Coast Guard Day is held every
August 4
Events Pre-1600
* 598 – Goguryeo-Sui War: In response to a Goguryeo (Korean) incursion into Liaoxi, Emperor Wéndi of Sui orders his youngest son, Yang Liang (assisted by the co-prime minister Gao Jiong), to conquer Goguryeo during t ...
to commemorate the founding of the
United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mu ...
as the
Revenue Marine on August 4, 1790, by then-
Secretary of the Treasury
The United States secretary of the treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, and is the chief financial officer of the federal government of the United States. The secretary of the treasury serves as the principal a ...
Alexander Hamilton. On that date, U.S. Congress, guided by Hamilton, authorized the building of a fleet of the
first ten Revenue Service cutters, whose responsibility would be enforcement of the first tariff laws enacted by the U.S. Congress under the U.S. Constitution.
[Krietemeyer, p 5]
Background
The U.S. Coast Guard received its present name through an act of the U.S. Congress signed into law by U.S. President
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of P ...
on January 28, 1915 that merged the Revenue Cutter Service with the
U.S. Life-Saving Service
The United States Life-Saving ServiceDespite the lack of hyphen in its insignia, the agency itself is hyphenated in government documents including: and was a United States government agency that grew out of private and local humanitarian effor ...
, and provided the nation with a single maritime service dedicated to saving life at sea and enforcing the nation's maritime laws.
[Johnson, p 32][King, p 240][
The U.S. Coast Guard began to maintain the country's maritime aids to navigation, including operating U.S. lighthouses, when President ]Franklin Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
announced plans to transfer of the U.S. Lighthouse Service to the Coast Guard in May 1939. Congress approved the plan effective 1 July 1939.[Johnson, p 162][ On 16 July 1946, Congress permanently transferred the ]Department of Commerce
The United States Department of Commerce is an executive department of the U.S. federal government concerned with creating the conditions for economic growth and opportunity. Among its tasks are gathering economic and demographic data for bus ...
Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation to the Coast Guard, thereby placing merchant marine licensing and merchant vessel safety under Coast Guard regulation.[Johnson, p 262][
After 177 years in the Treasury Department, the Coast Guard was transferred to the newly formed Department of Transportation effective April 1, 1967.][Johnson, p 340][ As a result of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the U.S. Coast Guard was transferred to the new U.S. Department of Homeland Security in 2003.][
]
History
Coast Guard Day is primarily an internal activity for active duty and reserve Coast Guardsmen, civilian employees, retirees, auxiliarists, and dependents, but it does have a significant share of interest outside the service. U.S. Coast Guard units throughout the United States usually plan picnics and informal sport competitions together with family and friends on Coast Guard Day. In addition to celebrating their own day every year, U.S. Coast Guardsmen also participate as equal partners in Armed Forces Day
Many nations around the world observe some kind of Armed Forces Day to honor their military forces. This day is not to be confused with Veterans Day or Memorial Day.
Africa
Egypt
In Egypt, Armed Forces Day is celebrated on 6 Octobe ...
activities. Grand Haven, Michigan
Grand Haven is a city within the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Ottawa County. Grand Haven is located on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Grand River, for which it is named. As of the 2010 census, Grand H ...
, also known by act of Congress as "Coast Guard City, USA", annually sponsors the Coast Guard Festival the week of August 4.[Section 409, Public Law 105–383; Coast Guard Authorization Act of 1998.]
See also
*Fleet Week
Fleet Week is a United States Navy, United States Marine Corps, and United States Coast Guard tradition in which active military ships recently deployed in overseas operations dock in a variety of major cities for one week. Once the ships dock, ...
Notes
;Citations
;References cited
*
*
*
*
* {{cite book, last=King, first=Irving H., title=The Coast Guard Expands, 1865–1915: New Roles, New Frontiers, year=1996, publisher=Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, isbn=1-55750-458-X, url-access=registration, url=https://archive.org/details/coastguardexpand0000king
External links
Coast Guard Day Petaluma
Coast Guard Festival
August observances