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Story and photos by Petty Officer 1st Class Anastasia Devlin, PADET San Diego
Although he retired long before most of the Coast Guard's current members were born, Emil de Ocampo shows off a battered, weathered Coast Guard ring with the pride of a sailor just graduated from boot camp. Like de Ocampo, the ring is old, but shines brightly. De Ocampo enlisted at the age of 23 in 1930 in New York. He became a steward's mate, personally attending to the commanding officers of famous Coast Guard cutters like the Walnut, the Spencer, and the Campbell over his 25-year career.The veteran now lives with his daughter and son-in-law, Melissa and James Vincent, in San Diego. His shadow box of medals and insignia gleams on the mantle, attributing to the retired chief's rich and story-filled history. Even as he nears 101 years old, de Ocampo has fond memories of patrolling for bootleggers off the coast of New York, making delicious apple pies and steaks for captains, managing supply offices and the wardroom mess, and handing the Coast Guard's famous canine mascot, Sinbad.
"Ehhhh," said de Ocampo with a wry smile. "He don't get drunk. The guys did." He remembers taking Sinbad to play around the "air base" at Cape May while his ship, the Mohawk, was in port, washing him in the captain's shower room, and letting Sinbad eat from a "little scrap tub" of meat in the captain's cabin. Dating the story, he even mentioned that Sinbad liked to sleep on the "wooden decks" of the Coast Guard cutter.In one story, de Ocampo talked about the commanding officer liking Sinbad so much that the dog got away with nearly everything, and being Sinbad's handler, so did de Ocampo. "That dog, when he was playing, and he caught the stick, he'd bark. The officer [of the day] would be sleeping, would say, ‘Shut up,' -- they'd be sleeping and they didn't like that. They couldn't get too mad because it was the captain's dog, they'd get mad and they'd blame me, but they couldn't do anything to me, because it was the captain's dog."
De Ocampo talked about how much the crew loved Sinbad, and how much the dog's prescence increased the morale of the troops. Sinbad even knew tricks. "Oh, lots!," said the World War II veteran, his eyes alight. "I'd just play with him. He could jump, [he'd do] anything you'd tell him." De Ocampo said the dog also seemed to have an understanding of the Coast Guard's serious mission. "When we were on patrol, that dog don't mess around," he said, remembering that the mascot would stay where he was supposed to within the ship's boundaries.
He speaks from a comfortable seat in his home, and his face becomes animated as memories from more than six decades ago flood back. Although more hard of hearing and restricted in movement than a year or two ago, the chief's age melts away when he recounts the stories -uscg-
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| Saving Lives and Guarding the Coast Since 1790. The United States Coast Guard -- Proud History. Powerful Future. |
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PA1 Anastasia M. Devlin, Supervisor
PA3 Jetta H. Disco, Staff
PA3 Henry Dunphy, Staff
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"That dog used to go with us ashore, with the sailors," said de Ocampo, chatting with his son-in-law. "He'd stay with us under the table drinking beer. He was very respectful."
This site is maintained by the 11th District Public Affairs Detachment - San Diego, California.
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