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.
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.
157 assets in this story
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Photo collection Government information service. Apparent forces, Volendam. undated. Noord-Holland, Volendam
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Coast Guard Salvages Japanese Submarine Near Guadalcanal. The Coast Guard Salvages Jap Sub Near Guadalcanal. (No. 4 in series of 4) Ready for inspection -- Picked off the 24 foot bottom near the western end of guadalcanal and delivered by the Coast Guard tender Ironwood to Tulagi Harbor, Florida Island, the cigar-shaped two man Jap submarine is lowered to the beach by chains on the arm of a giant crane. Here, Coast Guardsmen prepare the salvaged enemy raider for examination by Naval officers.
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Project 22 - Operation Castle (Bikini/Enewetak) Test Activities. Post-Castle Survey on Rongelap. Photographs of Atmospheric Nuclear Testing at Pacific Island and Nevada Test Sites.
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Wounded Transferred To Coast Guard Ship. Coast Guardsmen turn to, helping the wounded soldiers from the landing boat to a Coast Guard assault transport off the coast of France. The Coast Guard landing craft brought the fighting men into the invasion beaches and then immediately went to work evacuating the wounded.
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Adjusting Band to Lift Gate Well. Central Plains Region (Kansas City, MO). Photographic Print. Department of the Interior. Bureau of Indian Affairs. Standing Rock Agency. 9/17/1947-. Photographs
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Lt. Cmdr. Jester.
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Three men walking on ice pulling sledge Description: 'Photograph (Cinematograph Film) entitled 'With Captain Scott Royal Navy to the South Pole (British Antarctic Expedition)'. Group of men at side of vessel by Herbert Ponting (1870-1935). Date: c.1911 southpole, captainscott, britishantarcticexpedition, herbertponting
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Sentinels of the North Atlantic. Dawn breaks as a Coast Guard combat cutter moves through the North Atlantic keeping the Allied shipping lanes safe from the menace of German U-Boats. Twin gun barrels, at left, make a picturesque silhouette against the dark gold of the sunrise.
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Captured Nazi Supplies Delivered By Coast Guard To Greenland Patrol. This image depicts supplies taken at Nazi radio-weather station as they are turned over to the Danish sled patrol by Coast guardsmen from a Combat Cutter.
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A Homecoming Far From Home. An excited bunch of kids--little Polish war orphans--piles down the gangway from a Coast Guard-manned troop transport at an undisclosed port far from war's dangers. They had embarked at Bombay, India, to find a new home thousands of miles from their own war-ravaged homeland.
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Four German soldiers with cars. Four German soldiers are somewhere in Katwijk at two cars. On the right the man who also prevents NG-2007-5-31 and left the soldier with the Mitella. On the back of a poorly readable text in German.
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Prayers in the Smoke of Battle. On Ie Shima, a chaplain leads a service over the graves of fallen Americans, even as the smoke of battle still hangs low and threatening in the background. Coast Guardsmen and soldiers attend these rites to add their prayers for comrades who gave their lives in the fight to crush Jap aggression.
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Mechanics and a Fokker D VII fighter plane with camouflage pattern, anonymous, 1918 photograph Germany baryta paper gelatin silver print aircraft, aeroplane. ground crew ~ aviation Germany
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Shipping Clerk For An Invasion. Coast Guardsman Dan Benson, Boatswain's mate first class from Dafter, Mich.m keeps check on the unloading of supplies from a Coast Guard manned combat transport at Empress Augusta Bay, Bougainville. Progress reports are kept in the minute during the invasion.
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Photo collection First World War. With the British Navy in War Time. Seaplane preparing for a flight .. 1914-1918}
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Fylgia (depicted name).Fylgia (depicted name)
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Wounded Marines Evacuated By Air From Iwo Jima. This image depicts a group of wounded Marines lying in the shade of a giant Yank C-47 wing.
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Officers participating in transporting the casket to the cemetery in MANBY unknown
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Coast Guard Pilots Patrolling. This image depicts a convoy of ships, it was taken by a Coast Guard pilot.
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Mass Before The Invasion Of Hollandia. This image depicts Coast Guard invaders and troops attending Mass en route to the surprise invasion of the Hollandia area of Dutch New Guinea.
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Wounded Leave Makin. Off Makin a U.S. Coast Guard manned landing barge, carrying soldiers wounded in the invasion, heads for a Navy plane that will fly the men to a hospital base in safer territory. Some of the wounded men can be seen in the stern of the boat. A first aid station is located aboard the Coast Guard manned combat transport, operating as a unit in the Navy task force.
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Photograph of the Fore Side of the Bridge of the SS Ypresville. Photograph Of Fore Side Of Bridge. Oct. 26th., 1918. Photograph Of S. S. :Ypresville. Nationality: British. Tonnage: 7062. Captain: W. Miller. Owners: Cayzer Irvine & Co. Where From: Antofagasta, Chili Chile. Destination: Norfolk, Va/ Where Photographed: Charleston S. C. By Whom Photographed: J. B. Dearborn. Date: Oct 17th., 1918. 4:30 P. M. Where Camouflaged: Greenock, Scotland. Date: June 1918. By Whom: British Admirality Admiralty. Type Of Ship: Well Deck. Length: 420 ft. Beam: 56 ft. Draft: 25' 9.5" Color Numbers: #1 Bluegray, #2 Blue, Bluegreen, Black & White. One Wireless Mast & Two Cantilever Swivel Fore & Aft Bluegray. One Stack: Bluegreen & Black. Two Guns: 4 Point 7 & 12 Pounder, Four Otter Swivel Masts Are The Most Distinguishing Objects.. 1918-10-17T00:00:00.
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By The Dawn's Early Light. Dawn on the Pacific finds a Navy task force, including Coast Guard manned LSTs, sailing for the invasion of Cape Gloucester, New Britain. This photograph was made from the deck of a Coast Guard manned LST in the task force.
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LST Delivers the Goods. Pushing its nose up to the beach of a captured island in the South Pacific, a Coast Guard-manned LST delivers a big load of supplies to American forces of occupation. The cargo includes everything from army trucks to toothpicks, being delivered at Cape Gloucester on New Britain Island.
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After Dynamiting. Central Plains Region (Kansas City, MO). Photographic Print. Department of the Interior. Bureau of Indian Affairs. Standing Rock Agency. 9/17/1947-. Photographs
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The Bombardment of Garapan. Smoke hangs over Garapan, as American fleet units bombard the capital of the Marianas during the invasion of Saipan Island. This picture, made by a Coast Guard combat photographer from a ridge overlooking the town, shows Japanese shipping sunk in the waters near the shore. Garapan finally fell to the irresistible sight of the Yankee invaders.
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Wehrmacht soldier on the Steenberg of the State Mine Maurits in Geleen-Lutterade, 1940 photograph A German soldier is in a raised place in full equipment with the nitrogen binding company (SBB) of State Mines in the background, the present DSM. He has just crossed the Dutch border. The photo was taken from the Steenberg of the State Mine Maurits in Geleen-Lutterade. The photo can be seen, among other things, from left to straightforward, from the back of the soldier: the contact sulfuric acid factory from 1939, the sulfuric acid factory from 1930, the Nitrate Factory 1 from 1932 (the building with the four chimneys), the Nitrate factory that is still under construction) 2 From 1940 (the high building behind the high stone chimney, where a building crane is visible), and for that the heating power plant with the corresponding chimney. Lent photographic support gelatin silver print guard duty, keeping sentry. (military) attack Lent
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Protecting Shipping from the start. U.S. Coast Guardsmen watch this sling load of war materiel slated for invasion use go up the side of a ship as they guard an East Coast port.
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Group photo, Anonymous, 1940 - 1943 photograph Group photo of three German sailors, in white uniform, standing in front of a building in the Netherlands. Part of the photo album about the Kriegsmarine 1940-1943. Netherlands photographic support gelatin silver print the company, the unit, the troop ~ military service. sailor Netherlands
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kv-4-10-7 Description: Report on the use of carrier-pigeons by the German Intelligence Service. Date: 1945- 1951
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Information office and radio broadcaster Dutch New Guinea. The Deputy Chief Commissioner of the General Police van der Lely and "Jungle Pimpernel" (Dr. J.V. de Bruyn) with a huge pig breaker amid some papuas. January 1955. New Guinea
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Port Security at Grand Coulee Dam, Washington. The U.S. Coast Guard maintains 24 hour patrols to insure safety at Grand Coulee Dam in Washington state, covering every square foot of the lake which extends 153 miles to the Canadian border.
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Fylgia (depicted name).Fylgia (depicted name)
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Coast Guard Pier Inspector Checking Carted Fire Extinguisher. This image depicts a Coast Guardsman inspecting a carted fire extinguisher at an oil deck in Philadelphia.
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Coast Guard on North Atlantic Patrol. Coast Guardsmen on the North Atlantic patrol took this picture. Such peaceful if bleak and chilly sights are not uncommon to the men who range the frozen wastelands into the Arctic Zone on anti-submarine patrol and mercy missions.
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Information office radio broadcaster Dutch Guinea. opportunity occurs, crew bring variety menu: pig laid hunting. December 1953. Guinea
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This nautical product of G.I. Ingenuity resulted when Sgt. George C. Hills, 1139 N. Almond, Banning, Calif., a member of a Consolidated B-24 Liberator group of the 15th AAF in Italy, (left) had a little time on his hands, a couple of salvaged
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Description: Barbados. 'A cane arrow lantern in the breeding plot'. Photograph No D 77048 Official Barbados photograph compiled by Central Office of Information. Publicity statement on reverse. Location: Barbados Date: 1955 Mar barbados, caribbean, caribbeanthroughalens
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A Race with Death. Coast Guardsmen on the International Ice Patrol take to their "Keels" in a race with Death and Time. Experiments in the use of explosives to destroy icebergs have proved the impossibility of such destruction, however, so radio-location and warning are the means adopted by Coast Guard planes and cutters for efficient protection of North Atlantic shipping. The vital watchfulness of the International Ice Patrol will begin again this spring, with the cessation of hostilities at sea, and the annual spring-time arrival of the huge bergs, broken off from northern glaciers.
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Wehrmacht soldier at a viewpoint. A German soldier is in a raised place in full outfit with a city, Sittard in the background. He has just crossed the Dutch border. On the back: Unsere Erste B. (Eobachtungs) Stelle im Westfeldzug b..... (b. Sittard), Holland. May 10, 1940. UFFZ. Unsiol
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Red Cross Workers And Enlisted Men Enjoy A Ride On A Life Raft Off The Island Of Corsica. Snowcapped Mountains Are In The Background. Left To Right: S/Stt. Joseph A. Czajka, New Bedford, Ma, Mess Sgt., With The 12Th Af; T/Sgt. J.W. Mills, Derry, Pa., Bo
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. A Wehrmachare has been photographed while his binoculars scored the sea at Oostvoorne. (Same soldier as at NG-2007-5-35 to 38) The soldier has a cap, wears glasses, his gun leans against the wall. Right of it: Auf Dem .... Turm Bei Oostvoorne (Brielle). DER TURM IST 400 JAHRE ALT.
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The monitor Passaic, Port Royal, S.C., 1863 | Library of Congress
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Artifacts are shown at the Fort McCoy, Wis., History Center on Aug. 12, 2022. The History Center is part of the installations Commemorative Area. The 900 block of Fort McCoy and the 11-acre area surrounding it are at the hub of the forts history-preservation efforts and is called the Commemorative Area. The Commemorative Area consists of five World War II-era buildings set aside to help tell Fort McCoy's unique story. These facilities are representative of the types found in the cantonment area when it was constructed in 1942. Three of the buildings an administrative facility, a dining facility, and a barracks are set up to depict Soldier life during the 1940s. Display items include a World War II chapel, bunk beds, footlockers, mannequins, and potbelly stoves. Another building highlights four different modern military training venues, and a separate facility shows various training aids. The area also has the Equipment Park. Veterans Memorial Plaza is a tribute to all of the men and
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Coast Guard Gun Crew on the Alert. Colored crew of 22 mm gun aboard a Coast Guard fighting ship are hanging up some new records for speed and accuracy. (left to right) Daniel Moore, Shreveport, Luisiana; Walter L. Bottoms, Lancaster, Kentucky; William Wheeler, Long Branch, New Jersey; and Rudolph C. Grimes, New York City; all Steward's Mates, second class.
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Bombing of railways in Narvik, Norway.
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Eastwind - Dew Line 1956. Nature eases the monotony of "water, water (and ice) everywhere" for the men journeying with the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker Eastwind into the white forests of the Arctic by showing off her gallery of fairyland sculpture work. Here she chiseled a cast of Paul Bunyan's foot. The Eastwind was photographed passing this iceberg in the East Arctic during the 1956 annual summer resupply missions to stations and bases in Greenland, eastern Canada, Baffin Island, and at the top of Alaska, carried out by the Navy for the United States (with the cooperation of military forces of Greenland and Canada). The Eastwind acted as flagship and escort for supply vessels of the Navy's Military Sea Transportation Service carrying provisions for completion of the new far Northeastern Dew Line (Distant Early Warning) radar stations during this resupply mission.
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Photograph of Cesar Romero Aboard Coast Guard-manned Transport.
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Sailors on the beach of La Rochelle. Eight sailors, two in uniform and six in swimwear. In the background a tower of La Rochelle. Part of the photo album over the Kriegsmarine 1940-1943.
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German Prisoners Aboard a Coast Guard-manned Transport. Aboard a Coast Guard-manned transport carrying them to the United States, these wounded and ailing German prisoners follow doctor's orders and got plenty of fresh air and sunshine. Attired in robes and slippers provided for them, they lounge on the open deck. A Coast Guardsman chats at right with a prisoner who speaks English.
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A fisherman who is a naval reservist on night duty under the Sidmouth beacon light in the early weeks of the First World War. The usual coastguards had been called up into the Navy, and the National Reserve had to take their place for coastal patrol work. Date: September 1914
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Nazi Seeks Help. This image depicts a German sailor in the ocean, after the Coast Guard cutter Spencer sunk his submarine.
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Tagus Sector, 1938. Spanish Civil War. Militiawoman on the wreckage of a downed plane.
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Evert Ingemansson - submarine images..
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USS Mason at Boston Navy Yard. First Predominately Negro Ship. Commissioned U.S.S. Mason, Boston Navy Yard. 1946 - 1946. Northeast Region (Boston, MA). Photographic Print. Department of the Navy. First Naval District. Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff for Administration. Office of the Historical Officer. ca. 1941-ca. 1946. Administrative History of the First Naval District in World War II
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Group portfolio of conscripts in swimwear.The soldiers seem to participate in a swimming education or competition.They apparently stand on the shore and look strained to the sea.In front of them lies a beam in the sand that appears to be a starting line.On the left side, an officer who records in a cladding .. group variety of conscripts in swimwear.The soldiers seem to participate in a swimming education or competition.They apparently stand on the shore and look strained to the sea.In front of them lies a beam in the sand that appears to be a starting line.On the left side, an officer who records in a clad.
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Rum Runners Shanghai Crew. 1924. Photographs, covers. General Research Division