Harry Truman News

1861 - While commanding a gunboat flotilla, Cmdr. James Harmon Ward is mortally wounded by a musket ball while aiming the bow gun of his flagship, USS Thomas Freeborn at Mathias Point, Va. Ward is the first US Naval officer casualty of the Civil War. 1898 - During the Spanish-American War, the 301-ton yacht Hornet captures the Spanish steamer Benito Estenger off Cape Cruz, Cuba. 1916 - At the Battle of Los Trencheros during the Dominican Campaign in the Dominican Republic, the Fourth Marine Regiment withstands an attack by Dominican insurgent forces. 1945 - PV-1 (VPB 142) sinks the Japanese submarine I 165, 450 miles east of Saipan, Mariana Islands. 1945 - USS Blueback (SS 326) sinks Imperial Japanese Navy submarine chaser, (CH 2), north of Lombok, Java Sea.

On Thursday, March 19, 2015, Arthur H. Thomas, Sr., president and CEO of Helix Alliance, Inc., received the Chapel of Four Chaplains Legion of Honor Award. The award was presented by retired Capt. Louis Cavaliere, U.S. Navy, chairman of the Four Chaplains Memorial Foundation, and George DuBois, chapel trustee, and mentor to the shipping community. The presentation was made at a joint meeting of the Propeller Club of Jacksonville and the Navy League. Cavaliere cited Thomas’ participation in numerous charitable organizations, including the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and American Diabetes Foundation, through his position as chief operating officer at Solutions Through Advanced Research, Inc. (STAR), a Jacksonville company active in pharmaceutical research and clinical trials.

The United States Coast Guard honored World War II veteran Phillip Sustersic for his Merchant Marine Service nearly 70 years ago with medals during a ceremony held at Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit Cleveland on September 5, 2013. Rear Adm. Fred Midgette, commander of the Coast Guard 9th District, presented the Ohio veteran Mr. Sustersic with the the World War II Victory Medal, the Atlantic War Zone Medal, the Mediterranean War Zone Medal, the Honorable Service Button, the Merchant Marine Emblem, a Harry Truman presidential letter and a 9th District challenge coin. uscgnews.com

Electric Boat Shipyard in Groton holds ceremony on 60th anniversary of the keel-laying of 'Nautilus', the first nuclear-powered submarine It was on June 14, 1952, that President Harry Truman officiated at the milestone for the submarine at the Electric Boat shipyard. People involved with the Nautilus including the Navy's one-time project officer for the sub and a former shipyard employee who worked on the torpedo tube doors participated in the ceremony. The Nautilus became the first vessel to cross the North Pole beneath the ice cap in 1958 and it was decommissioned in 1980 and is now part of the U.S. Navy Submarine Force Museum in Groton.

1897-The Overland Expedition, consisting of three officers from the Revenue Cutter Service, departed from the cutter Bear off Nunivak Island to rescue 300 whalers trapped in the ice at Point Barrow, Alaska. The rescuers were First Lieutenant D. H. Jarvis, Second Lieutenant E. P. Bertholf (later a commandant), and Surgeon S. J. Call. The rescuers had to travel over 1,000 miles overland to reach the whalers. 1903-Life-Saving Service personnel from Kill Devil Hills Life-Saving Station helped carry materials to the launch site for the first successful heavier-than-air aircraft flight by the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina and then assisted the brothers in their flights that day. The life-savers were John T. Daniels, W.S. Dough and A.D. Etheridge.

1897-The Overland Expedition, consisting of three officers from the Revenue Cutter Service, departed from the cutter Bear off Nunivak Island to rescue 300 whalers trapped in the ice at Point Barrow, Alaska. The rescuers were First Lieutenant D. H. Jarvis, Second Lieutenant E. P. Bertholf (later a commandant), and Surgeon S. J. Call. The rescuers had to travel over 1,000 miles overland to reach the whalers. 1903-Life-Saving Service personnel from Kill Devil Hills Life-Saving Station helped carry materials to the launch site for the first successful heavier-than-air aircraft flight by the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina and then assisted the brothers in their flights that day. The life-savers were John T. Daniels, W.S. Dough and A.D. Etheridge.

1886- An Act of Congress (24 Stat. L., 148) authorized an increase in the number of lighthouse districts to 16 within the Lighthouse Establishment. 1846- Revenue Cutter Woodbury put down a mutiny on board the troop ship Middlesex during the Mexican War. 1948- President Harry Truman ordered the integration of the armed forces of the United States with Executive Order 9981, signed 26 July 1948. By this time the Coast Guard had already opened up all of its rates to all qualified persons regardless of race. The Coast Guard noted "the importance of selecting men for what they are, for what they are capable of doing, and insisting on good conduct, good behavior, and good qualities of leadership for all hands.

1897-The Overland Expedition, consisting of three officers from the Revenue Cutter Service, departed from the cutter Bear off Nunivak Island to rescue 300 whalers trapped in the ice at Point Barrow, Alaska. The rescuers were First Lieutenant D. H. Jarvis, Second Lieutenant E. P. Bertholf (later a commandant), and Surgeon S. J. Call. The rescuers had to travel over 1,000 miles overland to reach the whalers. 1903-Life-Saving Service personnel from Kill Devil Hills Life-Saving Station helped carry materials to the launch site for the first successful heavier-than-air aircraft flight by the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina and then assisted the brothers in their flights that day. The life-savers were John T. Daniels, W.S. Dough and A.D. Etheridge.