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 th ...
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
)
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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 ...
on January 28, 1915 that merged the Revenue Cutter Service with the
U.S. Life-Saving Service, 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
Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ma ...
, including operating U.S. lighthouses, when President Franklin Roosevelt 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 ]Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation
Bureau ( ) may refer to:
Agencies and organizations
*Government agency
*Public administration
* News bureau, an office for gathering or distributing news, generally for a given geographical location
* Bureau (European Parliament), the administra ...
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
The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries. Its stated missions involve anti-terr ...
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 October, ...
activities. Grand Haven, Michigan, also known by act of Congress as "Coast Guard City, USA", annually sponsors the Coast Guard Festival
Coast Guard Festival is a festival in Grand Haven, Michigan. Founded in 1924, the festival is a ten-day event that starts in the last weekend in July, and ends in early August. Over 350,000 people attend the festival, including the nation's highes ...
the week of August 4.[Section 409, Public Law 105–383; Coast Guard Authorization Act of 1998.]
See also
* Fleet Week
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