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Don Boyd | all galleries >> People, Family and Friends Photo Galleries >> Don Boyd or Don with Friends in the spectacular '60's Gallery > 1967 - Don wearing the new Coast Guard cover for E1-E6 personnel
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APR-1967 SN Dennis "Mike" Treston

1967 - Don wearing the new Coast Guard cover for E1-E6 personnel

Coast Guard Yard, Curtis Bay, Maryland


My first duty assignment after recruit training was as a yeoman striker in the personnel office at Coast Guard Group Baltimore, a large Fifth Coast Guard District tenant unit located in Building 70 on the grounds of the Coast Guard Yard, a Headquarters unit, at Curtis Bay, Maryland. The Coast Guard Yard is the Coast Guard's only internal shipyard and has existed since World War II. The offices and comm center were on the first floor and our living quarters were on the second floor. We dined at the CG Yard's administration building galley a short distance away to the north. That galley had some really good cooks serving great food, especially during the week when everyone at the Yard ate there. I'm still surprised I didn't put on any weight while I was stationed there. My most memorable meals were the "SOS" (Shit on a Shingle or creamed chipped beef on toast) breakfasts that I had several times a week. I was stationed at Curtis Bay from August 1966 until June 1967 when I had a mutual change of station with SN Manuel Zuriga Jr. approved for a transfer to Coast Guard Station Lake Worth Inlet, a 19-man search and rescue station located on Peanut Island between Riviera Beach and Palm Beach, FL.

CAPT R. M. Hutchins was Group Baltimore Commander and Captain of the Port for Baltimore. YNCM Coyle was the personnel office manager, until a weird Chief Warrant Personnel Officer was assigned to the office shortly before my transfer.

On April 1, 1967, the Coast Guard was dubiously transferred from the Treasury Department to the newly created Department of Transportation because the US DOT needed to have an agency of about 35,000 people in order to justify cabinet level status in the LBJ administration.

Since the Coast Guard uniform was often confused with the identical Navy uniform, except for the small CG shield on the right sleeve, someone came up with the idea of a distinctive hat for enlisted Coasties to wear instead of the Navy dixie-cups. Unfortunately the hat did not have a brim and wasn't too popular with those who had to wear them. A complete uniform change came about in the mid-1970's and it included yet another hat but one with a brim.


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Donald R. Heilbrun 07-Mar-2021 08:22
I liked the new cover..... it lasted quick as they say.

Don Heilbrun