The ship’s sponsor, “Mrs. Harry J. Trainor, christening LST-167 prior to the ship’s launching, 25 February 1943, at Missouri Valley Bridge and Iron Company, Shipbuilding Division, Evansville, IN. Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library.

1943 The Coast Guard-manned USS LST-167 (Commissioned 27 April 1943, LT Edward C. Simons, USCG commanding) and the USS LST-334, with a partial Coast Guard crew, landed troops during the invasion and liberation of Vella Lavella in the central Solomons despite fierce resistance from the Japanese defenders. September 25, Japanese aircraft attacked the invasion fleet, hitting LST-167 with two bombs. The ship was refloated but found uneconomical to repair, struck from the Naval Register, 6 December 1943. Purple Hearts (KIA-8, WIA-2, MIA-5). KIA – ENS. Miller, Robert W.; ENS Wells , Harry F.; F1/c Anderson, Roy; Cox Bubeck, Sheldon T.; WT1/c Hammond, Gerald G.; EM3/c Poi, Giovanni; Y2/c Rieckert, Frederick; S1/c Sexton, Donald A. (1 additional enlisted man was killed in action. 1 enlisted man died of wounds. 5 enlisted men were missing in action.

1947 The Coast Guard announced that it had virtually completed the return of United States buoys, lights, and other aids to navigation to a peacetime basis.

Antenna of USCG Rescue 21 system at Cape Hatteras National Seashore.

2002 The Coast Guard announced the award of a $611 million contract for the production, deployment and support of “Rescue 21,” a modernization of the National Distress and Response System.  “Rescue 21” was planned to be the nation’s primary maritime “911” system for coastal waters of the continental United States, Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, Puerto Rico, and navigable rivers and lakes within the United States.

Pseudo-color IRF image of Rita from NASA GOES-12; processing by University of Wisconsin, Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies; used by implicit permission.

2005 Hurricane Rita made landfall just east of Sabine Pass, on the Texas-Louisiana line, as a Category 3 hurricane with top sustained winds of 120 mph.  Coast Guard units, some still in the area from Hurricane Katrina rescue and relief efforts, responded.  They saved 138 lives and evacuated 53 people.

A crewmember aboard a 26-foot over-the-horizon boat prepares to come alongside Coast Guard Cutter Alex Haley (WMEC 30) while underway in the Bering Sea in this 2019 photo. U.S. Coast Guard / Ensign Richard Zogby

2014 CGC Alex Haley returned to Kodiak following a successful 68-day deployment patrolling more than 12,000 miles throughout the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands.  Alex Haley, known as the “Bulldog of the Bering,” departed Kodiak in July 2014 and spent two months conducting operations in the Bering Sea and the Aleutian Islands.  During the deployment, Alex Haley’s crew performed more than 40 at sea domestic fisheries enforcement boardings, four search and rescue cases, and one rescue and assistance operation.