Coast Guard Operations and Heroes

Historic scenes showcasing Coast Guard personnel during World War II, including patrols, troop deployments, and rescue missions in the Atlantic.

First Wave Goes Over the Side. Sound for the liberation of Western Europe, Yankee soldiers pile over the side from a Coast Guard assault transport off the French coast and into the landing barges. It is H-Hour. Minutes later Coast Guard landing barges swarmed upon the beaches of Normandy to write with bullets a new chapter in history.

Off Shore Patrol. From the deck of a U.S. Coast Guard patrol craft Coast Guardsmen watch the return of incoming convoy ships to an American port, as a Navy blimp hovers protectingly overhead. Coast Guard planes also patrol off shore as a protection to shipping.

Four Barrels of Bad News. Aboard a Coast Guard-manned assault transport somewhere in the Atlantic, a Coast Guard gun crew mans a 40 mm anti-aircraft battery.

First Wave Goes Over the Side. Sound for the liberation of Western Europe, Yankee soldiers pile over the side from a Coast Guard assault transport off the French coast and into the landing barges. It is H-Hour. Minutes later Coast Guard landing barges swarmed upon the beaches of Normandy to write with bullets a new chapter in history.

Photograph of First Japanese Prisoners Taken in the Battle for Iwo Jima. First Jap Prisoners Come Out Of Iwo. Brought out in a landing boat, six Japanese prisoners taken on Iwo Jima are about to clamber up the landing nets of a Coast Guard-manned invasion transport laying off the volcano island. Under the guns of Marines, four of the enemy huddle in the far side of the boat, two under a blanket. The shrouded body of a Marine, who was killed in the early assault, rests on the deck of the Coast Guard-manned craft.

83-Footers Rescue Hundreds in Channel. Boldly exposing their thin wooden hulls to Nazi shellfire, Coast Guard 83-footers rescued hundreds of Allied fighting men from English Channel waters in the D-Day invasion. One of the these intrepid "Sea Mosquitoes" picked up 126 survivors; the flotilla is credited with 1473. Already famed as Atlantic sub busters in earlier stages of the war, Coast Guard 83-footers have been acclaimed by press and radio for their life saving and assistance work in the invasion. This exceptional picture, made by a Coast Guard combat photographer, shows an 83-footer maneuvering in the foreground; and a Coast Guard assault transport standing out among swarms of invasion craft in the distance.

Invasion Craft Swarm to Beach at Kwajalein. Coast Guard and Navy-manned landing craft dash to the attack in the invasion of Namur and Roi Islands in the Kwajalein atoll of the Marshall Islands. This picture, taken by a U.S. Coast Guard photographer, shows amphibious tanks and landing barges assembling and leaving the line of departure, while in foreground the bow of a destroyer points its gun to give close range fire support.

Vigilance, Eternal Vigilance. This image depicts a lookout looking through binoculars on a Coast Guard ship.

Coast Guard Officer Helps Restore Sicilian Fishing Industry. Sicilian fishermen, going back to sea again, explain their problems to Lieutenant Claiborne Pell, U.S. Coast Guard, of New York City, one of the Coast Guard officers assisting in the restoration of the island's fishing industry. Coast Guard officers are serving in the fisheries division of the Agricultural Sub-commission of the Allied Control Commission in Italy. Restoration of Commercial fishing will increase the Mediterranean island's food supply.

Chow Line on a Transport's Deck. It is "chow down" aboard a Coast Guard-manned assault transport somewhere in the Pacific and a hungry line weaves along the deck toward the mess hall. These Coast Guardsmen and troops are headed for the war zones, and the show is "tops" to keep them in top health.

Giant U.S. Convoy Strikes at Luzon. Giant U.S. Convoy Strikes at Luzon. Approaching the beaches of Luzon through Lingayen Gulf, a great American convoy of ships, loaded with troops and armament, stretches out in the wake of a Coast Guard-manned frigate, whose guns are ready to meet surprise Jap attacks from the sea or air. The massive amphibious force struck on January 9 and established a beachhead for the current drive on Manila.

To the Doctor Via the Breeches Buoy. In the mid-Atlantic, the Coast Guard transfers a sick seaman from his cargo vessel via a breeches buoy to a Coast Guard combat cutter for medical treatment. Stephen Joy (foreground), chief commissary steward, has just been hauled across the chasm between the ships. The sea was too rough for a small boat. The transfer was completed in eight minutes from the firing of a line from the Coast Guard vessel over the freighter's deck. Joy, whose home is a 31 Marion Street, West Haven, CT, was returned to his ship via the breeches buoy.

Potent Gifts Ready For Enemy Subs. This image depicts a Coast Guardsmen standing by the depth charge release levers at the stern of a Coast Guard 'sub-buster.'.

Through the Air to the Doctor. With the greatest of ease, a stricken seaman rides through the air from a cargo vessel to a Coast Guard combat cutter via the breeches buoy somewhere in the Atlantic. Stephen Joy, chief commissary steward of the freighter, was stricken and his skipper contacted the cutter. Rather than transfer him in a small boat over rough seas, the Coast Guardsmen fired a line to the other ship and quickly rigged a breeches buoy. Joy, who lives at 31 Marion Street, West Haven, CT, was pulled to the cutter, given treatment in it sick bay, and returned.

How Gene Oxley Performed His Heroic Service. Swimming through rough surf swept by machinegun and mortar fire, Coast Guardsman Gene Oxley, now coxswain, of Indianapolis, Ind. Carried a guide line to the beach of Normandy on D-Day and survived heavy Nazi fire that mowed down many soldiers following the line to the beach. This photo depicts how Oxley wrapped the end of the line around his middle and served as a "human anchor," in the midst of terrific enemy fire. Of the 36 invaders who attempted to follow the line ashore, only six made it. Meanwhile, the ramp of the Coast Guard-manned LCI had been shot away by shellfire.

Coast Guardsmen Help Wounded Aboard. U.S. Coast Guardsmen help slightly wounded soldiers, including the German wearing a peaked cloth cap, come aboard the combat transport lying off Paesternum, just south of Salerno. Paesternum was one of the invasion points. Coast Guardsmen manned combat transports and landing craft.

Coast Guard Ferries Reinforcements. Grim and determined, these American soldiers head towards the French coast as the American Flag flies from the stern of their U.S. Coast Guard landing barge as it speeds towards the invasion shore.

Fireboat Spraying Water. This image depicts Coast Guardsmen on a fireboat spraying water on a fire with a high pressure fire nozzle.

Homecoming in the Aleutians. After three long years -- A transport retuning the Aleuts to their home islands nears its destination and the islanders line the ship's rail for their first glimpse of home in more than three years. When the Aleutian islanders were threatened with enemy invasion early in the war, the aleuts were hurried to the safety of Alaska. As the ship came within sight of the bleak islands they love, one of the older men exclaimed, "look at that land..no trees, thank god." A Coast Guard combat photographer, serving aboard a Coast Guard-manned frigate in the convoy, filmed the Aleutian homecoming.

Coast Guard on Convoy (Sea Action). This image depicts a ship at sea.

Yanks Roll Ashore at Paestum - But Fast. Though the gaping doors of landing craft, motorized invasion equipment hurriedly rolls ashore at Paestum, twenty miles south of Salerno, as a U.S. Coast Guard, Navy and Army personnel gets the highly coordinated invasion under way. This picture is one of the first to be released showing the open doors of the LST (Landing Ship, Tanks) craft and the ramps. Navy and Coast Guard personnel man combat transports, LST's and other invasion craft.

Lifeboat. This image depicts Coast Guardsmen flipping a lifeboat. Their life jackets read, "Brant Rock.".

Off Iwo Jima: "Be Strong And Of Good Courage". This image depicts the deck of a Coast Guard-manned LST where the chaplain leads religious services as the ship moves close to the beaches of Iwo Jima.

U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Escorts Convoy. This image depicts a ship at sea.

Coast Guard Buoy Tender. U.S. Coast Guardsmen, aboard a Coast Guard Buoy Tender, repair a "light buoy" in the channel of an eastern American port. Keeping the channels safe for shipping of vital supplies to the war zones is one of the many duties of the Coast Guard.

28 Nazis Quit - Coast Guard Bags Enemy After Chase in Greenland Floes. This image depicts a boatload of Nazis that surrendered to the crew of a Coast Guard combat cutter after a stirring, shellfire chase through 70 miles of Greenland's icy waters.

Off for Cape Gloucester. Space is at a premium on the deck of this Coast Guard manned LST (Landing Ship, Tanks), one of the Coast Guard and Navy manned LSTs in the force invading Cape Gloucester, New Britain.

The Yanks Establish Luzon Beachhead. The Yanks Establish Luzon Beachhead. Coast Guard-manned landing barges grind their bows into the sands of Luzon in the Philippines to unload troops which quickly secured a beachhead on Lingayen Gulf for the current advance on Manila. This picture is of the early waves on January 9, when the surprise offensive struck through Lingayen Gulf.

Description: The arrival of HM the Imam at the Grandstand. Location: Yemen Date: 1950-1959

American Armada Moves on Luzon. American Armada Moves on Luzon. From the fantail of a Coast Guard-manned LST, the sea might of American presents a skyline of ships, as the U.S. task force steams into Lingayen Gulf to strike at the beaches of Luzon. Close in the wake of the Coast Guard-manned ship are more LST's, riding low with heavy cargoes of supplies. On the horizon are transports, LST's and fleet units pushing forward under a leaden sky.

Filling Station on the High Seas. Somewhere on the broad Atlantic, a Coast Guard combat cutter fills its fuel tanks from a British tanker. A line has just been fired over the tanker and an oil hose passed from the cutter. Such a fuel rendezvous in mid-ocean saves the Coast Guard fighting craft hundreds of wasted miles travel to the nearest port.

Photo collection First World War. Group of men on a stranded ship whose stern has been destroyed. 1914-1918}

Project 23 - Redwing (Enewetak/Bikini) Test Activities. Monitoring radiation of Proj. 2.62 skiff. Photographs of Atmospheric Nuclear Testing at Pacific Island and Nevada Test Sites.

Fylgia (depicted name).Fylgia (depicted name)

Last Voyage. Killed in the attack on Parry Island, last Jap stronghold of Eniwetok Atoll, four Marines of a Coast Guard-manned assault transport are transferred into a landing barge which will carry them to their last resting place somewhere on the island they conquered.

War album 26, picture 7166.

Coast Guard Cutter Sinks Sub. Coast Guard Cutter sinks sub. Bearing down on the U-boat, the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter SPENCER gets a good look at the sub as she settles into the water. Note the Nazi standing on the deck to the right of the conning tower, and at the right, the SPENCER's gun trained on the U-boat. A swimming German is just barely visible in the water at the right.

Coast Guard Battle Practice-Enroute. This image depicts Coast Guardsmen manning their battle stations.

Horses In The Coast Guard. This image depicts a Coast Guard Horse Patrol, trained to guard America's shores and coastline from attempts of enemy spies and saboteurs.

Appendectomy at Sea. Returning from the merchant ship with the appendicitis-stricken member of its Navy gun crew, Coast Guardsmen gently transfer the gunner from the lifeboat to the Coast Guard convoy cutter. Dr. Thomas S. Hersey, the U.S. Public Health Service surgeon attached to the cutter, is to perform the operation aboard the pitching, tossing vessel in mid-Atlantic.

""By The Dawn's Early Light"". As dawn breaks over the Southwest Pacific, U.S. Coast Guard operated landing barges take troops ashore from a fleet of transports, giving the army men a chance to put their feet on the ground for the first time since they left the States. U.S. Coast Guard invaders also put troops ashore in the North African invasion.

""-abandon Ship!"". Five Coast Guardsmen, clad in waterproof lifesaving suits designed for the use of merchant seamen, leap from a Coast Guard Cutter after the lifesaving raft is dropped overboard.

Anefo photo collection. Mn Merchant Navy / Anefo London series. Passenger ship employed troop transport. Cleaning guns. 1944. Canada

Eastwind at Cape Hallett, Deep Freeze 1963. A landing craft hauls supplies and equipment off-loaded from the U. S. Coast Guard icebreaker Eastwind to waiting tractor-pulled sledges ashore at Cape Hallett Scientific Station in Antarctica during Operation Deep Freeze 1963. In addition to carrying cargo for the wintering-over personnel at Cape Hallett, the Eastwind helped break a 60-miles' channel through frozen McMurdo Sound, carried fuel and stores to McMurdo Base, and performed oceanographic surveys during this Deep Freeze mission. This was the fifth annual Deep Freeze mission in which the Eastwind participated with U. S. Naval Support Force for Antarctic scientific stations and bases.

Coast Guardsmen Steer for Sicilian Beach. U.S. Coast Guardsmen take a party of Navy men ashore to set up a naval operating base on the Sicilian shore.

Two Marines Fall in Storming Beach on Saipan. Jap snipers, hiding in the thickets, hit two Marines (center and left) toppling them into the sands as a landing party storms ashore in final mop-up operations in the final stages of the conquest of Saipan, Jap stronghold in the Marianas. This striking picture of battle action was made by a Coast Guard combat photographer just as the two Marines dropped wounded to their knees. The photographer had gone in with the invading party.

Bill Walton and Crew of Spencer. Bill Walton of TIME Magazine talks to members of the crew of the USCGC SPENCER (January).

Just Tykin' It Easy, Matie. Machines of war and men of war mingle on the top deck of a Coast Guard-manned LST as Australian troops lounge about in a pre-invasion Devil-may-care manner. Enroute to the assault on oil-rich Balikpapan, Borneo, the fighting ausies appear no more concerned with the imminent invasion than a party heading for a picnic.

Coast Guardsmen Link French, British Railways. As a Coast Guard-manned LST nears the French Coast, Coast Guardsmen prepare to connect the rails mounted on the vessel's ramp to a land track. When the union is completed, freight cars which have been ferried from England will roll easily onto the shore, ready for use on the Army Transportation Corps' vast rail network feeding supplies to Allied Armies on the Western front.

Shore Leave the Hard Way. Coast Guardsmen from the Asbury Park, NJ station bring a man ashore from a stranded freighter. Forced aground during a raging northeaster off the New Jersey Coast, the ship presented a life-saving problem which the Coast Guard solved with their breeches buoy equipment.

Sea Might Of America Off Iwo Jima. This image depicts Coast Guard-manned and Navy landing craft moving against the beaches of Iwo Jima from transports standing off shore.

Dejected Nazis Fall To Alert Coast Guard Action On Isolated Coast Of Greenland. This image depicts dejected Germans sitting in stunned silence in a small boat transporting them to a Coast Guard combat cutter.

Crew of the S.M.S. Loreley on deck, In the background probably the Corinth's Channel, Anonymous, 1905 photograph Part of Reisalbum with photos of sights in Greece and Egypt. Greece paper. photographic support albumen print parts of ship's exterior (DECK) Corinth's channel. Greece

Ship-to-Ship On the Double. A tanker seaman is stricken with appendicitis. Seconds count. Signals are flashed to a Coast Guard-manned Destroyer Escort accompanying the convoy. The DE dashes alongside. A line is fired from ship to ship and the patient, snug in a litter, is passed through the air to the doctor. Aboard the Coast Guard vessel, a U.S. Public Health Service doctor with his staff of pharmacist's mates is ready to perform an appendectomy at sea.

Coast Guardsman Tours Battlefield in Marshall Islands. After the fury of battle has subsided and Burton Island in the Marshalls has been swept clean of Japs, Coast Guardsman William J. Muriekes, of Denver, Colorado, surveys the ruin left by American bombs from the sky, shells from U.S. Navy fleet units, and the withering fire of attacking tanks and infantrymen. This Jap 3-inch A.A. gun will spout no more fire at American planes. Nor will the perforated oil drums supply the enemy with fuel for war.

Telling Tommies' tales Description: Correspondence from a staff member at the Great Western Railway office in Paddington, London, who went to war.

Debarking at Cape Gloucester. Out of the jaws of a U.S. Coast Guard manned LST (Landing Ship, Tanks) at Cape Gloucester, New Britain, come the Marines. Coast Guard and Navy manned LSTs participated in the invasion.

Photograph of Whalers, 11th Naval District. This photograph was taken by Boatswain's Mate Second Class James C. Watson, ex-newspaper photographer of 15 years experience.

Formidable Foxhole on the Beach at Biak. Five Coast Guardsmen, a gun crew from a Coast Guard-manned LST, stand on the alert beside their 20 mm anti-aircraft gun mounted in a sandbag foxhole in the sands of Biak Island. Jap raiders have been detected circling high overhead the Coast Guardsmen are ready to give them "the works," should they venture within range to bomb the two LSTs unloading supplies at the water's edge.

Masked Gunner. This image depicts a Coast Guard gunner, wearing a helmet and gas mask, following the course of a plane overhead during a drill.

Helicopter op-Ship. This image depicts a crewman signaling an HH-52A helicopter to land on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier.

Coast Guard-manned LST in Armada Bearing Down upon the Philippines. It's "Tenting tonight on the old Pacific" as this Coast Guard-manned LST moves toward the Philippines under a mighty shield of American sea power. Tarpaulins are used to pitch crude shelters on the deck, packed with trucks and fighting equipment. Under these shelter the battle-bound troops and Coast Guardsmen escape the hot quarters below decks.

Coast Guard Academy Cadets Return from Practice Cruise. Coast Guard Cadets on a practice cruise have a few minutes respite from the activities of loosing and furling sail. Looking forward under the main course aboard the Coast Guard Cutter EAGLE, a bark-rigged training vessel which has just completed a cruise to southern waters.

Nazi Headquarters In Greenland Surrendered To Coast Guard Landing Party. This image depicts a landing party that surprised and captured 12 Germans at a remote Radio-weather station on Northeast Greenland.

Ignoring Samson in the Pacific. Ignoring the example of Samson, who lost his strength with his hair, U.S. Marines while away the hours aboard a Coast Guard manned combat transport en route to invade Empress Augusta Bay, Bougainville, by getting haircuts. Coast Guardsmen and fellow Marines found plenty of opportunity for humor in the Foredeck barber shop.

Liberty Ship Aflame in Fire Fighting Test. This image depicts smoke pouring from the skylights and stack casing during a test conducted by the Coast Guard aboard a Liberty Ship at Ft. McHenry, Maryland.

Sea-Going Tank Churns Toward Namut Island. Kicking up a foamy trail in Kwajalein lagoon, an amphibious tank moves from a Coast Guard-manned transport toward the beach of Namur Island. These powerful war machines make quick work of hauling balky pieces of fighting equipment through the surf to solid ground.

"Sea Bird" Protected Convoy. This image depicts a Coast Guard Sea Bird circles the convoy of transports, protecting them from enemy submarines.

Fire Fighting.

Trouble on Georges Bank. This image depicts a Coast Guard cutter moving to assist a fishing trawler in rough seas.

Floor of Death. This U.S. Coast Guardsman is literally standing on a floor of death -- beneath him are layers of aerial bombs destined to help shorten the Axis reign in Europe. The Coast Guardsman watching the loading of the ship's hold is a member of the Coast Guard's Port Security Detail in an East Coast Fort. It is their job to protect the port against the dangers of sabotage or negligence.

Invasion Takes Practice. This image depicts new LCI invasion craft in the Atlantic rehearsing for an invasion.

Coast Guardsmen At Guam Bring Out Wounded Shipmate. This image depicts four Coast Guardsmen carrying a wounded buddy on a litter to be treated aboard a Coast Guard-manned invasion transport off shore.

Death of the Avenger. This image depicts artwork of the shattering of the British aircraft carrier Avenger by a torpedo. Artwork by Hunter Wood.

The Busy "Island Hoppers" Manned By the Coast Guard for Army in Pacific War. This image depicts Coast Guardsmen wrestling with boxes of "K" Rations, loading up an army FS (Freight Supply) ship for an assignment in the South Pacific.

Photo collection First World War. With the British Navy in War Time. Working a Gun in a Submarine PARENT SHIP, H.M.S .-----. 1914-1918}

The Helping Hand of the Coast Guard. As a wounded Marine is hoisted from a landing craft to an assault transport off Eniwetok Atoll, a Coast Guardsman reaches out from the rail to swing the litter in over the side. Coast Guardsmen manned landing craft with speed and skill which figured largely in the quick conquest of the Marshalls stronghold.

Description: His Excellency opening Rifle Range, Grytviken, South Georgia. Location: Grytviken, Falkland Islands Date: February 1928

Suribachi Frowns Down On U.S. Task Force. This image depicts the black slopes of Mount Suribachi looming in the distance as the American Task force edges close to the beaches of Iwo Jima.

Photograph of American Wounded Being Moved Away from the Front Toward Hospitalization. Out of the Inferno. Wounded on Battle-scorched Leyte Island, two American fighting men are moved by comrades and Coast Guardsmen away from the front toward hospitalization. They fell in extending American lines against the furious defense of the Japs. Swift, careful handling of casualties saves untold American lives on the far-off war fronts.

Preparing to Fly Wounded From Makin. U.S. Coast Guardsmen at Makin prepare to transfer soldiers wounded in the invasion from the landing barge to the Navy plane waiting to fly them to a hospital base located in a safer territory. A first aid station was established aboard a Coast Guard manned combat transport operating as a unit in the Navy task force.

"V" for Victory Fashioned in Atlantic Foam. Bucking a head sea in the North Atlantic, a Coast Guard Patrol Frigate cracks into a giant wave, sending cascades of foam and spray breaking from its bow. The effect, as caught by a Coast Guard combat photographer on the bridge, is spectacular "V" written in the waters of the angry Atlantic.

Shipwreck Drill in North Atlantic. This image depicts four Coast Guardsmen from a combat cutter participating in a shipwreck drill.

Coast Guardsman in Pacific to Cover the War. Coast Guard Combat Photographer Charles W. Cook, of Ferguson, Mo. serves aboard a Coast Guard-manned LST in the South Pacific. Armed with camera and gun, he is shown ready to hit an enemy beach, and shoot photos and Japs.

Sea Burial For Marine Killed on Iwo jima. This image depicts a flag-draped body of a Marine who gave his life for the beachhead of Iwo Jima. He is consigned to the sea from a Coast Guard-manned invasion transport.

Splicing. This image depicts a Coast Guardsman splicing a line.

Church Services Strengthen the Fighting Men. Somewhere in the Southwest Pacific which they are helping to wrest from the Jap clutches, Coast Guardsmen bow their heads in prayer as their chaplain conducts Sunday religious services beneath the cargo booms and the long gun barrels. Troops, hardened for combat, join the services on the Coast Guard-manned assault transport anchored off a recently acquired island base.

Captured German. This image depicts a captured German sailor aboard the Coast Guard cutter which sunk his submarine.

Photograph of Two Transports, One of Which Has Been Hit By Japanese Fire. Jap Gunners Score on LST Off Beach of Leyte Island. Two 37mm shells from Jap shore batteries hit an LST approaching Leyte Island in the Philippines and black smoke rises to the skies. The enemy gun positions were wiped out by infantry 15 minutes after the hits. Narrowly missed by the Jap fire was a Coast Guard-manned LST at right. A Coast Guard combat photographer made this striking shot from the liberation beach.

Mark For the Litter Bearers. Its bayonet and muzzle driven into the sand, a rifle marks the spot where a Marine lies dead on the beach of Parry Island, Eniwetok Atoll, awaiting the litter bearers. In background is a Coast Guard-manned landing barge, one of the swarm that landed Marines on Eniwetok's beaches.

Cesar Romero Flashes The "Liberty Smile". His seabag on his shoulder and spruced up in his dress blues, Coast Guardsman Cesar Romero, Boatswain's Mate Second Class, and pre-war Hollywood movie star, goes ashore for liberty with three of his shipmates after nine months duty aboard a Coast Guard-manned invasion transport. The tall Manhattan Latin has had two years of Coast Guard service and has been under fire in the invasions of Saipan and Tinian in the Marianas. Next to Romero is Coast Guardsman Eugene La Fort, Jr., of Golden Meadow, LA., and bringing up the rear is Coast Guardsman Doe W. Halsey of Newport, Ore.

Information office radio broadcaster Dutch Guinea. Pilot Carl Mattern wife countries beavers "De Kroonduif" Sentanimer near Hollandia. February 1955. Guinea

First Tanks Hit The Norman Beachehead. From Coast Guard Landing Craft, tanks crawl out on the sands of Normandy during the early hours of D-Day. Soon after the fleet bombardment of enemy positions and close in the wakes of the first waves of fighting men, mechanized equipment started rolling down the ramps and into action as the Allied liberation forces swiftly secured their beachhead on the French invasion coast.

He's Got His Eye On You. This image depicts a Coast Guardsman sight his target and maneuver the Coast Guard cutter gun into position.

Invasion Gunners. Members of a U.S. Coast Guard gun crew aboard an LST (Landing Ship, Tanks) train their 40 millimetre on a plane flying overhead as they drill to keep in trim. The Coast Guardsmen, from left to right, are: Louis Vintika of Chicago; William Vogel and Michael Fusco, Boston; and Ray Brown, Barrington, Michigan.

Ambulance Backs in for the Wounded of Noemfoor. Dipping its rear end into the surf, an ambulance maneuvers into position to receive wounded American invaders from a Coast Guard-manned LST, participating in the fighting at Noemfoor in the Southwest Pacific.

LST Invaders Secure Yankee Hold on Sarmi. Coming in close behind the first waves of LCIs and LCVPs, a flotilla of troop-packed LSTs, many of them manned by Coast Guardsmen, secure the beachhead and seal the capture of Sarmi on the north coast of Dutch New Guinea during the invasion of May 17. This picture, taken by a Coast Guard combat photographer, makes a striking silhouette of the LSTs nosing the beach and fighters swinging toward the front line.

Storming a Beach. This image depicts Coast Guardsmen storming a beach from a whaleboat during training on the West Coast of the United States.

Photo collection Spaarnestad topics. Germans prisoners of war. In Den Helder, the disarmed German soldiers in LCT boats are boarded for Harlingen, from which the long journey to the "Heimat" is taken on foot. June 1945. Den Helder

Contribution For Victory. To the distant rumble of guns, the Americans who gave their lives in the early assault waves on Saipan are buried at sea from a Coast Guard-manned assault transport. As the chaplain reads the simple service, Coast Guardsman stand solemnly near the flag-draped bodies. As the honored dead were consigned to the sea, the guards of honor (lower right) fired a volley and taps was sounded. It happened off Saipan on the third day of the invasion.

Fylgia (depicted name).Fylgia (depicted name)

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