Coast Guard Oral History Program
Oral Histories, Memoirs & Other First-Person Accounts of Coast Guard History
How To:
Commandants, Flag Officers & Senior
Civilian Employees:
- Coast Guard Commandant Admiral James S. Gracey's Oral History, completed and published by the U.S. Naval Institute
- "The U.S. Coast Guard's Office of R&D: Its Initial Half-Life (1968-1979)": A Memoir by Dr. Charles C. Bates, Science Advisor to the Commandant, 1968-1979.
- "The Story of a World War II Frigate: The USS Sandusky PF-54," a first-hand narrative written by former Vice-Commandant VADM Thomas Sargent, who commanded Sandusky during World War II.
- "The First Year in the Life of a Patrol Craft: USS PC-469", a first-hand narrative written by former Vice-Commandant VADM Thomas Sargent, who commanded PC-469 during World War II.
Minorities, Integration, & Diversity
- Commander Carleton Skinner's memoir: the Coast Guard officer who commanded the first integrated ship in the U.S. fleet, the USS Sea Cloud. This important memoir details the history of integration in the Coast Guard by the officer responsible for championing and overseeing its implementation.
- My Friend! My Brother! My Shipmate! An article concerning integration in the Coast Guard in the early 1950s aboard the USCGC Lilac by Coast Guard writer and veteran James Mooney.
Women
- Florence Finch was the only SPAR decorated for combat during World War II. Read her autobiographical account of her fascinating life as a resistance fighter in the Philippines prior to making it to the U.S. where she joined the SPARs.
- SPAR Donna Ione Smith and Coast Guardsmen Robert Smith; both were veterans of World War II. They were the first Coast Guard "couple."
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PSC Sandy "Grandma Gunner" Mitten, a Coast Guard veteran of Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm who served with PSU-303. She describes her experiences in the Coast Guard Reserve and her time in Saudi Arabia as a patrol boat coxswain.
Hurricane Katrina Response
Operation Iraqi Freedom
Operation Noble Eagle: Coast Guardsmen Who
Responded to the September 11, 2001 Attack on the United States:
Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm
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PSC Sandy "Grandma Gunner" Mitten, a Coast Guard veteran of Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm who served with PSU-303. She describes her experiences in the Coast Guard Reserve and her time in Saudi Arabia as a patrol boat coxswain.
Vietnam Experiences:
- Captain Paul A. Lutz, commanding USCGC Sherman, describes his cutter's 1970 Vietnam cruise.
- Lieutenant Jack Rittichier describes the rescues he took part in during April & May, 1968 while assigned to the Air Force's 37 ARRS.
World War II Experiences:
- Florence Finch was the only SPAR decorated for combat during World War II. Read her autobiographical account of her fascinating life as a resistance fighter in the Philippines prior to making it to the U.S. where she joined the SPARs.
- One Among Many: The Memoirs of BM2 Douglas M. Pierpont, USCG: 1941-1947; BM2 Pierpont's exciting illustrated memoir of his service in the Coast Guard through World War II and after. He enlisted prior to Pearl Harbor and saw action as a coxswain assigned to the Boat Division aboard USS Leonard Wood--he participated in the invasions of North Africa, Sicily and then landings throughout the Pacific Theatre. After the war he served in Alaska aboard USCGC Bittersweet and Unalga.
- The oral history of Radioman First Class Glen Boles, who served as a radio operator during the war. RM1c Boles had spent time in Hollywood and on Broadway as an actor before joining the Coast Guard after the attack on Pearl Harbor. After attending basic training in Manhattan, he went through training as a radio operator in Atlantic City before volunteering for duty at a radio-monitoring station in Brazil. Here they intercepted German radio messages to their South American agents. RM1c Boles also includes information of his life after the war.
- The oral history of Chief Damage Controlman Clyde Allen, USCG (Ret.). Chief Allen served during World War II and retired from active duty in 1965. He had a variety of duty posts during his Coast Guard career, including the service with the Beach Patrol, the troop transports USS General Hugh L. Scott and the USS General H. F. Hodges, ocean station duty aboard the Minnetonka, LORAN construction duty aboard the Kukui, a tour aboard the buoy tender Sweetbrier in Alaska, and patrol duty aboard the Morris. He is the father of the Commandant of the Coast Guard, Admiral Thad Allen, USCG.
- "Tales of an Old Sea Dog": A series of fascinating and informative autobiographical articles written by Captain C. William "Bill" Bailey about his distinguished 30-year career in the Coast Guard, from World War II through 1973! He commanded a total of nine cutters, including 5 buoy tenders and the Eastwind, Coos Bay and Chase.
- John Bach: Bach discusses his service in the Coast Guard as a sonarman during World War II. As a sonarman Bach relates information about sonar technology as well as imparts information relating to military life. He recounts training at Curtis Bay (Maryland) and sonar school (Key West, Florida) including the development of new training courses, creation of insignia, shipboard equipment shortages, and other difficulties incurred while expanding the military. Serving aboard the [USS] Thetis, [CG] a patrol boat that escorted convoys along the East Coast, he relates his shipboard role, coastal encounters with German submarines, and the basic nature of the sonar technology. Bach offers a unique perspective on the World War II home-front, since his home port was the Brooklyn Naval Yard, he discusses rationing and treatment of servicemen. Transferred to the base in Argentia (Newfoundland) on board a frigate, he comments on convoy escort, weather patrols, race relations within the Navy and Coast Guard, USO shows, alcohol consumption on the base, and depression among servicemen. Bach mentions behavior at exotic ports and gays in the military.
- Kelly Clifton: Clifton joined the Coast Guard at the end of World War II and, after attending radar school, was assigned to the tender Walnut where he trained as a QM striker. He saw ATON duty and supplied Loran stations, and was injured during one beaching. He also survived a tsunami in Hawaii in 1946 and helped recover bodies.
- Radioman First Class George C. Larsen's memoir of service & surviving the attack on Pearl Harbor. Larsen lived through the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor while serving at a radio monitoring station. He had served on the Taney, and shortly after the attack was transferred to the Kukui, and while aboard he took part in the "liberation" of Niihau Island which had been "taken" by a downed Japanese pilot. He then saw service aboard the Tiger.
- "A Radioman in the U.S. Coast Guard" by Chief Radioman Michael Chartuk. RMC Chartuk served as a radio intercept operator during World War II in a little-known Coast Guard operation to intercept coded Nazi radio messages. He served first at a radio monitoring station at Southmpton, New York and then established a radio monitoring station in the Dominican Republic.
- The memoir of Chief Warrant Officer Fred Mann, USCG (Ret.). Mr. Mann enlisted in the Coast Guard in 1939 and retired in 1971 after 32 years of continuous service. During his career, which began aboard the old cutter Saranac, he served aboard Navy transports, where he saw considerable action at Guadalcanal, earning a Silver Star for heroism in combat in that early amphibious assault. After the war he served on a ocean station weather patrol, commanded patrol craft, saw service aboard numerous buoy tenders (and commanding one). He also had duty at many shore stations around the country.
- Radarman Second Class Collingwood Harris. RM2/c Harris served aboard the Coast Guard-manned destroyer escort USS Peterson during World War II and saw action in the convoy battles of the North Atlantic, including the loss of the Coast Guard-manned USS Leopold and the sinking of the U-550!
- Commander Carleton Skinner's memoir: the Coast Guard officer who commanded the first integrated ship in the U.S. fleet, the USS Sea Cloud. This important memoir details the history of integration in the Coast Guard by the officer responsible for championing and overseeing its implementation.
- Invasion of Iwo Jima diary: Coast Guard veteran Gunner's Mate First Class Robert Mullins wrote a detailed diary during the bloody assault on Iwo Jima in 1945. GM1 Mullins served aboard a Coast Guard-manned LST. (pdf file)
- SPAR Donna Ione Smith and Coast Guardsmen Robert Smith; both were veterans of World War II. They were the first Coast Guard "couple."
- Captain David W. Sinclair's memoir. CAPT Sinclair has provided us with his memoir of his Coast Guard career that stretched from 1935 through his retirement in 1969. He describes life as a cadet in the Coast Guard Academy's Class of 1939, life aboard a Treasury Class cutter just prior to the U.S. entering World War II, his service in World War II, including the Greenland Patrol, flight training, and aerial patrol duties. He then goes on to describe his post-war Coast Guard career.
- The Journal of Ensign W. E. Prindle while aboard the USCGC Marion in 1942 while on escort duty.
- A Coast Guard Aviator in World War II: The Oral History of Lieutenant Commander W. E. Prindle, Jr., USCGR (CG Aviator #144; CG Helicopter Pilot #24), a continuation of his career after he left the Marion and went to flight training.
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An illustrated first-hand account of the Magic Carpet operation written by Seaman First Class Wilbur Selbrede in 1945. He served aboard the Joseph T. Dickman as a member of a special amphibious beach party and saw action at Okinawa and then participated in the "Operation Magic Carpet" voyages that returned former Allied Prisoners of War, some who were the survivors of the Bataan Death March in the Philippines in 1942 as well as those who had been captured on Wake Island in December, 1941, back home from Japanese P.O.W. camps.
- An account of the relief of convoy SC-177 that was taken from an unpublished book, Bloody Winter -- The Lighter Side, by the late Captain John M. "Muddy" Waters, Jr., the first President of the Ingham Association.
- Illustrated memoir of Signalman Third Class William L. Sprague, who describes his World War II experiences, including Basic Training at Curtis Bay, Maryland, service in the Captain of the Port Office and on a patrol boat in Newport, Rhode Island, travel across the U.S. by train and plane, Signalman School in California, and service on board the USS Corpus Christi in the Pacific Theatre.
- The oral history of World War II Coast Guard veteran Marvin Perrett, who was a coxswain of a landing craft assigned to the USS Bayfield; he participated in the invasions of Normandy (D-Day!), Iwo Jima, and Okinawa.
- Illustrated memoir of Coast Guard veteran Norman Taylor, who describes his World War II experiences, including Basic Training at the Manhattan Beach Training Station, service on the Beach Patrol, "EM" School, and service on the USS FS-396 in the Pacific Theatre. ("pdf" file)
- "The Story of a World War II Frigate: The USS Sandusky PF-54," a first-hand narrative written by former Vice-Commandant Vice Admiral Thomas Sargent, who commanded Sandusky during World War II.
- "The First Year in the Life of a Patrol Craft: USS PC-469", a first-hand narrative written by former Vice-Commandant VADM Thomas Sargent, who commanded PC-469 during World War II.
- Seaman First Class Raymond O'Malley's Oral History: Raymond O'Malley was one of two Escanaba survivors.
- Cliff Beasley recounts a few humorous stories regarding OCS training, the atomic bomb, and duty aboard an Army "FS" vessel in the Pacific.
Coast Guard Aviation:
- A first hand narrative written by the first commanding officer of the first Coast Guard Air Station, Captain William Wishar--Read about the very early days of Coast Guard aviation and the pioneers who led the way!
- Captain David W. Sinclair's memoir. CAPT Sinclair has provided us with his memoir of his Coast Guard career that stretched from 1935 through his retirement in 1969. He describes life as a cadet in the Coast Guard Academy's Class of 1939, life aboard a Treasury Class cutter just prior to the U.S. entering World War II, his service in World War II, including the Greenland Patrol, flight training, and aerial patrol duties. He then goes on to describe his post-war Coast Guard career.
- A Coast Guard Aviator in World War II: The Oral History of LCDR W. E. Prindle, Jr., USCGR (CG Aviator #144; CG Helicopter Pilot #24).
- Captain Pete E. Prindle's memoir entitled "Grand Fun While It Lasted: The Coast Guard Career of CAPT Peter E. Prindle, (Ret.) CG Aviator #1184, CG Helicopter Pilot #581." CAPT Prindle wrote a detailed memoir of his career as a Coast Guard aviator, which spanned the years between 1966 to 1992. ["pdf" file]
General Oral Histories & Memoirs:
- "Tales of an Old Sea Dog": A series of fascinating and informative autobiographical articles written by Captain C. William "Bill" Bailey about his distinguished 30-year career in the Coast Guard, from World War II through 1973! He commanded a total of nine cutters, including five buoy tenders and the Eastwind, Coos Bay and Chase.
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BMCM Thomas D. McAdams' Oral History: Master Chief Boatswain's Mate Thomas McAdams describes his illustrious career in the Coast Guard, which spanned the years between 1950 and 1977. The highly decorated McAdams is something of a legend in the Coast Guard's small boat community and among the fishermen of the Pacific Northwest. In his remarkable career, which spanned 27 years, BMCM McAdams participated in more than 5,000 rescues and was credited with saving more than 100 lives.
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"Establishing a New Normalcy": Activities Baltimore, Before and After 11 September 2001; The Recollections of Captain Roger B. Peoples, U.S. Coast Guard (Ret.) Commanding Officer, Activities Baltimore. An important oral history that delves into the shift to the new "Sector" organization.
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1957 Northwest Passage: "Notes from Calumet", excerpts from the journal and letters of Captain Harold L. Wood, USCG during the transit of the Northwest Passage by U.S. Coast Guard Cutters Storis, Bramble, & Spar, 1957. Compiled & edited by Captain Wood's daughter, Lucinda Wood Langjahr.
- Captain Quentin Walsh's Oral History: Captain Walsh discusses his experiences as a whaling inspector on board the American-flagged Norwegian whaling factory ship Ulysses, from 26 May 1937 to 11 April 1938. The Ulysses cruised for 30,000 miles and killed over 3,600 whales. In the middle of his tour, Walsh was asked to enforce new whaling regulations under the 1937 International Agreement for the Regulation of Whaling.
- Motor Machinist Mate George Cheney's Memoirs: Petty Officer Cheney served in the active duty and reserves from 1947 to 1963. He served aboard the Dexter, General Greene, and Storis as well as ashore at LORAN Station St. Paul and Sentinel Island Light Station, both in Alaska. He describes what it was like to: care for old diesel engines, stand watch in a cold and tossing engine room while serving on an ocean station, suffering through chronic seasickness, and what life was like at an isolated light station. (pdf file)
- Vernon Carlson's Oral History: Vernon Carlson discusses his Cold War service in the Marines, and later enlistment in the Coast Guard. Upon his discharge from the Marines, Carlson moved to Milwaukee where he worked for several months before enlisting in the Coast Guard. He comments on his duties with the Coast Guard including cleaning the guns, radio and sonar operation, search and rescue, drug patrol, and work as a LORAN operator. During his second Coast Guard tour, he was on boarding crew conducting fisheries enforcement on Russian fishing vessels.
- "Collision at Sea!" The Sinking of the U.S.C.G. Lightship RELIEF LV-78 / WAL-505 on 24 June 1960 as told by survivor BM3 Bobbie Pierce.
- A memoir written by one of the USCGC Cape Strait's plankowners, James A. Mooney, entitled "CG 95308 10 SEPT 53 - 12 JAN 83." His fascinating story includes information on his shipmates, the cutter's early years in service as well as "sea stories" from other 95308 crewmen!
Miscellaneous:
- Pages From A Scrapbook: an incredible collection of photos from the scrapbook of BMC-L Ira Lewis, who served at small boat stations on Long Island for over twenty years, from the late-1930s to the late-1950s. His photos document life at these unheralded stations.
Last Modified 6/30/2009