The Christy Collection

Military Stories and Articles

Service Reflections of RM3 Sidney Weinstein, U.S. Coast Guard (1942-1946)

Service Reflections of RM3 Sidney Weinstein, U.S. Coast Guard (1942-1946)

I was in high school at the time of Pearl Harbor. I had never heard of Pearl Harbor and didn’t know where it was. That was true for many of my friends, but we sure found out quickly. We all became Gung Ho and were ready to enlist; however, we had a couple of months left before graduation, so I opted to finish school. Many of my friends did enlist, going into the US Army Air Corps to become pilots. That was my desire also, but my father said “NO.” He was in the First World War, captured by the Germans, and gassed. He was shot, and he lost three fingers on his left hand.

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Famous Coast Guard Unit: USCGC Ironwood (WAGL/WLB-297/NRPN)

Famous Coast Guard Unit: USCGC Ironwood (WAGL/WLB-297/NRPN)

On March 31, 1941, Marine Iron and Shipbuilding in Duluth, Minnesota, laid the keel for the first Coast Guard vessel of a Mesquite new buoy tender class, joining the so-called "Black Hull" fleet. The new vessel measured 180 feet overall and had a beam of 37 feet at the extreme. She had a displacement of 935 tons and drew 12 feet. Marine Iron and Shipbuilding made all but one, the Coast Guard cutter Ironwood (USCGC Ironwood), coming in for $1,388,277, was built at the USCG yard in Curtis Bay,...

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