The U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary Celebrates 75 Years with Concert in Northport

The United States Coast Guard will celebrate its 75th anniversary On June 23. In 1939, Congress founded the Coast Guard Auxiliary as an organization of volunteers to promote boating safety and to augment the United States Coast Guard.

The diamond jubilee anniversary of the Coast Guard Auxiliary will be celebrated with a concert in Northport Park, in Northport, on Sunday June 22 at 2 p.m. The United States Coast Guard Auxiliary Band will perform an assortment of nautical, military and patriotic tunes under the direction of Lee Dash of Manorville.

On June 23, 2014, the Empire State Building will celebrate the Coast Guard Auxiliary’s 75 years of volunteer service to the United States Coast Guard and the boating public by illuminating the tower with the Auxiliary colors. Admiral Robert Papp, past Commandant of the Coast Guard, praised the 31,000-member force as “...the world’s premier maritime volunteers.” The Auxiliary’s theme for the 75th anniversary is “Honoring the Past Preparing for the Future.”

The Coast Guard Auxiliary has four broadly defined purposes: promoting safety of life at sea and on inland waterways, improving efficiency in operation of recreational vessels, educating boaters on laws, navigation and operation of boats, and helping the Coast Guard Active duty with some missions and operations.

During World War II the role of the Auxiliary expanded and members began wearing uniforms. During these early years Auxiliarist developed professional working relationships with the Coast Guard. Continuing that tradition of service, 75 years later the Auxiliary is an integral part of Team Coast Guard. Auxiliarists make a difference by volunteering their time, talents, use of their boats and equipment. They are proud to serve their communities and the nation.

Each year, across the United States, Auxiliarists teach boating safety classes for the public and provide free vessel safety checks to promote recreational boating safety. Members engage in safety patrols and search and rescue operations in support of the Coast Guard. Auxiliarists stand radio watches at many Coast Guard stations and provide food service by cooking at stations and on Coast Guard vessels. They effectively act as force multipliers for the Coast Guard.

During this diamond anniversary year, the Auxiliary provided sustained mission excellence to the Nation and the Coast Guard, as it has throughout its proud history. This year, Auxiliarists delivered over 4.2 million hours of operational and administrative manpower to Coast Guard missions. Auxiliary instructors spent over 96,000 hours teaching boating safety classes, and its vessel examiners performed over 130,000 recreational and fishing vessel safety checks. Auxiliary operators performed more than 66,000 hours of Search and rescue mission support saving over 470 lives and assisting 13,000 members of the boating public. Much to the credit of the Coast Guard Auxiliary, the number of boating safety-related deaths in the U.S. reached a historic low for a second consecutive year.