Coast Guard

Popularly thought of as a domestic rescue and patrol outfit—and not always as a fifth branch of our Armed Forces--the Coast Guard during wartime has played many other roles. Coast Guard duty took these veterans up dangerous rivers above the DMZ in Vietnam, on dangerous convoys across the Atlantic, and to lonely atolls in the South Pacific. Whether dodging kamikaze planes off Okinawa or delivering British troops to Juno Beach as part of the Normandy Invasion, the Coast Guard has been in the thick of the action.

Featured Story: Irwin Robinson

“But it’s a smaller service, so you got a better chance to advance—and the line is shorter.”

(Video Interview, 3:17)

Irwin “Rocky” Robinson was a shipping clerk when he enlisted in the Coast Guard, sweet-talked into that branch by a clever recruiter who saw him standing in a long line to join the Navy. Robinson became a Pharmacist’s Mate aboard the lead ship in a convoy, with the only doctor for miles and miles around. Their patients ranged from a buddy with an inflamed appendix to a German prisoner whom Robinson, a New York Jew, was able to communicate with in Yiddish. He saw action in North Africa, where he attended services in a historic temple during the High Holy Days; Sicily; and in the Pacific, where they dodged kamikaze planes. In his spare time, Robinson did a little boxing, which is how he earned his nickname.