“A Coast Guardsman’s History of the U.S. Coast Guard” by C. Douglas Kroll (Naval Institute Press)

Most history books deal with things and events, but the aim of this one to tell the stories of the people of the nation’s smallest military branch. The author is himself a Coast Guard Auxiliaries after years as a commissioned officer in the USCG, and a graduate of the Coast Guard Academy.
The U.S. Coast Guard has a long and distinguished history of service, starting with its origin as the Revenue Cutter Service (1790), its inclusion of the Life-Saving Service (1848), the Lighthouse Service (1939), and the Bureau of Navigation and Steamship Inspection Service (1942). These mergers have made the Coast Guard truly a multi-mission service: stop smugglers, rescue ships and sailors from terrible storms and shipwreck, support the US Navy in wartime, and more. The Coast Guard (which was officially designated as such in 1915) incorporates all that heritage and all those stories into their own.
In  1994 the Coast Guard formally articulated those core values that they hold dear: honor, respect, and devotion to duty. “They are deeply rooted in the heritage of commitment and service that distinguishes the U.S. Coast Guard”. They define the organization’s very character from its earliest days to the present.
Some of the heroes and heroines you will meet are:
Ellsworth P. Betholf, who was at the helm when the Coast Guard was created, and who fought for autonomy from the U.S. Navy;
Dr. Dorothy C. Stratton, who organized, recruited and ran the 10,000 enlisted women and the 1,000 officers of the SPARS (short for “Semper Paratus-Always Ready”, the USCG motto), and after WWII ran the International Monetary Fund and the Girl Scouts.;
Douglas A. Munro, awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for bravery at Guadalcanal;
Bernard C. Webber, whose Lifesaving Crew headed into the teeth of a gale to save the crew from the tanker PENDLETON;
Lt. John a. Pritchard Jr. who died saving an RAF crew who crashed in Greenland;
Kelly Mogk, a petite woman who became the USCG’s first female rescue swimmer;
Joshua James, perhaps the most celebrated lifesaver in the world, with 626 lives saved;
And Light-keepers Ida Lewis and Kate Walker, who saved innumerable ships and lives in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
“Team Coast Guard” refers to the active duty service the Reserve, the Auxiliary and civilian employees working together in the US Coast Guard. Their stories will make you proud to be an American, and honored to be served by men and women such as these! (Repeat title, author and publisher.) I’m Doc Kirby and that’s a Book Bit.