page_title: Douglas Albert Munro
section_title: Other
hierarchical_section_title: Douglas Albert Munro / Legacy / Other
caption_attribution_description: Painting of U.S. Coast Guard personnel evacuating U.S. Marines from near Point Cruz on Guadalcanal under fire during the Second Battle of the Matanikau on September 27, 1942.
context_page_description: Douglas Albert Munro was a United States Coast Guardsman who was posthumously decorated with the Medal of Honor for an act of "extraordinary heroism" during World War II. He is the only person to have received the medal for actions performed during service in the Coast Guard.
  Munro was born in Canada to an American father and a British mother, and his family moved to the United States when he was a child. He was raised in South Cle Elum, Washington, and attended Central Washington College of Education before volunteering for military service shortly before the United States entered World War II. Munro and his shipmate Raymond Evans were known as the Gold Dust Twins, so-called because they were inseparable. During the Guadalcanal Campaign, Munro was assigned to Naval Operating Base Cactus at Lunga Point, where small boat operations were coordinated. At the Second Battle of the Matanikau in September 1942, he led the extrication of a force of Marines whose position had been overrun by Japanese forces. He died of a gunshot wound at age 22 while using the Higgins boat that he was piloting to shield a landing craft filled with Marines from Japanese fire.
context_section_description: In 1989 the Coast Guard commissioned the painting Douglas A. Munro Covers the Withdrawal of the 7th Marines at Guadalcanal from Bernard D'Andrea.
  The Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Cle Elum is named the Douglas Munro-Robert H. Brooks VFW Post 1373, and the Anacostia chapter of the Surface Navy Association is officially named the Douglas Munro Chapter. The Douglas A. Munro Award, established in 1971 and sponsored by the Navy League of the United States, is annually presented to an enlisted Coast Guardsman "who has demonstrated outstanding leadership and professional competence to the extent of their rank and rate". The "Douglas Munro March", composed by Lewis J. Buckley, was debuted by the United States Coast Guard Band on September 26, 1982 at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. In 2014, the Coast Guard Foundation established the Douglas Munro Scholarship Fund. University scholarships from the fund are awarded to the children of U.S. Coast Guard personnel.
  Several members of Munro's extended family have been named Douglas as a familial tribute to Munro. The former Washington Secretary of State, Ralph Munro, who is not related to Douglas Munro, has said he frequently visits Munro's grave for personal reflection.
caption: Douglas A. Munro Covers the Withdrawal of the 7th Marines at Guadalcanal, (1989) by Bernard D'Andrea
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