Placed at the end of the parade
field located on Coast Guard Training Center Cape May stands
a testament to the service’s devotion to duty. Inside the
training center, artifacts of Coast Guard history may be
seen throughout.
Whether it is the memorial to
Douglas Munro, the service’s only Medal of Honor winner, or
the mast that once belonged onboard the Coast Guard Cutter
Spencer, the most decorated cutter in the Coast Guard, the
artifacts serve to remind the recruits that they are joining
a branch of the military with a long, proud, history with
228 years of service to the nation. As they train in the
shadows of these testaments to the service’s past, they
inherently know that they are the service’s future.
The construction of the memorial is
like the construction of a recruit and requires both time
and care. Each brick placed carefully and with a defined
purpose. The large granite slabs wrapping tightly around the
center, each displaying the five predecessor agencies that
formed the modern day Coast Guard, as well as the names
carved in its granite walls, which are placed in the
chronological order of their passing dating back to 1915,
pay homage to the service’s history as well as its members.
