The Long Blue Line

In the still darkness of a foggy June night in 1942, what began as a routine beach patrol turned into a daring encounter with Nazi saboteurs—the first enemy operatives to land on U.S. soil since the War of 1812.

Units and personnel of the United States Coast Guard and its predecessor services have served with distinction in every major American conflict since the founding of the United States and the Persian Gulf War of 1990-1991 and operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm proved no exception to this rule.

The United States Coast Guard has been a steward of the nation’s maritime environment for nearly 200 years. For 50 of those years, the National Strike Force has helped protect the American people and the environment from the impacts of dangerous chemical discharges and hazardous material releases, and other natural and manmade disasters.

When Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton established the service in 1790, the stated purpose of the revenue cutters was law enforcement. However, after its founding, ships of the United States Revenue Cutter Service assisted vessels in distress as was the custom for mariners at sea.

In 1790, Alexander Hamilton established a small fleet of coastal law enforcement vessels to patrol off East Coast seaports. Over the next 235 years, the service experienced rapid growth in its responsibilities, missions, and organization.

Suddenly, flames erupted form the number one engine and left wing, while the verticle and horizontal stabilizers suffered additional damage. The crew lost control of the engine, and all emergency efforts to suppress the fire failed. As the blaze spread aft toward the rear fuselage, the situation grew critical. At 12:30 p.m. the crew transmitted an SOS and announced their intent to ditch the PV2V-5.

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.

In the evening of April 20, 2010,, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig blows up. The explosion results in the deaths of 11 workers and, within two days, the loss of the rig. The resulting spill of over 200 million gallons of crude oil became the largest discharge of oil in U.S. waters. This was the catalyst for the largest response for an environmental disaster in the Service’s history.

Darkness fell suddenly in the eye with the storm’s western wall shading the setting sun—time to leave. We could provide no further assistance. Dell G’s calm was ending, as was ours. Now came the most terrifying part of the day—flying back into the storm’s eyewall.

At the tail end of D-Day at Gold Beach, after being sent back out to sea, their landing craft’s engine failed, and they found themselves drifting helplessly into a minefield. The Royal Signalmen shouted for help, but nearby watercraft were too busy to pay attention. Then when all seemed lost a United States Coast Guard vessel appeared out of nowhere.