Eugene Auguste Coffin Sr. (March 10, 1888 – January 20, 1972) was a

Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star " admiral" rank. It is often rega ...

in 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 ...

Biography

Eugene A. Coffin was born on March 10, 1888, in Fuzhou (Foochow) China. He was the son of Dr Julia Evelynn (Sparr) Coffin and John Auguste Coffin. He was married three times. First, to Nancy Jamison in 1911, who died in 1918 and with whom he had two sons. Second, to Peggy Powers in 1919, with whom he had two daughters. Third, to Marjorie Barber-Hite on August 28, 1948. Coffin died on January 20, 1972, and was buried at sea.

Career

Coffin first joined the Coast Guard in 1907. He would be stationed out of Boston, Massachusetts,

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, and

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in the earlier part of his career. In 1917 he became one of the Coast Guard's first six aviators. After flight training in

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, Coffin was designated Naval Aviator Number 59. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

he served as an executive officer and chief of staff at Rockaway Naval Air Station. From 1924 to 1928 he held command of the . Later he commanded the from 1931 to 1933 and the from 1936 to 1940. Coffin was given command of the Philadelphia District on December 11, 1940, and promoted to captain on May 1, 1941. Promoted to commodore, his transfer to head the Honolulu District was announced in September 1945. Coffin was promoted to rear admiral on January 4, 1948. Coffin was awarded the

Legion of Merit The Legion of Merit (LOM) is a military award of the United States Armed Forces that is given for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements. The decoration is issued to members of the eight ...

and the World War I Victory Medal. His retirement was effective as of April 1, 1949.

References

1888 births 1972 deaths People from Fuzhou American military personnel of World War I Recipients of the Legion of Merit United States Coast Guard admirals Generals from Fujian {{USCG-bio-stub