13 legends of the US Coast Guard
Petty Officer 3rd Class Jonathan Lally/US Coast Guard
In a service whose mission includes rescuing lives in peril, it’s hard to pick and choose legends among so many heroes. The Coast Guard’s history is filled with ordinary men who rose to the challenges presented by extraordinary circumstances.
Here is a list of 13 folks who embodied the Coast Guard ethos:
1. Douglas Munro
US Coast GuardThe ultimate hero of the Coast Guard is arguably Douglas Munro.
As he commanded a group of Higgins boats at the Battle of Guadalcanal, Munro coordinated the evacuation of more than 500 Marines who came under heavy fire, using his boat as a shield to draw fire.
During the evacuation, he was fatally wounded, but his last words were, “Did they get off?”
2. Thomas “Jimmy” Crotty
US Coast GuardLt. Thomas “Jimmy” Crotty was the first Coast Guard prisoner of war since the War of 1812 and served at the front lines of the Battle of Corregidor as the Japanese took the Philippines.
A 1934 graduate of the Coast Guard Academy where he was an accomplished athlete, Crotty served as an skilled cutterman before being attached to a Navy mine warfare unit. After several different positions in the Pacific Theater, Crotty found himself attached the Marine Corps Fourth Regiment, First Battalion, as the Japanese forces attacked the last American stronghold.
One eyewitness report says that Crotty supervised army personnel manning a howitzer dug-in until the American surrender on May 6, 1942. Crotty was captured by the Japanese and taken to Cabanatuan Prison, where he died of diphtheria.
3. William Flores
US Coast GuardOn January 28, 1980, the USCGC Blackthorn collided with a tanker in Tampa Bay, Florida. Seaman Apprentice William Flores, just eighteen years old and a year out of boot camp, stayed on board as the cutter sank, strapping the life jacket locker open with his belt, giving his own life jacket to those struggling in the water, and giving aid to those wounded on board.
He was posthumously awarded the Coast Guard’s highest non-combat award, the Coast Guard Medal.
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