U.S. Coast GuardDID YOU KNOW?
The U.S. Coast Guard was established January
28, 1915. President Woodrow Wilson signed a
bill that combined the U.S. Lighthouse Service,
the Revenue Cutter Service, the Steamboat
Inspection Service and the Life Saving Service
(Search and Rescue) into one body known as the
U.S. Coast Guard. The familiar 64 degree "red
bar slash" painted on the side of the Coast
Guard cutters and boats started in 1967. Worth
noting, one of the Coast Guard rescue boats,
if turned over in rough water, will upright
itself in 8 seconds. The motto of the Coast
Guard is "Semper Paratus", which means "always
ready". Associated with the Coast Guard is
the saying, "You have to go out but you do
not have to come back". Here is how the slogan
originated. A ship was stranded off Cape
Hatteras on the Diamond Shoals and one of the
life saving crew reported the fact that this
ship had run ashore on the dangerous shoals.
The old skipper gave the command to man the
lifeboat and one of the men shouted out that
we might make it out to the wreck but we
would never make it back. The old skipper looked
around and said, "The Blue Book says we've got to go
out and it doesn't say a thing about having
to come back." The only Coast Guard stamp
issued by the post office depicts a landing
barge used in World War II. The landing barge
was a fit symbol for the Coast Guard for they
were the branch of service that operated these
barges that carried these troops from ship
to shore. This 17 1/2 inch by 16 inch hardwood framed
picture consists of an U.S. Coast Guard
patch and two Coast Guard ribbons. Included
is also a 3 cent Coast Guard
stamp (56 years old), a 3 cent Armed Forces
Reserve stamp (46 years old) and a maxicard picturing
a U.S. Coast Guard ship. Our Price: $56.00
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