Featured Figures

The Coast Guard established the Ancient Mariner Award in 1978 to honor the officer and enlisted cuttermen who personify the dedication and professionalism associated with long service at sea and have held the distinction of cutterman longer than any other officer or enlisted member.

Walsh’ s career spanned some of the most eventful years in Coast Guard history, including Prohibition, World War II and the post-war modernization of the service.

After being transferred from the Coast Guard to the Navy in World War II, Poulin saw action in the Atlantic and Pacific while participating in many invasions while assigned the USS Leonard Wood.

Drawing his pistol, Duke stalked toward the bridge. When one of the crew tried to block his access to the pilothouse, Duke immediately clubbed him to the deck.

Joe led the tactical law enforcement specialists that comprised his Drug Interdiction Assist Team through the rivers of Central America, resulting in one of the largest drug busts of its time.

“Charlie remembered the overall feeling of frustration at the lack of communication, or “voice,” in matters that affected every sailor in the field.”

Chief Gus Jablonski was a critical figure in the early days of helicopter development. His technical knowledge and hands-on skills helped helicopter turn Igor Sikorsky’s fragile machine into a tool that could do useful work for the military.

Saving lives was what drew Jeffrey Palazzo to the Coast Guard, and on Sept. 11, 2001, Palazzo, a Coast Guard Reservist, was one of hundreds of New York Fire Department personnel who made the ultimate sacrifice trying to save others.

As a member of the Emergency Service Unit, he and his fellow officers were the first to enter the doomed Trade Center. He called home to his wife and told her it was real bad up in the Towers.

The weather was horrific with dark skies, steady rain, and tumultuous seas. The keeper and his crew were quickly away and encountering “fearful seas.”