This Day in Coast Guard History – May 20, 2010

1882-The lookout of Station No. 10 (Louisville, Kentucky), 9th District, spotted two men and a skiff being swept toward the dam and falls of the Ohio River.  He sounded the alarm and "a boat at once shot out from the station, and reached the men in time to save them.  They were quite ignorant of rowing . . . and were at the mercy of the flood sweeping towards the dam.  They were terribly frightened and profuse in their thanks to their rescuers."

1999- The CGC Bear arrived in Rota, Spain.  She was deployed to the Adriatic Sea in support of “Operation Allied Force” and “Operation Noble Anvil”, NATO's military campaign against the forces of the former Republic of Yugoslavia.  Bear served in the USS Theodore Roosevelt Battle Group providing surface surveillance and SAR response for the Sea Combat Commander, and force protection for the Amphibious Ready Group operating near Albania.  Bear provided combat escort for U.S. Army vessel's transporting military cargo between Italy and Albania.  This escort operation took Bear up to the Albanian coastline, well within enemy surface-to-surface missile range.

(Source: USCG Historian’s Office)