Defenders of Our Nation

From icebound Greenland to the burning deck of USS Callaway and the beaches of Luzon and Iwo Jima, Norman Thomas drew what cameras could not: the fear, sacrifice, and human cost of war witnessed at close range.

Before he became “Mr. Defense” and a Pro Football Hall of Famer, Emlen Tunnell saved a burning shipmate with his bare hands, jumped into freezing water to rescue another, and carried that same courage into a career that changed football history.

Rear Admiral Mike Day reflects on the 9/11 boatlift, civilian mariners, and the leadership lessons he carried throughout his career.

After 9/11, the New York maritime evacuation was only the beginning. Facing months of unprecedented port security demands, Rear Adm. Richard Bennis gave his leaders three words: “Go be brilliant.” Behind that simple charge was a command culture built on trust, preparation, relationships, and the freedom to innovate when no playbook existed.

A federal efficiency drive nearly erased the Revenue Cutter Service. Instead, Sumner Kimball and Ellsworth Bertholf turned crisis into a merger that joined cutters with lifesaving stations, created the modern Coast Guard in 1915, and forged a military service ready for World War I.

In a flash off Guadalcanal, the Coast Guard-manned USS Serpens vanished while loading depth charges, killing 197 Coast Guardsmen, 51 Army stevedores, and a Public Health Service surgeon. Only two men aboard survived the blast that remains the service’s deadliest disaster.

The Korean conflict never sent cutters into gun duels, but it changed the service forever—turning early advisory work in Seoul into a global web of ocean stations, AIRDETs, LORAN, and port security that cemented the Coast Guard as an independent military branch in wartime.

In the pre‑dawn chaos at Cat Lai, a rocket‑hit ammunition barge began to burn with fifteen thousand tons of explosives nearby. Engineman Robert Yered ran toward the flames, helping put the fire out and preventing the destruction of three ships and an Army terminal—then came home to live as a quiet groundskeeper few realized was a Silver Star hero.

Eight thousand Coast Guardsmen served in Vietnam—interdicting, rescuing, training, and building LORAN and ATON systems that proved critical to the war effort.

From World War II convoys and Cold War port security to Desert Storm, Deepwater Horizon, and pandemic response, the Reserve has spent 85 years surging into crises at home and overseas—providing the extra force the service needs when the stakes are highest.