U.S. Coast Guard Neighbors
My Father and Mother, George F. and Ruth N. Walter, owned property and a summer cottage from about 1948-1953 south of, and adjoining the U.S. Coast Guard Life Saving Station in Nags Head, NC. While the station is no longer standing, having been destroyed in the 1962 Ash Wednesday storm, I have many fond childhood memories there.
As I walked by the galley, a separate building next to the main Coast Guard Station, I used to smell the cooking on my way to the garage, where the walk-in refrigerator was located. They let my family keep our milk and other big items like watermelon there, as we had a small icebox to keep items in our house. Once in a while, they would let me go into the station and walk up the steps to the tower, and look at the radio stuff and to look out over the ocean.
The Coast Guard used to put a flag up every morning for “Reveille.” I had a small flag on a rod. Every morning when they put up their flag, I would run up a large sand dune in the front side yard next to the USCG property and plant my flag in the center of a large coffee can, buried upside-down. For “Taps” when their flag was taken down, I’d run and take mine down, too. One time a very long telephone pole washed up on the shore, and I rolled it home. I tried to put it up to make a flag pole of my own, but I could not do it! For my 12th birthday on July 13, 1952, the guys at the Coast Guard Station came over one morning—surprising me—they dug a hole and put up the pole that I had struggled with. They put a pulley at the top of the pole, a cleat to tie the new rope to, and lastly, they gave me a brand new flag. My mother filmed the incident, but the film has been lost to history.
A few more memories…
One of the “Coasties,” Dorsey (last name), used to whistle at my oldest sister, Naomi. He would also sing the song, If I Knew You Were Comin’ I’d’ve Baked a Cake by Eileen Barton, while on duty in the tower. Also he used to walk the tower railing or hang down from it showing off, whenever he saw her. Well, it got to Naomi, so my Dad had to go over one day and speak to Chief Westcott about it, which brought it to a stop.
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My Mother and I rode in the Coast Guard jeep to Manteo, NC on Roanoke Island about seven miles away crossing an old rickety bridge with the Guardsman driving real fast and laughing the whole way, while Mother and I were a bit scared as the boards were going up and down on the bridge.
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My Mother and Father were watching the kids swim between the Coast Guard Station and our house on the beach. They got into a conversation with Chief Westcott; suddenly the Chief turned and went to the ocean pulling my brother Jimmy out of the water. He had to turn Jimmy upside down to get water out of him.
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My sister, Naomi, was left in charge of us while our parents were gone, when the Coast Guard had a helicopter land next to the Station one afternoon. The Guardsman asked us if we wanted to go for a ride. We said, “Yes!” —but we had to check with our oldest sister. Sadly, Naomi said “No!” and this irritated me and my sisters, Carole and Lea.
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When a hurricane was coming up the coast, the Coast Guard guys came over around 1 a.m. in the morning to warn us that we should leave the beach. We immediately packed and when leaving the beach over the three-mile-long Wright Memorial Bridge at 5 in the morning the water in Currituck Sound was up close to the level of the road.
After high school and after spending about four years in the U.S. Air Force, I came back home to Elizabeth City, NC. Through my congressman Herbert C. Bonner I was able to switch from the Inactive Air Force Reserve to the Active Reserve in the U.S Coast Guard for three years.
While in, I went on a cruise on the USCGC Unimak (WHEC-379) leaving from Cape May, NJ. We left for Saint John’s, New Brunswick, Canada. While underway we had various drills. One was man overboard, where a lifeboat had to be launched to rescue a life vest. I watched the operation which was temporarily held up, wishing I could be a part of it. Turns out, I was supposed to be part of the rescue personnel! I did not know about the billet list (a description of duties) which posted all of the positions one is assigned during the cruise.
Note: I did not go to Coast Guard Boot Camp at Cape May, NJ.
USCGC Unimak (WHEC-379)
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More events and stories with the U.S. Coast Guard at Sailing Stories Part I and Part II when I was growing up.