Jack - Don’t be too quick to write off the US Coast Guard Sailors. From uscg.mil: “The Coast Guard’s first major participation in the Pacific war was at Guadalcanal. Here the service played a large part in the landings on the islands. So critical was their task that they were later involved in every major amphibious campaign during World War II. During the war, the Coast Guard manned over 350 ships and hundreds more amphibious type assault craft. It was in these ships and craft that the Coast Guard fulfilled one of its most important but least glamorous roles during the war—that is getting the men to the beaches. The initial landings were made on Guadalcanal in August 1942, and this hard-fought campaign lasted for nearly six months. Seven weeks after the initial landings, during a small engagement near the Matanikau River, Signalman First Class Douglas Albert Munro, died while rescuing a group of marines near the Matanikau River. Posthumously awarded a Medal of Honor, he lived up to the Coast Guard’s motto—”Semper Paratus.”” I became aware of these facts some time ago.
By the by as well, the US Coast Guard used to be part of the Dept of Transportation but in war time was transferred to the “War Dept.”
I do understand that the Coast Guard had a very different role in the WW2 Era and beyond, but that doesn’t change the fact that they are now part of DHS and have a very different mission.