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Keyword: awards

A portrait of Master Chief John E. “Jack” Downey, who served in the Coast Guard for over 40 years, including five officer-in-charge multi-mission ashore assignments and two officer-in-charge afloat assignments.

March 20, 2024

Congratulations to the 2023 Boat Forces award winners!

The Coast Guard awarded the first MCPO Jack Downey Awards and added Reserve Component categories to the CDR Ray Evans Outstanding Coxswain and Fireman First Class Paul Clark Outstanding Engineer Trophies.

An official portrait photograph of Dorothy C. Stratton seated in her office at Coast Guard Headquarters shortly before her retirement in 1946. (U.S. Coast Guard) A World War II photo of Stratton meets with members of the Coast Guard’s Women’s Reserve of SPARs. (U.S. Coast Guard)

March 8, 2024

Dorothy Stratton — Wartime Coast Guard trailblazer and SPAR Leader

Capt. Stratton had the unique distinction of serving her country through three of the women’s branches of U.S. Armed Forces and became the director of the newly formed Coast Guard Women's Reserve, SPARS.

Left to right: Honorable Ashish Vazirani, Mr. Leroy Vander Putten, and Rear Admiral Will Watson attending the Spirit of Hope award ceremony Sept. 14, 2023.

March 6, 2024

Nominations are now being accepted for the Spirit of Hope Award

Nominations are due by April 17, 2024

A formal seated photograph showing a vigorous Isaac Mayo later in life. (U.S. Coast Guard) Image of the Massachusetts Humane Society. Modeled after the British Royal Humane Society, the Massachusetts Humane Society’s work ultimately served as a model for the U.S. Life-Saving Service and eventually the U.S. Coast Guard.

March 1, 2024

Isaac Mayo — Surfman, Gold Life-Saving Medal recipient and FRC namesake

On Nov. 10, 1879, Congress awarded Mayo the Gold Life Saving Medal for his bravery and successful actions leading the crew of volunteer surfmen in the rescue of the four survivors off the wreck of the Sarah J. Fort.

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.

Coast Guard Foundation Scholarship Open Season 2024

Feb. 7, 2024

Coast Guard Foundation Scholarships 2024 Open Season is here!

Application window is February 1 through April 1. Find out how to apply!

Lt. Andre Jones Butler with Coast Guard Vice Admiral (ret.) Manson Brown and Ms. Barbara Ward, Co-Chair, NAACP Armed Services & Veterans Affairs Committee, at the NAACP National Convention awards ceremony, Boston, MA.

Feb. 7, 2024

Lt. Andre Jones Butler - Shaping success through civil rights and mentorship

Embodying Coast Guard’s core values, Lt. Andre Jones Butler was the 2023 recipient of NAACPs Roy Wilkins Renown Service Award!

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.