by CBM Clarence P. Brady, USCG (Ret.), published in the March 1954 issue (page 2), stated that the first person to make this remark was Keeper Patrick Etheridge. Brady knew him when both were stationed at the Cape Hatteras LSS. Brady tells the story as follows:

“A ship was stranded off Cape Hatteras on the Diamond Shoals and one of the life saving crew reported the fact that this ship had run ashore on the dangerous shoals. The old skipper gave the command to man the lifeboat and one of the men shouted out that we might make it out to the wreck but we would never make it back. The old skipper looked around and said, ‘The Blue Book says we've got to go out and it doesn't say a damn thing about having to come back.’”

Today, Coast Guard ships operate in all weathers. Icebreakers and ice-strengthened ships (see photo, above right) clear the way for winter navigation and rescue vessels that have been frozen in.

Petty Officer 3rd Class Kristian Redner, a boatswains mate at Coast Guard Station San Diego, guides a 45-foot Response Boat-Medium through the water en route to meet a Coast Guard helicopter crew for training off the coast of San Diego. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Connie Terrell.)

A history of bravery

John A. Cullen was awarded the Legion of Merit for discovering and reporting the first landing of German saboteurs on the United States coast, 13 June 1942. His timely report alerted authorities to the presence of Nazi saboteurs on U.S. soil and was instrumental in leading to their capture of the entire 8-man sabotage team within two weeks. Ultimately Cullen’s actions resulted in the foiling of OPERATION PASTORIOUS, the code-name for the German operation, before the German operatives could carry out their mission.

Keeper Benjamin B. Dailey was the keeper of the Cape Hatteras Lifeboat Station in North Carolina who was awarded the Gold Lifesaving medal after rescuing 9 men from the foundering ship Ephraim Williams on 22 December 1884. In one of the most daring rescues by the Life-Saving Service since its organization, Dailey’s 7-man crew pulled for two hours through a heavy sea to reach the vessel five miles offshore. Only by relying on his expert boat-handling skills was Dailey able to bring all the survivors and his crew back to safety.

Stewards-Mate First Class Charles Walter David, Jr., was an African American Coast Guardsman who served on board the cutter Comanche during World War II. When the Comanche came to the aid of the survivors of the torpedoed transport Dorchester in the frigid waters off Greenland, David volunteered to dive overboard to help rescue those in need--practicing the newly devised "rescue retriever" technique. David repeatedly dived overboard in the water to save several men. He even saved the life of the Comanche's executive officer, LT Robert W. Anderson, when Anderson became unable to pull himself out of the water due to exposure. David died a few days later from hypothermia contracted during his heroic efforts. He was posthumously awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for his bravery.

The Kigluaik Mountains are visible as the Coast Guard Cutter *Healy* breaks ice for the Russian tanker *Renda* near Nome, Alaska. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Charly Hengen.)

Ten rescues

Click here for stories about ten Coast Guard rescues.