The Coast Guard at War

Founded in 1790 as the "Revenue Marine", the Coast Guard has seen active service in all the nation's wars and other military undertakings.  After an introduction by Prof. Snell (Shepherd University, Ret'd), a former Army officer and national chief historian of the Coast Guard Auxiliary, the essays in this collection are divided into three parts.

Part I opens with an overview of the role of the Revenue Cutter Service from its founding through the Spanish-American War, and follows with two essays on World War I, when the Coast Guard performed convoy escort; one on the attempt to save the torpedoed British collier Wellington, and the second on the loss of the former cutter USS Tampas.

Part II has seven essays on the Coast Guard's service in World War II. There are papers on the USCGC Taney, from Pearl Harbor through the end of the war, the service's role in the Battle of the Atlantic, and its operation against German weather stations in in Greenland, and one on the largely forgotten role of the Coast Guard Auxiliary in the war.

Part III addresses events since World War II, through the Cold War down to the present time, with a paper on the Korean War, two on Vietnam, and one on the Coast Guard Reserve's role in port security.  An Epilogue, covers the memorialization of the Coast Guard's service, including 22 year old Signalman Douglas A. Munro, killed in action at Guadalcanal supporting Marines, for which he received a posthumous Medal of Honor.

All of the essays in The Fighting Coast Guard are well written and will help the reader better understand the largely overlooked role of the Coast Guard in National Defense.

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Note: The Fighting Coast Guard is also available in e-editions.

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