My Coast Guard News

A March 1959 color photo of LTJG Bobby Wilks posing in front of an HU-16E “Albatross” fixed-wing amphibian aircraft. (U.S. Coast Guard)

Feb. 23, 2024

Bobby Wilks — distinguished aviator, mentor, and minority trailblazer

“I was in awe of him, as not only he was the first senior ranking African American officer at that time, but also an aviator. He shared with me the challenges, which he was quick to call them opportunities, that he took full advantage of that mapped out his successful Coast Guard career.” - MCPOCG Vincent W. Patton (Ret.)

A rare vintage painting of the all-African American crew of the Pea Island Life-Saving Service Station, circa 1896. (U.S. Coast Guard)

Feb. 16, 2024

Lewis Wescott—the lost grave of a heroic Pea Island lifesaver

A discovery uncovers the whereabouts of a Pea Island Keeper, one whose last resting place was lost for more than 70 years.

Color image of a Coast Guard HH-52 “Seaguard” helicopter similar to the ones crewed by CWO Melvin Williams during his distinguished Coast Guard aviation career. (U.S. Coast Guard)

Retired Chief Warrant Officer Melvin W. Williams, Jr., seated in his office pointing to pictures from his career in Coast Guard aviation. (Courtesy of Jennifer Kirsop, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs)

Feb. 9, 2024

Melvin Williams Jr. — An African American Coast Guardsman’s aviation story

Melvin Williams Jr. was the first African American to make chief as an Aviation Survivalman and then as a Chief Warrant Officer.

3) The all-African American Life-Saving Service crew at Pea Island. For decades, the station served as a singular success story in a service with few other examples of racial progress. (Coast Guard Collection)

Feb. 2, 2024

First to serve, first to fight and first to sacrifice — African Americans in the U.S. Coast Guard

The history of African American participation in the Coast Guard and its predecessor services dates back to the very founding of the Service in 1790.

Rare photo showing the heroic Pea Island Lifesaving Station crew commanded by famed African American keeper Richard Etheridge. (Coast Guard Collection)

Feb. 28, 2023

Legacy’s Shadow: The Keeper’s Lost Grave

Finding the final resting place of Keeper Capt. L.S. Wescott

Commissary Steward First Class Alphonzo F. Barbour dressed in his steward uniform including medals he received during his Coast Guard career. (Courtesy of Vince Patton)

Feb. 24, 2023

The Long Blue Line: Remembering centurium Alphonzo Barbour—eyewitness to African American history

The Coast Guard's 8th MCPOCG shares his time with a centenarian.

A rare image of River Cutter Yocona’s crew in 1925 shows her black enlisted men, and white officers and non-commissioned officers posed aboard the cutter. (Courtesy of U.S. Coast Guard)

Feb. 17, 2023

The Long Blue Line: The mystery of “River Cutter” Yocona the Coast Guard's first desegregated cutter homeported in the Deep South.

Homeported in Vicksburg, Mississippi, the Cutter Yocona’s achievement remains an important chapter in American minority history.

A 1942 colorized photograph of Seaman Robert E. Thompson. (Courtesy of Robert E. Thompson)

Feb. 10, 2023

The Long Blue Line: WWII recruit training at Manhattan Beach and desegregating the U.S. military

Many African American Coast Guard recruits trained in the New York facility prior to serving their country.

Feb. 3, 2023

The Long Blue Line: Keeper Richard Etheridge and the Gold Medal lifesavers of Pea Island

The first African American officer-in-charge of a military installation.

Chief Louis Etheridge near the end of his honorable and productive Coast Guard career. (U.S. Coast Guard)

Feb. 18, 2022

The Long Blue Line: Louis Etheridge—Gun captain and African-American war hero

Read about the courageous actions resulting in the Coast Guard’s first military medal bestowed on an African American Coast Guardsman for combat heroism.