My Coast Guard News - Category Veterans

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Category: Veterans

Iconic image of Jesse Owens losing the 100-yard dash at Ohio Field to Eulace Peacock. This meet was Owens’ third straight loss to Peacock, and one of the ten times Peacock beat Owens in the sprints and long jump. (Courtesy of the author)

Sept. 8, 2023

The Long Blue Line: Peacock—Coast Guardsman and “World’s Fastest Human” 90 years ago

He initially advanced to coxswain designation, but later became a Boatswain’s Mate First Class. Ultimately, he was designated Chief Specialist in athletics.

Photograph of the 75-foot patrol boat CG-249 from around the time of the James Alderman incident. (From The Hanging at Bahia Mar by Hal Caudle)

Sept. 1, 2023

The Long Blue Line: The infamous James Alderman and redemption of CG-249 100 years ago

The next morning, they would return to Fort Lauderdale and resume the grind of chasing rum runners.

Main images from the third and last story in a series about the SS Marine Electric sinking.

Aug. 23, 2023

The Long Blue Line: A tragedy remembered — SS Marine Electric sinking 40 years ago, part three

The shipwreck that prompted the creation of the Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer Program is recalled by the pilot of one of the helicopters sent to rescue survivors on that fateful night.

Long Blue Line Marine Electric series part 2 photo highlights.

Aug. 21, 2023

The Long Blue Line: A tragedy remembered — SS Marine Electric sinking 40 years ago, Part Two

The shipwreck that prompted the creation of the Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer Program is recalled by the pilot of one of the helicopters sent to rescue survivors on that fateful night.

Aug. 14, 2023

Coast Guard announces Return to Service Team initiative

Campaign supports members separated due to COVID-19 vaccination status

An artist’s rendering of LCPs evacuating an ambushed marine battalion at Guadalcanal, which provides an accurate depiction of the bow configuration of a Coast Guard LCP. (U.S. Coast Guard photo, courtesy U.S. Coast Guard)

Aug. 11, 2023

The Long Blue Line: Coxswain Canavan’s impossible story of survival at Guadalcanal 80 years ago

“I did more praying in those hours I spent in the water than I had done in the twenty previous years of my life.”

Color photograph of the author, then Lt. Wayne Wheeler, on the bridge of Ironwood (WLB-297) in its home waters of Alaska. (Courtesy of the author)

Aug. 7, 2023

The Long Blue Line: The Ironwood—wartime ATON in Vietnam

"Back then it was less expensive to repair a ship in Japan than in a U.S. shipyard."

This desegregation article series is dedicated to the all-African American crews of the Coast Guard’s Pea Island Lifeboat Station located in North Carolina. (U.S. Coast Guard)

July 26, 2023

The Long Blue Line: Part III “When I say Americans, I mean all Americans!” — Segregation’s take-down by President Harry Truman

Denial of employment and promotion, and separate dining and restroom facilities often characterized the experience and limited upward mobility for African American workers.