Today in Coast Guard History
1882 – On 11 November the steam-barge H.C. Schnoor struck on the bar off Alcona at 11 o’clock at night about three hundred yards from the shore. A strong southeast gale prevailed at the time, and there was a heavy sea. At 8 o’clock in the morning of the next day (November 12) a team came with the news from Alcona to Station No. 5, Tenth District, (Sturgeon Point), about four miles and a half from the scene of the disaster. After a half-hour for preparation, the keeper was on the road with two teams, one bearing the wreck ordnance and the other the surfboat. An hour later they arrived and launched the surfboat. The surf, however, was so heavy that they failed to get alongside the barge and they were obliged to return. The wreck-gun was then used. The gear, having been set up, the mate was brought ashore by the breeches-buoy. As the crew was obliged to work from a point of land so narrow that they could not spread sufficiently to keep the lines apart, they twisted. The heavy current caused the lee part of the whip-line to foul with the hawser. Before the lines could be cleared, however, the wind changed and beat down the sea. The surfboat was launched and took the captain (who had been on shore at Alcona) and the mate back to the barge. The immediate danger ended with the subsidence of the sea. The life-saving crew returned to the station.
Elsewhere
Coast Guard vet honors fellow ‘Coasties’ at Camp Nelson cemetery – The Jessamine Journal
For 43 years, Nicholasville’s Gene Radin served his country as a member of the United States Coast Guard.
His spirit of pride and professionalism carried him throughout his career, which saw him rise to the rank of chief warrant officer.
That same commitment to serve led Radin to serve the 24 Coast Guard members buried at Camp Nelson National Cemetery by placing American and Coast Guard flags next to each headstone over the past several weeks
Coast Guard officer main speaker at Veterans’ Day ceremonies in Hingham – Patriot Ledger
Well after their homecoming, veterans and their families continue to pay a price for their service to the nation, said U.S. Coast Guard Cmdr. Geoffrey Gagnier.
Speaking at the town’s Veterans Day observance Monday in the town hall’s Sanborn Auditorium, Gagnier asked those in attendance to help those who served in the armed forces and face significant challenges in civilian life.
Video
Douglas Munro: An Ordinary Hero
A short, 10 minute, video about the Coast Guard’s only Medal of Honor recipient. Douglas A. Munro, a signalman first class of the United States Coast Guard, died heroically on Guadalcanal on 27 September 1942. Having volunteered to evacuate a detachment of Marines who were facing annihilation by an unanticipated large enemy force, he succeeded in safely extricating them and in doing so was mortally wounded.
U.S. Coast Guard video.
