My Coast Guard News

Cabo Rojo Lighthouse seen from the front in 1895. (Library of Congress)

Sept. 20, 2024

Domingo Suarez y Rosa — Towerman of Puerto Rico

In 1898, the Spanish American War saw Puerto Rico’s sovereignty transferred from Spain to the U.S. and towermen serving in Spanish lighthouses transferring to the U.S. Lighthouse Service.

-Chief Boatswain’s Mate Pablo Valent shown later in his career in a service photograph in his dress uniform. (National Archives)
-A Type “E” 36-foot motor surfboat similar to the one used by the Brazos Station crew to rescue the men aboard the schooner Cape Horn. (U.S. Coast Guard)

Sept. 13, 2024

Brazos Station’s Latino lifesavers and the catastrophic Florida Keys Hurricane

The Florida Keys Hurricane of 1919 was one of the deadliest storms in U.S. history. In its path sailed numerous unsuspecting vessels.

Photograph of a Sicilian fishermen preparing to return to sea describing to Lt. Pell the challenges of fishing in Italian waters. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Cmdr. Clay Pell)

Sept. 6, 2024

Celebrating the Coast Guard’s role in liberating Rome during World War II

The wartime missions demanded a rapid expansion of Coast Guard manpower. On Dec. 7, 1941, Coast Guard personnel totaled about 29,000. By June 30, 1944, the ranks had swelled to over 175,000.

Color photograph of a November 1991 Haitian migrant interdiction performed by the U.S. Coast Guard. (U.S. Coast Guard photo)

Aug. 30, 2024

Maturing, making an impact — Coast Guard Intelligence in the 1980s and 1990s

The program’s development over the next two decades had the corollary effect of helping the service’s broader transformation into a more national security-centric and -relevant entity.

Coast Guard enlistment photograph of Joseph R. Toahty at age 21. (National Archives)
A faded image of marines landing on Guadalcanal on August 7, 1942. The marines landing on Guadalcanal far outnumbered the unprepared Japanese troops and civilian airfield workers on the island, so the enemy fled for the cover of Guadalcanal’s jungle interior. (U.S. Navy)

Aug. 23, 2024

Guadalcanal — Pawnee warrior strikes the first blow beside Doug Munro

Joseph Robert Toahty became the first Pawnee Indian to go to sea, the first Native American to participate in a U.S. naval offensive operation, and first Native American to set foot in enemy territory.

Soaked and tired, a U.S. Life-Saving Service crew lands the rescued survivors of a shipwreck. (U.S. Coast Guard)

Aug. 16, 2024

Hero without a headstone

Forgotten Keeper Joseph Doyle and his Gold Lifesaving Medal rescues.

The painting “To the Rescue” by acclaimed artist Anton Auto Fisher. (Coast Guard Heritage Art Collection)

Aug. 9, 2024

Honor, Respect, Devotion to Duty

Foundational principles of Coast Guard culture.

A photograph of the Chase’s boarding party motoring out to the 35-foot Haitian sailing vessel Exoribe. (U.S. Coast Guard)

Aug. 2, 2024

Raising The White Picket Fence

The 1981 origin of the Coast Guard’s Haitian Migration Interdiction Operations.

A vintage photo of a Coast Guard HH-3F “Pelican” making a hoist at sea. (Courtesy of the U.S. Coast Guard Aviation association)

July 26, 2024

SS Steel Executive — an impossible and heroic aviation medevac

“In honoring the Coast Guard by my selection, I really feel that you honored a service that from the helicopters very beginning — we employed it to rescue thousands of people and saved millions of dollars of property.” - Lt. Cmdr. Paul Lewis

U.S. Coast Guardsmen assigned to the USCGC Heriberto Hernandez (WPC 1114), a Fast Response Cutter homeported in San Juan, Puerto Rico, delivers food near the port of Ponce, Puerto Rico, Sept. 27, 2017. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Michael De Nyse)

July 19, 2024

Lessons learned from 2017’s Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico

Eyewitness accounts to the catastrophic Hurricane Maria, revealing the commitment to service, devotion to duty and willingness to make sacrifices that characterize the Coast Guard and the Coast Guard community.