Evening star., 1943-04-18

jeeps Each barge carried machine guns
for anti-aircraft protection. Most of the
invasion barge instructors, it is said, are
former surfmen from Coast Guard sta
tions, who are accustomed to handling
boats under all kinds of weather and
seas. The motto of the surfman, by the
way. is: "You have to go out, but you
don't have to come back"
Six Coast Guardsmen Of an advanced
unit helped pave the way for mass land
ing o. American troops at Fedala. The
job was to find out if the French had de-
tected troopships ofshore, and to do
this they had to spend an hour on the
Moroccan beach, close to the heavy guns
OF the coast. After moving as close to
the garrison as possible, the men finally
signaled with fashlight to the troop
ships that all was we'll
Although Coast Guard aviation oper-
ates under Navy direction it has pre-
served its own unity for administrative
purposes. In the first six and a half
months of the war, Coast Guard aviators
flew 23,442 hours, in which 17,84223l
square miles were searched and pa
trolled and 2,245, 1857 were cruised. And in
that same period, when the total strength
was only about 100 planes and 1o7 pilots,
6,032 patrol flights were made, with 63.-
233 surface vessels and 12,051 planes
identified.
The Food Bomb
At the Elizabeth City IN. j. Air Sta
ton, two enlisted Coast Guardsmen, Har-
void V. Booth and Frederick j. Denis.
perfected the food bomb" which is
dropped to survivors of torpedoed ships.
The so-called bomb, said to resemble a
depth charge, has soft concrete CAP
which disintegrates in contact with the
water. 1t includes cans of water,
nrst-ald kit, pint of whisky, two ra-
tlons, and several pack of cigarettes and
matches. In the first six months of last
year, 80 assistance flights were made
resulting In the rescue of SOB survivors
picked up by surface vessels directed to
the scene by air.
The Coast Guard reports that in gen.
eraI Its air activities fall into three cate
gorles: patrol, search and conyov cover
age, Coast Guard aviation got it's start
back IN 1915 at Hampton Roads, Va. It
was tried because of the number of
schooners which were disabled off the
coast. The idea worked of facilitating
rescues by planes and the following year
an appropriation act authorized the
Coast Guard to establish, equip and
maintain 10 air stations along the shores
OF the United States. The service has
grown by stages throughout the years, so
that by 1941 the Coast Guard had 90
pilots, all graduates Of the Naval Air Sta
ton at Pensacola. BY July of this wear.
Coast Guard expects to commission 80
more aviators and have an additional
100 enlisted pilots.
On the Home Front
The Coast Guard is active on the home
front, too. One new unit is the volunteer
port security force, which started in Phil
adelphia to help protect piers from sabo-
tage, fires and other preventable acci-
dents. DR.. Arnaude c. Marts, presi-
dent of Buckneu University, who headed
the plan in Philadelphia, is now in
Washington with the rank of captain in
charge of organizing similar units in
other cities. Baltimore is already organ
lied.
Under the plan, men who are too old
or otherwise unavailable for the draft,
are asked to volunteer for IL hours
week or more to guard piers in their
home cities. They are issued uniforms,
which they wear only while on duty;
carry arms and are subject to military
discipline while on duty. They are not
paid. In Philadelphia, 800 men applied
for duty within 48 hours after the plan
was announced in the newspapers.
Then there Is the Coast Guard picket