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…the broad statement can be made that the public never really knew the Coast Guard Temporary Reserve. There was always confusion between it and the Auxiliary. Such news items that did appear in the papers usually were based upon misconception.
— Capt. Malcolm F. Willoughby, U.S. Coast Guard retired
This quote from Willoughby’s 1945 book, The Coast Guard’s TRs, is still valid today. The Auxiliary and the Temporary Reserve are often thought of synonymously. In many ways, this generalization is fair; in others it is errant and does injustice to those who served in the World War II-era Coast Guard Reserve (Temporary).
The Auxiliary and Temporary Reserve are inarguably joined at the hip and have a rich shared history but are not one and the same. The Auxiliary is the solid foundation that enabled the birth of the Temporary Reserve; however, its offspring has a distinct, fascinating history of its own. Many TRs had little or no affiliation with the Auxiliary. The evolution of these two unique service components lends itself to confusion, especially as we look back at their history over eight decades later.
The Beginning
The Temporary Reserve was a necessary and logical outgrowth of the Auxiliary in time of war. The Auxiliary was created by the Coast Guard Reserve Act of June 23, 1939. Initially known as the Coast Guard Reserve, this new component was created as a voluntary, non-military organization of yacht and boat owners, focused on improving boating efficiency and safety. Additionally, the members and their vessels would be available to help the Coast Guard with routine operations and serve as surge resources in time of emergency. This remains the underpinning of the Coast Guard Auxiliary today.
By 1941, the clouds of war were forming off America’s coasts. The writing was on the wall — significant organizational changes were required to prepare the Coast Guard for a wartime footing. The signing of the Coast Guard Reserve and Auxiliary Act on February 19, 1941, repealed the 1939 law, and created two new components: the Auxiliary and a military Coast Guard Reserve. The new Auxiliary was essentially identical to the organization created in 1939, i.e. uniformed, civilian, and volunteer. Modeled after the reserve components of the other branches of the armed forces, the Coast Guard Reserve was now a true military reserve force, providing much-needed full-time reservists to serve alongside regular service members.
Birth of the Temporary Reserve
As coastal and port security requirements rapidly expanded, the Auxiliary’s status as a civilian organization without military authority challenged effective use of its personnel and raised some legal concerns. A little over a year after its inception, the 1941 Act was amended to authorize the enrollment of “temporary” members of the Coast Guard Reserve to serve either full-time or part-time intermittent duty. This was a bold, necessary change that created a new, unique category of Coast Guardsman—United States Coast Guard Reserve (Temporary). In the parlance of the times, they were simply known as “TRs.”
Originally conceived as a rapid way to militarize the Coast Guard’s civilian Auxiliary and bring hundreds of small craft into the fray, the law would become a triumph in imagination. The flexibility of the legislation allowed the Coast Guard to utilize TRs in a plethora of roles, meeting a full spectrum of maritime homeland defense and security demands. The primary purpose of the Temporary Reserve program was to meet essential domestic wartime missions while simultaneously releasing regular (active duty) and regular (traditional) reservists for combat duty at sea.
Ever expanding roles
While these new temporary reservists were military personnel, it was initially envisioned that most of them would be part-time unpaid volunteers like their counterparts in the civilian Auxiliary. To hasten the transition, members of the Auxiliary were the early focus for TR recruiting. This enabled the Coast Guard to quickly tap a cadre of skilled sailors, roughly trained in the ways of the Coast Guard, for the performance of Coast Guard duties on a military basis.
The majority of existing Auxiliary flotillas simultaneously became Temporary Reserve Flotillas. New flotillas sprung up, many formed specifically as a pathway to serving in the Temporary Reserve. Throughout the war, the Auxiliary remained key to the recruiting and training of Temporary Reserve personnel serving part-time, intermittent duty.
Coastal Picket Force
During the first few desperate months of 1942, German submarines were sinking ships with impunity off America’s east coast. One of the first applications of the new Temporary Reserve was crewing the boats of the Coastal Picket Force (CPF). Famously known as the “Corsair Fleet,” this diverse array of former civilian vessels included rugged sailing yachts capable of going to sea in all manner of weather conditions. At the forefront of the nation’s early anti-submarine warfare efforts, the crews were initially TRs serving full-time with military pay.
The flexibility of the legislation authorizing enrollment of Temporary Reservists enabled the Coast Guard to quickly recruit skilled sailors and get them to sea. The CPF crews transitioned to regular reserve status by late 1942.
Far more than boats
As the nation’s war efforts expanded, so did the role of the Temporary Reserve. By October 1942, the categories of TR included a vast array of personnel and missions. There were scores of flotillas performing traditional maritime patrol duties afloat. Simultaneously, the newly created Volunteer Port Security Force (VPSF) was rapidly expanding to cover port security duties ashore. There were shipyard and plant guards enrolled as TRs to form the “Coast Guard Police.” Coast Guard civilian marine inspectors and other government civil service employees enrolled as TRs to meet expanded wartime responsibilities. Meteorologists from the weather service were enrolled to serve afloat on cutters on patrol in the North Atlantic and at shore-based weather stations.
Harbor pilots, as well as the masters, mates and engineers aboard Great Lakes merchant vessels, were commissioned into the Temporary Reserve to improve port and waterway security. In many areas along the coast, TRs were also taking on much of the responsibilities for the Coast Guard Beach Patrol. The vast majority of TRs in the flotillas and VPSF regiments served part-time, intermittent duty without pay; the Coast Guard police, harbor pilots, civil service employees, etc. served in full-time status, receiving their normal pay from their civilian or government employers.
Volunteer Port Security Force
On Feb. 25, 1942, President Roosevelt directed by executive order that the Secretary of the Navy take steps necessary to protect waterfront facilities in the United States, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Virgin Islands against injury from sabotage or subversive actions. Almost immediately, the authority and responsibility were delegated to the Coast Guard. With ever increasing numbers of regular and regular Reserve service members needed in all theatres of war, the responsibility would be shouldered by TRs. The Commandant directed that,
A Volunteer Port Security Force constitutes the medium for assembling the necessary part-time personnel and properly training them for the Port Security duties expected of them. Upon completion of the prescribed training, such persons are enrolled as Temporary Members of the Reserve. The Force then becomes responsible for furnishing the personnel to carry out the specific assignments made by the Captain of the Port.
The port of Philadelphia served as the testbed for the concept. By early 1943, an extraordinary array of critical security duties at ports across the nation were being efficiently handled by volunteer TRs. The units were organized as stand-alone VPSF Regiments or focused guard detachments in local Temporary Reserve Flotillas. In many Naval Districts, the VPSF Regiments were one of the largest use of personnel recruited and enrolled into the Temporary Reserve with no prior affiliation with the Auxiliary.
In an address before a headquarters conference of Temporary Reserve Commanding Officers in 1945, the Commandant, Adm. Russell Waesche, captured the importance of the Volunteer Port Security Forces:
You and the men under you have served many a lonesome, weary, tedious tour of duty. You have encountered evidence of carelessness and have prevented great loses that might have come about through fires of careless origin, but very few of you have encountered an enemy saboteur, and I know that some of your men are wondering just how important their port security posts of duty are.
It is true that they have seldom, if ever, seen the enemy, but it is probably equally true that more than once the lurking enemy saboteur had seen them walking up and down or cruising the harbor in dead of night, foul weather and fair, in the uniform of the U.S. Coast Guard. If the enemy has been there, he has seen them, and, seeing has slunk away unable to accomplish his desire to sabotage.
How many times such an enemy has seen a volunteer Temporary Reservist of the Coast Guard, no one will ever know but the mere presence of the Coast Guardsmen at the ports of duty has, without question been a determent to whatever plans such enemies may have had.
Not a single serious loss has been suffered in any facility that has been under the protection of the Volunteer Temporary Reserve of the U.S. Coast Guard.
The proof of the value of their Coast Guard duty lies in the fact that they have helped keep the ports of America open and active every day and every night during the war.
This is the practical answer to any question that may be in the minds regarding the importance of their work and for that splendid record, the Coast Guard thanks you and them, and America honors you.
The Beach Patrol
While some areas were too far from population centers to allow the use of part-time volunteers, TRs assumed beach patrol duty on vast stretches of coastline wherever possible. In addition to a willingness to “pound the sand” in all manner of weather conditions or endure long lonely hours in a remote watch tower, TRs with skills in horsemanship and dog handling were incredibly valuable. TR veterinarians, farriers, and those skilled in the training and care of horses and dogs were essential to mission success.
A Diverse and Complex Story
The history of the Temporary Reserve is relatively brief, less than four years in total. TRs covered a broad spectrum of Coast Guard missions. They faced unique challenges in each and every port or operating area. Individual units were self-organized and trained themselves to meet service challenges. Employment of the Temporary Reserve was as diverse and complex as the nation’s coastline itself. TRs came from all walks of life: policemen, clergymen, undertakers, lawyers, businessmen and politicians—TRs one and all. Over the course of the war, approximately 125,000 men and women answered the call. The following editorial from the June 20, 1945, edition of the Boston Traveler newspaper captures the essence of their patriotism and service:
After some three years of service, the Coast Guard Temporary Reserve of the First Naval District, which reached a maximum strength of almost 10,000 men, has completed its tour of duty.
These volunteer ‘TRs’ came from many walks of life with an admixture of age groups that ran well up over 50 years of age. They were on duty a minimum of 12 hours a week patrolling, day and night, beaches, docks and other shore installations. Their picket boats were constantly on the alert in harbors. Incoming vessels were boarded by TRs.
In fair weather or foul, these guardians of the waterfront maintained their watch, relieving regular Coast Guardsmen for active duty. They were motivated by a high sense of service to their country, receiving only their uniform and subsistence while on duty but no pay.
They went about their work quietly but efficiently and they merit the highest tribute. They performed their duty well.
Despite the shared history and close affiliation, it is important to understand that not all TRs were Auxiliarists, nor were all Auxiliarists TRs. It is equally important that we continue to remember, celebrate, and honor those Auxiliarists who stepped up to simultaneously serve as Temporary Reservist alongside the hundreds of other Americans who answered the call to serve their nation in the World War II-era Coast Guard Reserve (Temporary). They were a unique, important part of the “greatest generation.”
The statue authorizing the Coast Guard Temporary Reserve has been on the books since June 1942. Today, it is found in 14 USC § 3706. In the Foreword of the History of the Philadelphia Regiment Volunteer Port Security Force published in 1946, Admiral Waesche captured the importance of the Temporary Reserve:
All the wars in which America has been concerned have produced bodies of civilian volunteers whose careers are interwoven with the particular contests which engendered them. The Minute Men of 1775 were citizen soldiers; so were the Texas Rurales who fought the Mexicans along the Rio Grande long before war was officially declared...
Now in the present struggle, by far the greatest which our Country has been fated to endure, we hail the advent of a group of devoted citizenry not dissimilar to those just mentioned and certainly yielding nothing to their predecessors in zeal or thoroughness. The men and women of the Volunteer Port Security Force of the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve have proved themselves worthy successors….
In our hour of need, when it was imperative that regular Coast Guard personnel be freed from their local duties for service afloat and abroad, we searched for substitutes whom we might enroll and train for the protection of American wharves, warehouses, and loading slips. These substitutes were happily found in the Volunteer Port Security Force.
-USCG-