Replying to Rick asking where my father served. My mother has asked for contributions to his obituary, at which my mind went immediately blank. Your question has helped me think again.
His service was mostly up and down the East Coast with two exceptions, his first ship command in Brownsville, Texas (125-footer Boutwell) and his last ship command in Cheboygan, Michigan (the icebreaker Mackinaw -- he completed the first winter run when they kept ore boats in operation instead of stopping till spring). His first command ever was building a Loran C station at Cape Christian, Baffin Island, so i consulted him about station operations to see if it provided any insight to the station on Niku (with regard to whether they had workshop facilities, most recently, when that came up in a thread). He loved the Arctic and made several trips there. Some of my earliest memories of him are of when he was the sailing coach at the Academy in 1957-59, when they nearly won the Bermuda race with his favorite boat, Manitou. He was a champion racing sailor and could have captained a square-rigger. His ship handling was unsurpassed. He also had a private pilot's license for a time and his favorite airplane was the Fairchild 24. He could make or fix anything. He was an excellent cook, as are all three of his sons (we had his example). His last assignments were as Chief of Search and Rescue and Chief of Operations at USCG HQ. After retirement he was hired back to revive the Academy sailing program. Then he took on running ISSA, the organization that promotes high school sailing. He had a particular interest in making sailing available to kids for whom that wasn't a normal family activity. His own life had been shaped by learning to sail when he had a job as a summer camp counselor.
His parents were expats living in Paris between the wars, where he was born in 1927 (arriving shortly after Lindbergh). When WWII began they returned to the USA and lived in New York. My mother says that when she met him about ten years later he still had a trace of a French accent. For him, learning to sail led to the Coast Guard Academy and meeting my mother, who was at Connecticut College, across the street, and thus to my very existence. He taught me to sail when I was eight years old.
This is more answer than perhaps you wanted -- and I could go on.
LTM,
Don
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Topic: China rebuilding Kanton Island airstrip (Read 8658 times)
