Please describe who or what influenced your decision to join the Coast Guard.

Nobska Point Lighthouse

My great great grandfather was a lighthouse keeper; my great grandfather was in the Life-Saving Service and retired as a cook in the Coast Guard. During WW II, one of my great uncles was in the CG and drove one of the landing craft at Normandy, picking up the wounded off the beaches and in the water. Several of my cousins went to Vietnam while in the Coast Guard. My grandfather and great grandfather were my biggest inspirations for joining the Coast Guard; even though my grandfather never served in the military, his uncle served in the Highland and Peak Hill Bars Life Saving Stations on Cape Cod Ma.

Another factor is I grew up in Falmouth, MA; on Cape Cod, there was a Coast Guard Base that housed the Group Woods Hole Headquarters, a SAR station, and a home base for the Point Bonita, Point Jackson, Cape Horn, White Sage, and Hornbeam/Bittersweet. The Cape Cod Air Station nearby Otis Air Force Base is now Joint Military Base Cape Cod. I saw the Coast Guard rescue boats and helicopters often working rescues off the coast or with the local fire and police departments. I used to fish off the rocks in front of Nobska Point Lighthouse; I could see the lighthouses on Marthas Vineyard at night.

Whether you were in the service for several years or as a career, please describe the direction or path you took. What was your reason for leaving?

Boys and Girls Club of America

After I got out of the Coast Guard, I was unemployed for about eight months and lived in a shelter for mariners for four months. No one really wanted to hire a veteran from the Vietnam War era.

I was offered a ground keepers job in a Catholic Church, and I entered the seminary in 1979 and entered a religious order in the Catholic Church. As a spiritual leader, I have worked in parishes as a Youth Pastor, and I currently mentor in several Boys and Girls Clubs of America.

If you participated in any military operations, including combat, humanitarian, and peacekeeping operations, please describe those which made a lasting impact on you and, if life-changing, in what way?

USCGC Unimak (WAVP-379/WHEC-379)

Even though I spent most of my time in the Coast Guard aboard the 'Black Hulls' buoy tenders, we answered several distress calls and were used as an operational platform during the Argo Merchant tanker grounding off the coast of Nantucket, Ma. We hauled oil containment equipment and oceanographers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and MIT to the tanker for several weeks.

Another rescue was a collision in a dense fog between a Japanese cargo ship and a 90' fishing trawler a few miles west of the Nantucket Shoals Lightship. We searched for 3 of the crew members, including a 14-year-old boy working on the fishing boat at the time. The cargo ship captain dropped one of his lifeboats and rescued most of the fishermen. We rescued one who had clung onto a chunk of a bunk bed.

Another rescue involved a 45' Chatham scallop boat that got swamped by the wake of a speed boat. The Chatham CG station rescued most of the crew. We arrived a few hours after the scalloper sank and was used as a diving platform for state police and ship divers searching for two missing crew members and salvage work.

The most amazing was an Eastern Airline DC-3 that went down in a dense fog. The plane stayed afloat long enough for the flight crew to get all 40 passengers out of the plane. The pilot told us the plane stayed afloat for about 25 minutes before finally going under.

I think the saddest was when I was on the Unimak, and we got flagged down in Long Island Sound by a pleasure boater. He said their sailboat had capsized, and he and his family went into the water. He was able to grab his four-year-old daughter and bring her into the life raft but couldn't find his wife. The little girl was in pretty tough shape, and a Ct State Police boat took the girl and her father along with the ship's doctor and one of the EM who was doing CPR on her to a hospital, where she died later that night. The loss of a young one was always a tough one to cope with!

Did you encounter any situation during your military service when you believed there was a possibility you might not survive? If so, please describe what happened and what was the outcome.

Not Such a Good Idea

Being primarily on 180' Buoy Tenders and a 311, we often got called on for rescues on the open ocean. Fortunately, most of them were successful, and some were not.

The first rescue call I was on involved a 90' New Bedford fishing boat and a Japanese cargo ship. The cargo ship Captain dropped his lifeboat and rescued some of the fishermen; however, most of them didn't, including a 15-year-old crew member.

One fishing boat rescue involved a broken-down engine. Upon investigation, we discovered the main problem was clogged fuel injectors. As we began to clean them, the MK Chief, who was overseeing the repair work, noticed some pot leaves in the injector.

One of the crew members was a pothead and hid his sandwich bag full of pot in a fuel tank. When the bag broke, the pot fell into the tank. Eventually, it got sucked into the fuel lines and injectors. On that trip, we saved a boat and arrested a pothead!

Of all your duty stations or assignments, which one do you have fondest memories of and why? Which was your least favorite?

CGC Bittersweet

My favorite duty stations were the CGC Hornbeam and CGC Bittersweet. I enjoyed my time on the buoy tenders, hard-working crews, and real party animals!

My second enjoyable assignment was the Support Center Boston and Port Security detail.

From your entire military service, describe any memories you still reflect on to this day.

I often think about the men and women I served with. I feel blessed to know them and the time spent with them.

A second experience I think about often is the beautiful sunrise and sunsets and the Northern Nights. The whales and dolphins were great as well.

The ocean can be peaceful and relaxing, and it can also be extraordinary as well as a frightful witness to the power of nature. There is something special about watching the waves, large and small, and the force behind them.

What professional achievements are you most proud of from your military career?

U.S. Curtis Bay Yards

My time on the Unimac during the PreCom time approx. four months in the Curtis Bay Yards as a young engineer was a real learning experience with a good amount of hands-on training from rebuilding gas engines and pumps, welding, and working on the main engines. It was the first time I saw an oppose-piston engine.

More importantly, it was working with a great team of engineers, MKs, EMs, and DCs. Looking back over that time in the CG, I learned a lot about engines and ship construction. Moreover, I learned a lot about myself and relating to others.

Of all the medals, awards, formal presentations, and qualification badges you received, or other memorabilia, which one is the most meaningful to you and why?

USCGC Hornbeam

Two rescues had a significant impact on me. In the autumn of 1974, I was out of basic for about a month and was stationed on the 180' tender Hornbeam. We had just worked on some buoys and resupplied the Nantucket Lightship and were working our way north in the Boston Approaches Sea lanes inspecting, cleaning, and repairing buoys. Then a dense fog had set in, so the Captain decided to hold off on working the buoys until orning. Around midnight we got a distress call from a Japanese ship; they had struck a 90' wooden fishing boat; they had 5 of the crew of 8 onboard, with one of them injured, the Captain, Engineer/Cook, and a 17-year-old were missing. The Hornbeam being the closest ship to them was sent to search for the missing crew members and collect any wreckage we found for the NTSB and CG investigators to look over. A helo flew out from the Cape Cod Air Station to pick up the rescued crew members of the cargo ship The following day, the CGC Cape George and CGC Vigilante arrived and joined in the search along with a Helo and C-130. We searched for several days when the rescue was finally called off. The fishing boat captain eventually washed ashore on Nantucket Island; the Engineer/Cook and 17-year-old were never found.

The second rescue was the high-profile grounding of the Tanker Argo Merchant in December 1976. For the next month, we would be ferrying oil control booms, environmental equipment, and crews out to the wreck site to control and clean up the oil spill. Between trips out to Nantucket Shoals, we broke the ice in Nantucket Harbor and the Cape Cod Canal.

Which individual(s) from your time in the military stand out as having the most positive impact on you and why?

One Of Many USCGC's Engine Rooms

MKSC Dee was one of the best's CPO's I served with. He was always available to the engineers as a friend, always with a gentle smile, a kind word, or encouraging thought under challenging times. He was a stern disciplinarian, balanced out with fairness. He would always listen to a person's side of the story before making a decision. He wasn't afraid to get down and work with the crew on an engine or in a crawl space.

What military associations are you a member of, if any? What specific benefits do you derive from your memberships?

American Legion

The American Legion

Veterans Advantage, which provides discounts and services for Veterans.

I also belong to several Coast Guard Facebook Groups and various blogs and chat rooms. Both provide a great source to gather with Coast Guard Veterans and current members.

Based on your own experiences, what advice would you give to those who have recently joined the Coast Guard?

1974, Boot Camp (Cape May, NJ), D/91

I think the two pieces of advice I would give anyone enlisting in the Coast Guard or thinking about it would be:

1. Make the best of it, and learn from the experiences. Growing up, I was a street brat, and I loved hanging out with friends on street corners, often getting in trouble with the local police. My High School guidance counselor and a Math Teacher told me I needed some self-discipline and suggested the military. Which I wasn't too excited about, especially during the Vietnam War. A number of my cousins were severely injured, and one is listed as MIA after the Tet Offensive. My Math Teacher suggested the CG. Being in the CG, I learned a lot about myself and my world.

2. There will be times and situations that will test you to the limit and beyond. You need to look beyond the present and look to the future. View everything through the lens of a learning experience.

In what ways has TogetherWeServed.com helped you remember your military service and the friends you served with.

MKFN Robert Mitchell's Military Plaque

TWS has given me a place to share my memories, a place to find others and make new friends that "get it."

I like that I have a place to keep my military history, and I truly encourage others to do so. You won't regret it.

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