Following the outbreak of war in Europe in 1939, the Coast Guard again carried out extensive patrols to enforce the neutrality proclaimed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on 5 September 1939. Port security began on 20 June 1940 when President Roosevelt invoked the Espionage Act of 1917, which governed the anchorage and movement of all ships in U.S. waters, and protected American ships, harbors and waters. Shortly afterwards, the Dangerous Cargo Act gave the Coast Guard jurisdiction over ships carrying high explosives and dangerous cargoes. In March 1941, the Coast Guard seized 28 Italian, two German and 35 Danish merchant ships. A few days later, 10 modern Coast Guard cutters were transferred on Lend-Lease to Great Britain.
On 1 November 1941 the Coast Guard was ordered to operate as part of the Navy. Among the most important Coast Guard undertakings were cold weather operations in Greenland, anti-submarine warfare escort, amphibious landings, search and rescue, beach patrol, port security, and LORAN duty.
Coast Guard-manned ships sank 11 enemy submarines and Coast Guard aircraft sank one. Most of these U-boats were destroyed in 1942 when the issue of who would win the Battle of the Atlantic was still very much in doubt.
Coast Guard personnel manned amphibious ships and craft from the largest troop transports to the smallest attack craft. These landed Army and Marine forces in every important invasion in North Africa, Italy, France and the Pacific. Also, due to their experience in handling surfboats, Coast Guardsmen also helped train members of the other military services in the use of amphibious craft.
Coast Guard coastal picket vessels patrolled along the 50-fathom curve, where enemy submarines concentrated early in the war. On shore armed Coast Guardsmen patrolled beaches and docks, on foot, on horseback, in vehicles, with and without dogs, as a major part of the nation’s anti-sabotage effort. Once this threat abated, the Coast Guard manned 351 naval ships and craft and 288 Army vessels in addition to 802 cutters (those over 65 feet in length).
Coast Guard cutters, boats and aircraft rescued more than 1,500 survivors of torpedo attacks in areas adjacent to the United States. Cutters on escort duty saved another 1,000, and over 1,500 more were rescued during the Normandy operation by 60 83-foot patrol craft specifically assigned to that duty.
Two hundred and thirty one thousand men and 10,000 women served in the Coast Guard during World War II. Of these, 1,918 died, a third losing their life in action. The Service sustained its first casualties on 8 December 1941 when the Leonard Wood was bombed by Japanese aircraft at Singapore. One Coast Guardsman died as a prisoner of war, having been captured at Corregidor. Almost 2,000 Coast Guardsmen were decorated, one receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor, six the Navy Cross, and one the Distinguished Service Cross.
During the Korean War (1950-53), the Coast Guard performed a variety of tasks. The Service established air detachments throughout the Pacific. Additional weather station sites were established in the Pacific to help guard the flow of troops and supplies to Korea. Twelve destroyer escorts were transferred from the Navy to the Coast Guard to help carry out this duty. Also, a team of about 50 Coast Guardsmen were stationed in Korea, helping establish the Korean Coast Guard, which has since evolved into that country’s Navy. The Coast Guard also provided communications and meteorological services plus assured port security and proper ammunition handling.
The Coast Guard was asked to participate in the Vietnam War by the Army, Navy, and Air Force and performed a variety of duties. At the outset of the military buildup in the mid-1960s, the Navy lacked shallow water craft needed for inshore operations. To help fill this need, the Coast Guard sent 26 82-foot cutters to Vietnam. These formed Squadron One. The squadron, split into three divisions, was stationed at Danang in the north (Division 12), Cat La in the center (Division 13), and An Thai in the south (Division 11). The cutters spent some 70 percent of their time underway. They inspected junks for contraband, intercepted and destroyed North Vietnamese and Viet Cong craft, and provided fire support for friendly forces.
While the 82-foot cutters helped patrol inshore, larger cutters helped form a deepwater barrier against infiltration. For this task, the Coast Guard established Squadron Three. It usually consisted of five high endurance cutters on ten-month deployments from their U.S. home ports. Thirty high endurance cutters served on this duty between 1967 and 1971.
The Coast Guard set up and operated a LORAN C (long range navigation) system in Southeast Asia in order to assist the U. S. Air Force warplanes with precision navigation. The Coast Guard LORAN Construction Detachment began work in January 1966 and on 8 August 1966 the navigation network was on the air.
The rapid development of deepwater ports in Vietnam brought an expanded need of navigational aids for preventing vessel accidents. South Vietnam’s small aids-to-navigation force with its one buoy tender could not meet the demand. Coast Guard buoy tenders in the Pacific made periodic trips to Vietnam installing and maintaining buoys. A Coast Guard Aids to Navigation (ATON) Detail was set up in Saigon to coordinate workloads for these visits as well as keeping buoys and range markers lighted.
Coast Guard pilots flew combat search and rescue with the Air Force in Southeast Asia, under an inter-service exchange program. Most of the time the pilots were assigned to the 37th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron, at Danang. One Coast Guardsman, LT Jack Rittichier, was killed when his helicopter was shot down during an attempt to pull an American from enemy-held territory.
Some 8,000 Coast Guardsmen served in Vietnam. Seven lost their lives and 59 were wounded. Although research is incomplete, it has been verified that through 1970, Coast Guardsmen received the following awards: 12 Silver Stars, 13 Legion of Merit medals, 13 Distinguished Flying Crosses, 114 Bronze Stars, 4 Air Medals, 151 Navy Commendation Medals, 27 Army Commendation Medals, five Coast Guard Commendation Medals, 43 Navy Achievement Medals, 66 Purple Hearts, 53 Vietnamese Navy medals and 15 Presidential Unit Commendations.
