Shades of Douglas Munro–22 Jan., 1969

The Cutterman website and coastguardchannel.com are sharing a link to a story with many elements of Douglas Munro‘s rescue of Marines from a beach on Guadalcanal.

Troops were trapped, having been ambushed and surrounded, their backs to the sea. Unless rescued by boat, death seemed certain.

This time the troops were nine South Vietnamese soldiers; the enemy, an estimated two Viet Cong platoons (about 60 men); the boat that came to their rescue, the Point Banks’ small boat, a 13’4″ Boston Whaler armed with a single M-60 machine gun. The Coast Guardsmen were Gunner’s Mate First Class Willis J. Goff and Engineman Second Class Larry D. Villarreal. They made the trip twice, overloading the boat each time. Both were awarded the Silver Star for their actions. GMCM Bill Wells tells the story:

http://www.berthdeck.com/Articles/PointBanksHeroes.pdf

Sounds like two more potential Fast Response Cutter names.