James Steele Gracey (August 24, 1927 – April 5, 2020) was an admiral 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 ...

who served as the 17th

commandant Commandant ( or ) is a title often given to the officer in charge of a military (or other uniformed service) training establishment or academy. This usage is common in English-speaking nations. In some countries it may be a military or police ran ...

from 1982 to 1986.

Early life and education

Gracey was born in

Newton, Massachusetts Newton is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is approximately west of downtown Boston. Newton resembles a patchwork of thirteen villages, without a city center. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, the population of Ne ...

and was the son of Ernest J. Gracey and Edna S. Gracey. Following graduation from

Needham High School Needham High School is a public high school in Needham, Massachusetts, educating grades 9 through 12. Aaron Sicotte is the principal of Needham High School. Its three assistant principals are Alison Coubrough-Argentieri, Mary Kay Alessi, and Pie ...

in Needham, Massachusetts, he accepted an appointment to the

United States Coast Guard Academy The United States Coast Guard Academy (USCGA) is a service academy of the United States Coast Guard in New London, Connecticut. Founded in 1876, it is the smallest of the five U.S. service academies and provides education to future Coast G ...

New London, Connecticut New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States, located at the mouth of the Thames River in New London County, Connecticut. It was one of the world's three busiest whaling ports for several decade ...

. While a cadet at the Academy, he served as battalion commander and captain of the baseball team. He was also a member of the soccer and rifle teams.

Coast Guard career

Following graduation in June 1949, he agreed to remain at the Academy until the following September as a tactical instructor. From 1951 to 1953, he was stationed at the Captain of the Port Office in Boston, Massachusetts. Between March and May 1953 he attended the LORAN Indoctrination School at Coast Guard Training Station, Groton, Connecticut. After completing the course he commanded the

LORAN LORAN, short for long range navigation, was a hyperbolic radio navigation system developed in the United States during World War II. It was similar to the UK's Gee system but operated at lower frequencies in order to provide an improved range u ...

station, Ocean Cape, Yakutat, Alaska, for one year. He then returned to the Academy for a brief assignment as assistant tactics officer and baseball coach from June to September 1954. He entered the Graduate School of Business Administration at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

in 1954, receiving a master of business administration in June 1956. As part of his work at Harvard, he spent the summer of 1955 in industry training at

Norton Company Norton Abrasives of Worcester, Massachusetts, USA is the world's largest manufacturer and supplier of abrasives for commercial applications, household, and automotive refinishing usage. Norton Company was founded in 1885 by a group of ceramists ...

in Worcester, Massachusetts. From July 1956 to July 1960, he served at Coast Guard Headquarters, Washington, DC, as a branch chief in the supply division. During the following two years he commanded the buoy tender out of New London, Connecticut. The ship serviced aids to navigation along the seacoast of Connecticut and Long Island and broke ice on the Hudson River From September 1962 to April 1965, he served as Comptroller, of the St. Louis-based Second Coast Guard District with collateral duties that included cadet procurement in Kansas and Missouri. He then transferred to the Third Coast Guard District staff in New York to serve as assistant Project Officer for the conversion of Fort Jay, Governors Island from an Army post to a Coast Guard facility. His duties included developing the organization for the host command and planning all the island's "humanities." For that duty he was awarded the Secretary of Treasury Commendation for Achievement Ribbon. From March 1966 to June 1969, he was executive officer of the Coast Guard Base at Governors Island for which he received a Coast Guard Letter of Commendation. His special duties during that period included community relations with the large island population and labor relations, including negotiating contracts with several different unions. Gracey served in a number of

flag officer A flag officer is a commissioned officer in a nation's armed forces senior enough to be entitled to fly a flag to mark the position from which the officer exercises command. The term is used differently in different countries: *In many countries ...

assignments prior to becoming commandant, including commander of the

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

-based Ninth Coast Guard District, with responsibility for the Great Lakes area; commander of

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

-based Twelfth Coast Guard District and Pacific Area, with responsibility for the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

area; and commander of the

Governors Island Governors Island is a island in New York Harbor, within the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is located approximately south of Manhattan Island, and is separated from Brooklyn to the east by the Buttermilk Channel. The National Park ...

, New York-based Third Coast Guard District and Atlantic Area, with responsibility for the U.S. Eastern seaboard and Gulf Coast. Gracey died on April 5, 2020, in Falls Church, Virginia, at the age of 92.Former Commandant Admiral James Gracey Passes Away
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Dates of rank

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gracey, James S. 1927 births 2020 deaths Commandants of the United States Coast Guard Reagan administration personnel Military personnel from Newton, Massachusetts People from Needham, Massachusetts United States Coast Guard Academy alumni United States Coast Guard admirals Harvard Business School alumni 20th-century American military personnel