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“Love your Freedom, because that’s what we fought for”—D-Day Gunner’s Mate Frank DeVita
—“DeVita, drop the ramp!” For a few seconds I froze, because I knew when I dropped that ramp, the machine gun bullets will come into the boat. And then for the third time he yelled, punctuated with colorful profanity and I dropped the ramp. The bullets that were hitting the ramp came into the boat.
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Charles Jones Soong—Cutterman and Powerful Chinese Patriarch
—Charles Jones Soong is the most famous individual of Chinese ancestry to serve in the United States Coast Guard. However, his fame is little known in the U.S. compared to his celebrity in the Far East.
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Defending a “Large, Slow Target”—Joe Gerczak’s service and sacrifice from Philly to New Guinea
—Facing kamikaze attacks, Joseph Gerczak provides an example of unrelenting courage.
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Never give up
—The Coast Guard officially welcomed its tenth Legend Class National Security Cutter, USCGC Calhoun WMSL 759, in a commissioning ceremony April 20, 2024, in Charleston, South Carolina.
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Dorothy Stratton—Wartime Coast Guard trailblazer and SPAR Leader
Coast Guard Capt. Dorothy M. Stratton held a life-long commitment to public service and was an inspirational leader during a very difficult time in the nation’s history.
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Master Chief McShan—leader, mentor, trailblazer and FRC namesake.
—A 20-year veteran of the service, the first African American woman to achieve the enlisted rank of master chief and distinguished role model for the Coast Guard’s core values.