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Bobby Wilks—distinguished aviator, mentor, and minority trailblazer
—As America struggled with issues of racial inequality and segregation, African American Bobby C. Wilks was breaking barriers and blazing a trail for minorities.
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“Into the Jaws of Death”—Coast Guard landing craft at D-Day
—One of the most reproduced photographs to come out of June 6, 1944—D-Day was captured by Coast Guard Chief Photographer’s Mate Robert F. Sargent and entitled “Into the jaws of death.” Sargent.
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Jack Hamlin—Boatswain, rescue swimmer, and savior of D-Day
—“We had no idea what was going to happen. We could hear all the guns going off and could see the landing barges going in. We could see so many of them being hit or hitting mines that were laid underneath the water ...”
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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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Rogue cutter Madison—Remembering our first POWs 210 years ago
—Early in the War of 1812, the Madison had set sail on an unsanctioned cruise to capture British merchantmen. It would be the cutter’s last patrol.
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Sentinels of the past—the Coast Guard’s Civil War boat howitzers from the Revenue Cutter Service
—Learn how howitzer cannons have changed over time in size, shape, and utilization during their service.
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Devotion to Duty—Asian nationals serving in the Coast Guard
—Asian nationals began serving in the United States Coast Guard 175 years ago, playing an important role in the history of the Coast Guard’s ancestor agency of the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service.
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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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Dobbins and Knapp—Frontier Mariners, Naval Officers, and Revenue Cutter Masters
—The worst place for an American to be in the spring of 1812 was anywhere along the Canadian border—it was like a winding stretch of gunpowder ignited on one end.