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About the Coast Guard Auxiliary
History of the Coast Guard Auxiliary
continued
Recipients of the Bronze Plaque of Merit ("A" Award)
The Plaque of Merit may be awarded by the Commandant
or District Commanders "in recognition of extreme skill in
performing an assist or rescue that involves risk to the Auxiliarist's
life." The following are examples of the achievements that
have been recognized by the "A" Award.
- Miguel A. Colorado. On October 27, 1953, Colorado
rescued two survivors of a boat that had capsized off Caballo
Blanco Reefs, Puerto Rico. A dedicated long-time Auxiliarist,
Colorado was elected District Commodore for the Tenth District
in 1963.
- Orville A. Fuller. The Army Corps of Engineers
dredge William T. Russell foundered in Coos Bay, Oregon, on September
10, 1956. Auxiliarist Fuller, at extreme risk to his own life,
rescued ten survivors.
- Charles R. Zeller. On August 13, 1961, in a
yacht basin near Brooklyn, New York, the 45-foot yacht Jolly Roger
exploded. Auxiliarist Zeller rescued three survivors, two of them
badly burned. Though suffering from severe burns himself, Zeller
made sure that the Jolly Roger's gasoline valves were shut off
and oversaw efforts to take the burning vessel in tow before it
drifted into any of the boats that were moored nearby.
- Wayne Johnson. A 30-foot fishing troller, AK
1056A, became entangled in the shallows near Juneau, Alaska on
September 18, 1967. The CGC Cape Coral arrived on the scene but
was unable to get close enough to heave a line. Auxiliarist Johnson
took his 36-foot motorboat Norma Jane alongside the stricken troller
and rescued the one man on board.
- Herbert E. Brack. On September 17, 1967, two
small boats foundered in the mouth of the Ipswich River in Massachusetts.
Brack, who was fishing on board his boat, the Grand Slam, answered
the distress call and, despite swells and 10-foot breakers, rescued
three survivors.
- Bettie Sue Klein. Hurricane Agnes struck Alligator
Point, Florida, on June 18, 1972. Klein stayed by her CB radio
station, relaying information that enabled all the families in
the area to be evacuated before the worst of the storm hit. When
the rising sea threatened her house she withdrew to the mainland,
but as soon as the hurricane passed she returned to Alligator
Point to help in marking navigational hazards, removing debris,
and controlling looters.
- Aime R. Bernard, Frank Scott Powell, Charles
Samperi, and Wayne St. Morris. On August 11, 1974, these four
Auxiliarists attempted to rescue two young boys who had been reported
adrift in a rubber raft off Lanakai Beach, Hawaii. They launched
Powell's boat, Courtesy I, from Kailua Beach and spent several
hours attempting to locate the raft. They eventually received
word via Coast Guard radio that the boys had made it to shore
on their own. The Coast Guard none the less recognized the Auxiliarists'
skill and the risks they had taken with the Plaque of Merit.
- Kenneth A. Anderson. When the tender Blackthorn
sank in Tampa Bay on the night of January 28, 1980, Anderson was
among the first on the scene. A certified diver, he made five
dives on the wreck over a span of fifteen hours and assisted in
the recovery of four Coast Guardsmen.
- Leo Braun. On April 20, 1980, a boat capsized
just outside the breakwater at Marina del Ray, California. When
the Auxiliary vessel Dorothy B. arrived, four men were in the
water. Braun, a crewman on board the Dorothy B., leapt from its
deck to the slippery surface of the breakwater and rescued two
of the survivors.
- Geraldine and Milt Entwistle. The Entwistles'
boat, the Searcher, was returning to Monterey, California after
a 9-hour SAR patrol on April 23, 1982, when the nearby Coast Guard
stationed radioed that two swimmers were being swept out to sea
off Black Point. The Entwistles, despite 8-foot waves and a dangerous
undertow, managed to rescue one of the two - and two others spotted
by another Auxiliary vessel.
- James and Lois Toth. On September 6, 1982, the
Toths answered a distress call from a pontoon boat that had caught
fire on the Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri. James Toth used the
fire extinguishers on board his boat to put out the fire, and
he and his wife rescued five of the six survivors who had jumped
into the water. The sixth was picked up by another boat.
- Richard P. Cash. When a 34-foot cabin cruiser
caught fire off South Haven, Michigan, on June 29, 1987, Cash
and his boat picked up the MAYDAY signal and offered assistance.
Three of the burning boat's occupants, two children and their
mother, were already in the water. Displaying excellent seamanship,
Cash hauled all three on board with his boathook. The children
survived; the mother, despite Cash's attempts at artificial resuscitation,
died. Cash rescued her husband, who had stayed on board his boat
and extinguished the fire.
- Robert and Jean Colby. On September 16, 1990,
the tanker Jupiter caught fire at a pier in Saginaw Bay, Michigan.
The Colbys were on standby SAR duty at the nearby Coast Guard
station. Their 20-foot outboard and a 41-foot Coast Guard utility
boat were on the scene within eight minutes of the first distress
call. Despite the danger that the Jupiter would explode, the Colbys
pulled five survivors from the water, took them ashore, and provided
medical attention until an ambulance arrived.
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