Always Ready: Coast Guard Sea Stories From the 1970's

by Mark Holmes 

Always Ready – Coast Guard Sea Stories from the 1970’s chronicles the experiences and adventures of the author during his eight years of service in the U.S. Coast Guard. In his book, author Mark Holmes recounts tales of rescues at sea, liberty calls by energetic crew members, rowdy behavior and some raunchy antics by his shipmates, all with a unique perspective on the Coast Guard during the evolving 1970’s.

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Bloodstained Sea

by Michael G. Walling

Through eyewitness accounts based on hundreds of interviews with crew members; personal diaries, notes, and letters; and each cutter's logbooks and patrol reports Walling plunges you into the thick of the battle, re-creating some of the most desperate encounters, heroic rescues, and harrowing missions of the Second World War. Told largely in the voices of the men who lived it, this unforgettable tale is peppered with humorous and ironic anecdotes about life aboard ship during wartime.

 

Wreck Ashore

by Frederick Stonehouse

"Wreck Ashore" focuses on the U.S. Life-Saving Service on the Great Lakes; however, it is also an insightful look at the history of the "storm warriors" as a whole. The many descriptions of dramatic rescues on the nation's "North Coast" are inspiring and extraordinary!

 

Bering Sea Escort: Life Aboard a Coast Guard Cutter in World War II

by Robert Erwin Johnson

The author served aboard the USCGC Haida (WPG-45) during the war.
The Haida was a 240-foot Tampa-class cutter  in commission from 1921 until 1947.

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Ocean Station: Operations of the U.S. Coast Guard, 1940-1977

by Michael R. Adams

The crews of U.S. Coast Guard cutters patrolling the far-flung ocean stations were subjected to some of the heaviest weather the sea had to offer, yet the cuttermen remained on station to make weather observations and to provide navigation, communication, and search-and-rescue services. On ocean station, seamanship was survival. Ocean Station: Operations of the U.S. Coast Guard, 1940 1977, is a well-researched text and a gripping read.

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Coast Guard Action In Vietnam: Stories of Those Who Served

by Paul C. Scotti

Well-crafted, this lively and engaging history will rejuvenate one's pride in the American military with its little-known details of the Coast Guard's involvement in Vietnam.

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Rescued By The U.S. Coast Guard: Great Acts Of Heroism Since 1878

by Dennis L. Noble

Noble, a Coast Guard veteran, awarded the Columbia River Maritime Museum's Fellow of Maritime History honorific, looks back over the past century at some of the dramatic rescues carried out from shore-based Coast Guard stations and aircraft and patrol boats. The book contains b&w historical photos.

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The Barque of Saviors: Eagle's Passage from the Nazi Navy to the U.S. Coast Guard

by Russell Drumm

Hamburg, 1936: A splendid three-masted sailing ship is christened Horst Wessel in the presence of Adolf Hitler and thousands of cheering Nazis. It would become a training vessel for naval officers during World War II—but after Germany’s defeat, the US Coast Guard found its young crew terrified and half starved.

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In Katrina's Wake: The U.S. Coast Guard and the Gulf Coast Hurricanes of 2005 (New Perspectives on Maritime History and Nautical Archaeology)

by Donald L. Canney

Meet the heroes of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

“An in-depth, first-hand, on-the-scene account of the valiant efforts of the men and women of America’s Coast Guard during one of the nation’s worst natural disasters, and the resolve, grit, and determination which led to the saving of tens of thousands of lives.”--Clayton Evans, author of “Rescue at Sea.”

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Smugglers of Spirits: Prohibition and the Coast Guard Patrol

by Harold Waters

The days of bootlegging and bathtub gin on land was called the Rum War at sea and was played for keeps when organized crime moved in. Here's the view from the Coast Guard side and reads like an old salts yarn, with both serious and lighter moments.

 

Another Side of World War II: A Coast Guard Lieutenant in the South Pacific
by Jules J. Fern and Juliana Fern Patten

Lieutenant Fern's warm and personable letters, spanning two years at sea in the South Pacific, offer an alternative view of life aboard ship during World War II. Seizing every opportunity for an adventure, he muses upon his assignment living at sea and its inherent challenges. His varied duties aboard three different ships afford Fern numerous vantage points regarding his unique war experiences.

 

The U.S. Coast Guard in World War II
by Malcolm F. Willoughby

The intimate view of the U.S. Coast Guard's dramatic World War II record has long been considered a classic. First published in 1957 and out of print for years, the book is now available in paperback. Handsomely illustrated with more than two hundred photographs, the book serves as a unique memento of one of the most illustrious periods in the Coast Guard's two hundred year history.

The author offers a story replete with incidents of devotion far beyond the call of duty—daring rescues, adventurous high-sea missions, heroic combat action—to clearly demonstrate the vital role the service played in the Allied war effort. 

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The Finest Hours: The True Story of the U.S. Coast Guard's Most Daring Sea Rescue
by Michael J. Tougias and Casey Sherman

It’s the winter of 1952 and a ferocious Nor’easter is pounding New England with howling winds and seventy-foot seas. Two oil tankers get caught in the violent storm off Cape Cod, its fury splitting the massive ships in two. Back on shore, four young Coast Guardsmen are issued a suicide mission: save the lives of the stranded seamen. 

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Not Your Father's Coast Guard: The Untold Story of U.S. Coast Guard Special Forces
by Matthew Mitchell with forward by Admiral Paul A. Yost

While the Coast Guard's many battles at sea in the War on Drugs are widely known, its participation in the ground offensive is not. Indeed, the Guard didn't just send its cutters to interdict narcotics-laden vessels attempting to bring their illicit cargo into Uncle Sam's territorial waters, it sent ground troops to foreign lands to train their forces and, when necessary, directly engage the enemy. But to create the type of force needed was no small task and would not be without tribulation, both from within and outside the organization. The road traveled to complete the mission was laden with obstacles. This is not a story about the Coast Guard you know, or think you know. To be sure, "This is not your father's Coast Guard".

 

Rescue Warriors: The U.S. Coast Guard, America's Forgotten Heroes
by David Helvarg

The Extraordinary Story Of The U.S. Coast Guard.

Since its inception more than 200 years ago, the United States Coast Guard has rescued over 1.1 million people. Yet, despite having more than fifty thousand active and reserve members, most of us know very little about this often neglected but crucial branch of the U.S. military.

 

Deadliest Sea: The Untold Story Behind the Greatest Rescue in Coast Guard History
by Kalee Thompson

Recounting the tragic sinking of the fishing trawler, Alaska Ranger, in the Bering Sea and its remarkable aftermath in March 2008, Deadliest Sea is real life action and adventure at its finest. The full story of an amazing rescue—where extraordinary courage, ingenuity, will, and technology combined in one of the most remarkable maritime feats ever recorded—has never been told before now. It’s The Perfect Storm meets Deadliest Catch.

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One Man’s Journey: The Experiences of a Black Coastie

by Darwin Phillips

This is an Autobiography of a young Black man that was sent to live with his grandmother and aunts as both parents went to hospital with TB, the story begins with that early childhood, my parents returning, living and growing and entering the Military which was not quite ready for me yet but i served my country and got my honorable discharge regardless.

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Guardians of the Sea: History of the United States Coast Guard, 1915 to the Present
by Robert Erwin Johnson

Recounts the founding of the U.S. Coast Guard, looks at Coast Guard operations and functions, and looks at how it has changed over the last seventy years.

 

U.S. Coast Guard Aircraft Since 1916
by Arthur Pearcy

Details all aircraft used since the Coast Guard introduced its air arm in 1916.

 

US Coast Guard Training Center at Cape May (Images of America)
by Joseph E. Salvatore, MD and Joan Berkey

Commissioned as a Navy base in 1917, the USCG Training Center at Cape May stands on the site of a former amusement park. Dirigibles, submarines, and minesweepers were based here during WWII. The Coast Guard took over the facility in 1946. Today, 4,000 recruits per year attend basic training at Cape May.

 

The United States Coast Guard and National Defense: A History from World War I to the Present 
by Thomas P. Ostrom

In addition to port security, ship inspection and safety, law enforcement, and search and rescue, the U.S. Coast Guard assumes an important role in national defense at home and abroad. To that end, the Coast Guard has carried out separate and coordinated missions with other armed forces from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic, Pacific, Gulf of Mexico, Mediterranean, Persian Gulf, and North Polar region. This chronicle of the Coast Guard's contributions to national defense examines participation in World War I, World War II, Korea, the Cold War, Vietnam, and the War on Terror. Among the topics explored are defense threats, drug trafficking, and border security, as well as Coast Guard personnel, training, leadership, and assets.

 

United States Coast Guard Leaders and Missions, 1790 to the Present 
by Thomas P. Ostrom and John J. Galluzzo, Foreword by W. Russ Webster

The history of the U.S. Coast Guard and its predecessor agencies dates from 1790, with missions in both domestic and international waters. The service has provided aids to navigation, enforcement of maritime laws, environmental protection, search and rescue, immigration and narcotics interdiction, maritime safety assistance, port security, natural disaster response and national defense missions, including overseas with other U.S. armed forces and federal and state public safety agencies.

 

Maritime Grand Haven: Coast Guard City USA (Images of America)
by Wallace K. Ewing Ph.D. and David H. Seibold D.D.S. for the Tri-Cities Historical Museum

Settlers arrived at the mouth of the Grand River on November 2, 1834. Their community was christened Grand Haven, as it offered a secure harbor. As the logging industry grew, shipping expanded, and Grand Haven Harbor became especially busy during the financial boom and westward expansion that followed the Civil War. Northwest Ottawa County became an established resort destination, and passenger boats frequented the harbor as well. Heavy traffic through Grand Haven caused concern about shipwrecks.

 

Guardians of the Eighth Sea: A History of the U.S. Coast Guard on the Great Lakes
by T. Michael O'Brien

Throughout the United States, local residents customarily view their hometown U.S. Coast Guard units as intimate parts of the civilian community. Nowhere is this truer than in the Great Lakes region. Here, for almost 200 years, the lives of the people and Coast Guardsmen have been intermingled in a most special bond.

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Hammer- A Coast Guard Odyssey

by Joseph Karcher

This is the story of a raw youth from the heartland coming of age in the challenging and sometimes dangerous world of the post-Korean War U.S. Coast Guard. It traces his path to maturity by striving to meet the uncompromising expectations of a cadre of leaders. It is dedicated to a man called Hammer who leadership, candid judgement and compassionate guidance was an inspiration to many of us who served the cause of protecting those in peril at sea.

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One Year Below the Tower

by Michael Krueger

 In 1980, the United States Coast Guard still operated a radio navigation system known as LORAN, an acronym for Long Range Aids to Navigation, now made obsolete by GPS. Like GPS satellites, these stations were frequently placed in the most remote, isolated and God forsaken places possible, such as Kargaburun Turkey, Attu Alaska and Kure Island Hawaii. This story encompasses one year on one of the more isolated and exotic stations, no not LORSTA Dana Indiana; LORAN Transmitting Station Iwo Jima Japan.

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In the Event of a Water Landing

by Mike Walling

In the Event of a Water Landing tells for the first time the full stories of the Bermuda Sky Queen and Sovereign of the Skies rescues, the only two completely successful open water ditchings in commercial aviation history.

Using the voices of the passengers, flight crew, and the cutter’s crewmen, an amazing tale unfolds. Their vivid memories, interspersed with contemporary news reports, flesh out the unemotional entries from the cutter’s logbook and official investigations.

No one flying, before or since, ever experienced such harrowing rescues.

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All Present and Accounted For

by Steven J Craig - Desert Coastie

All Present and Accounted For: The 1972 Alaska Grounding of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Jarvis and the Heroic Efforts that Saved the Ship. The author is a member of the Desert Coasties.

To order:  Send check to Steve Craig, PO Box 253, Wellton, AZ  85356

$22 for hardcover- plus shipping.  Shipping is either $8 for priority or $5 for media.  ($30 or $27 total)

Also available at Amazon.com and at Barnes and Noble.

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Motivated to Serve: Why We Enlisted in the Coast Guard

by Mark T. Holmes

The judge said, “Go to jail or go to boot camp!” For some, enlisting in the Coast Guard became a Hobson’s Choice. For most others, it was patriotism, acting on a childhood inspiration or simply because a friend convinced them to join. If you’ve ever wondered why people choose to serve their country, “Motivated to Serve” will provide the answer – scores of them, in fact. From the mundane to the esoteric, U. S. Coast Guard veterans reveal their reasons for enlisting. 

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