The U.S. Coast Guard in World War II

xvii, [1], 347, [1] pp. Black-and-white photographs, maps, and diagrams. "The intimate view of the U.S. Coast Guard's dramatic World War II record has long been considered a classic. Handsomely illustrated with more than two hundred photographs, the book serves as a unique memento of one of the most illustrious periods in the Coast Guard's two hundred year history. The author offers a story replete with incidents of devotion far beyond the call of duty--daring rescues, adventurous high-sea missions, heroic combat action--to clearly demonstrate the vital role the service played in the Allied war effort. A seasoned World War I veteran who joined the Coast Guard Temporary Reserve in 1942, Malcolm Willoughby has covered every aspect of the Coast Guard's involvement in the war at sea, in the air, and at home. From the invasion of Normandy, where Coast Guardsmen landed thousands of Americans and rescued some 1,500 stranded in the surf, to Guadalcanal, where they rescued three companies of Marines trapped on the beach, this chronicle vividly recounts these well-documented operations and little-known stories of individual triumphs and tragedies as well."