My Coast Guard News

World War II-era Temporary Reserve Recruiting Poster. (Author’s photo)

Feb. 7, 2025

World War II’s “Home Guard”

The story of Coast Guard’s part-time warriors, the Temporary Reserve.

A rare photograph of Allied POWs marching in formation at Cabanatuan Prison. Crotty was remembered by fellow prisoners for his sense optimism despite his dire surroundings in the prison camp. (Courtesy of the MacArthur Memorial Library, Norfolk, Virginia)

Jan. 27, 2025

Crotty — Joint Forces hero of the Pacific War

The story of the first Coast Guard prisoner of war (POW) since the War of 1812.

German prisoners march out of surrendered Cherbourg under U.S. Army guard. (U.S. Navy)

Dec. 27, 2024

Quentin Walsh — D-Day planner and Cherbourg liberator

Walsh’s career spans some of the most eventful years in USCG history, including Prohibition, World War II and the post-war modernization of the service.

LST-66 (to the right) unloading tanks in July 1944, months before the epic battle of Leyte Gulf, Philippines. (Navsource.org)

Dec. 20, 2024

80th Anniversary of the Leyte liberation

The story of the Christmas liberation of the Philippines.

Grimy marines return to the Arthur Middleton for rest and recovery after the Battle of Eniwetok. (National Archives)

Dec. 6, 2024

Hoyle’s Hell

Coast Guardsman masters the bloody beaches of the Pacific.

BMCM Poulin is honored as part of the 2018 Memorial Day Parade for Nahant, Massachusetts. (Courtesy of the Poulin family)

Nov. 29, 2024

BMCM Maurice Poulin, World War II veteran

This essay is based on the author’s interview with retired master chief and World War II veteran, Maurice Poulin, regarding his World War II experiences.

-Coast Guard photograph of Seaman First Class Sophia Thadei in uniform. (National Personnel Records Center, National Archives)
-Photograph of the Rogers Mansion in Charleston, which housed the District Coast Guard Office during World War II. (Library of Congress)

Nov. 15, 2024

An Alaska Native SPAR - The Story of Seaman First Class Sophia Thadei

Sophia Thadei was among the first Native American women to wear the Coast Guard uniform.

“Into the Jaws of Death: Down the ramp of a Coast Guard landing barge Yankee soldiers storm toward the beach-sweeping fire of Nazi defenders in the D-Day invasion of the French coast. Troops ahead may be seen lying flat under the deadly machinegun resistance of the Germans. Soon the Nazis were driven back under the overwhelming invasion forces thrown in from Coast Guard and Navy amphibious craft.” (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Chief Photographers Mate Robert F. Sargent.)

June 7, 2024

Into the Jaws of Death — Coast Guard landing craft at D-Day

Story and images of CPO Robert Sargent, “Into the Jaws of Death” photographer.

A portrait of Silver Star Medal recipient Seaman First Class Rollin Fritch, one of the heroic Coast Guardsmen to die on board the Callaway during the kamikaze attack on January 8, 1945. (Courtesy of the Fritch family)

Callaway in camouflage paint scheme during World War II. (U.S. Navy)

Jan. 26, 2024

Rollin Fritch — Silver Star hero of Attack Transport Callaway

“Rollin Fritch’s devotion to duty reminds us how to conduct ourselves aboard this ship. He manned his gun until the very end.” — Lt. Jason McCarthey, Cutter Rollin Fritch’s first commanding officer

Two graphic images superimposed with one another. At the bottom it reads "The Long Blue Line." The image on the left is a house with bells and trees and says "Seasons Greetings." On the right, is a Large posiedon like charachter and it says "A salty, hearty, merry christmas. From the Onondaga."

Dec. 22, 2023

The Long Blue Line: Merry Christmas from the Galley! — the Coast Guard’s collection of vintage Christmas Menus

The Coast Guard Historian’s Office recently unearthed several shipboard Christmas menus in its Archives and Special Collections. They are few, but rather colorful and provide insight into a bright spot in an otherwise monotonous lifestyle at sea.