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 photograph of Hart (in back row) posing with a group of Coast Guard officers on the deck of an 83-foot patrol boat. (U.S. Coast Guard)

Jan. 31, 2025

Hero William Hart’s stolen Gold Lifesaving Medal

Hart was recognized for the rescue of a crewman from the Tug Thomas Tracy.

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.

In 2009, members of LEDET 409 detained suspected pirates in the Gulf of Aden as part of Combined Task Force 151. (U.S. Coast Guard)

Jan. 10, 2025

LEDETs — Over 40 years of law enforcement boarding missions

Rapid growth of illegal narcotics smuggling by sea drove the need for highly trained boarding teams.

The aft section of the wreck of the Selendang Ayu photographed against the backdrop of Unalaska Island. (NOAA)

Jan. 3, 2025

AST3 Aaron Bean and the Selendang Ayu disaster

Fighting adverse conditions, crews from Kodiak rescued all but six of the sailors.

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.

Coast Guard Cutter Active pictured with an interdicted “fastboat.” By 1990, smugglers had shifted to long-range fastboats as the primary transport platform for cocaine smuggling. (U.S. Coast Guard)

Dec. 13, 2024

Enforcing the law at sea

With a seizure of opium near San Francisco Bay in 1886, the fight against maritime drug smuggling began, and continues to this day.

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.