You may not know this but two hundred and thirty one thousand men and 10,000 women
served in the Coast Guard during World War II.
Besides piloting many Navy vessels and Coast Guard cutters during the War,
the most important war-related job was planning and executing water-landing operations.
It was the men from the Coast Guard who piloted those small Higgins boats,
transporting Marines and soldiers from ship to shore during famous amphibious assaults
like Guadalcanal and D-Day in Normandy.
And out of those two hundred thirty thousand servicemen who served on both oceans in World War Two,
only one Coast Guard member earned America's highest military award, the Medal of Honor.
This is the amazing story of Douglas Munro,
next on Marking History!
Here is the historical marker honoring Coast Guard Coxswain Douglas Munro.
It is located here in front of Douglas Munro Hall at the United States Coast Guard Academy in New London Connecticut.
During World War Two, it was the heroic action of Signalman First Class Douglas Munro
which saved 500 Marines who were evacuating a beach in Guadalcanal due to attacking Japanese.
He was killed during the firefight after ensuring that all the Marines were safe.
For his actions, he remains the only member of the U.S. Coast Guard to receive the Medal of Honor.
Now let's learn more about this incredible Coast Guard Hero!
Douglas Albert Munro was born to James and Edith Munro in Vancouver, British Columbia on October 11, 1919.
When Douglas was two years old, his family moved to South Cle Elum,
a very small town in Washington state, where he grew up during the next twenty years.
1939 was not a good year.
America was engulfed in the Great Depression.
Nationwide, one quarter of the workforce was out of work.
Overseas, war in Europe had begun.
And the threat of global conflict worsened each day.
I had hope against hope that some miracle would prevent the devastating war in Europe.
Young Doug and his family followed the news and listened to President Roosevelt's fireside chats.
It seemed clear in 1939 that young able-bodied men could enlist now or wait to be drafted.
Because Doug loved the water, he set his mind on enlisting in the Coast Guard
because it gave him the greatest opportunity to help others.
Unfortunately, the Coast Guard had not acquired a new recruit in nearly seven years,
due to downsizing in personnel following World War One.
Fortunately, President Roosevelt had authorized the Coast Guard to add two thousand men to their ranks
just seven days before Doug's enlistment!
After signing his enlistment papers, he failed his physical examination for being underweight.
Luckily, his mom helped him put on the needed six pounds in the next ten days!
On September 18th, 1939, 19 year old Douglas Munro walked to the front door
of the Seattle Coast Guard Recruitment Office at the same time as another recruit.
As Fate would have it, Doug just met his lifetime best friend and fellow “Coastie”, Raymond Evans.
They formed an immediate friendship and became inseparable. Where one went, the other was there.
The pair became known to shipmates as "the Gold Dust Twins”, an early 1900s nickname
often used to describe two talented individuals working closely together for a common goal.
Their first bus stop was Port Angeles, Washington, established four years earlier
as the first Coast Guard air station on the Pacific Coast.
Because recruit training had been disbanded for years,
the Coast Guard didn't know what to do with this busload of newcomers!
So, they had them mowing the grass, and performing simple maintenance on the boats.
Eventually Doug and Ray were selected to crew their first two years
on board the US Coast Guard Cutter Spencer, a 327-foot Treasury-class cutter
which patrolled out of New York, and later Boston.
While on the Spencer, Munro advanced quickly, making Signalman 2nd Class by the end of 1941.
After the Spencer, Munro and Evans volunteered for reassignment to the Coast Guard- crewed attack transport
USS Hunter Liggett, patrolling in the Pacific.
During that time, Munro was made a part of Transport Division Seventeen,
helping to coordinate, direct, and train other troops for amphibious assaults.
After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, several major naval battles took place in the Pacific.
The United States' first taste of amphibious assaults in the Pacific War was at Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands chain
in August 1942.
Strategically, this was the Allied's first major land offensive
because of the airfield under construction by the Japanese.
By mid-1942, USS Hunter Liggett was tasked with supporting the Guadalcanal Campaign.
After the initial Marine landings, a base was established at Lunga Point.
Munro was assigned here along with other Coast Guard and Navy personnel
to operate the landing craft and assist with communications.
When the Marines moved west of Lunga Point, they encountered an entrenched Japanese position
on the west side of the Matanikau River.
It was clear that an attack across the river would be fruitless.
A plan was devised to bring men down the coast, to land west of the Japanese position,
allowing an attack from both sides.
To achieve this goal Marine Lieutenant Colonel Lewis “Chesty” Puller ordered three companies
from his 7th Marines into landing craft and began an assault on September 27th.
Munro was put in charge of the landing craft assigned to discharge the Marines west of Point Cruz.
At 12:30 p.m., the boats were away, headed towards the shore.
The Higgins boats beached virtually unopposed,
deposited the men, and returned to Lunga Point with injured sailors and Marines.
What the Marines did not know was that the Japanese had anticipated their landing and were well prepared.
The Japanese waited until the Marines reached the high ground on Hill 84,
about five hundred yards from the beach, before attacking with mortar and artillery fire.
The Marines were surrounded and under attack by superior forces --- AND without a radio.
Desperate, the men spelled out the word “HELP” on the ground with their white undershirts.
Luckily a Marine pilot saw the message and radioed it in.
When he got the message, Lieutenant Colonel Chesty Puller left his command post and walked to the beach
to signal the USS Monssen for assistance.
Puller took a launch out to the ship, explaining the situation to the commanding officer.
With the Marines in danger of being overrun, Puller ordered the gunnery officer to lay down a barrage with his guns
on the Japanese positions, managing to clear a narrow corridor to the beach.
Using Monssen's signal lamp, Puller ordered the Marines to fight their way to the shore.
Retired Colonel Mack McCleod was then a platoon sergeant with the first battalion, seventh Marines.
The destroyer starting to fire salvos into the bottom of the hill.
And as they fired a salvo into the bottom of the hill, we ran into the salvo.
And then they fired another salvo. And we leap-frogged down to the beach that way.
The boat crews were still refueling the landing craft at Lunga Point
when word came down that the Marines they had just landed needed to be evacuated immediately.
The commanding officer asked Munro and Evans if they were ready to go back and get the Marines off the beach.
Munro replied
With Munro leading the way, the boat crews sped back to the beach to extract the overwhelmed Marines.
As the boats under Munro's charge approached the recovery points,
hey came under heavy fire from the Japanese at a ridge abandoned by the Marines
a stark difference to the peacefulness of the first landing.
As enemy fire increased, one of the boat crews pulled their craft alongside Munro's.
They yelled that a rescue attempt was too dangerous and suggested they all return to Lunga Point Base.
Munro yelled,
Munro maneuvered his craft parallel with the shore
while Evans provided covering fire from one of the boat's 30 caliber machine guns.
Munro held station as the beleaguered men swam out to protected side of the landing craft and climbed in.
As the last Marines loaded into landing craft, Munro turned his boat to lead the group back to Lunga Point.
On the way back, Munro noticed a landing craft still stuck on some coral reef.
Munro pulled alongside it, where Marines tied a tow rope to it.
After several minutes, and still under fire, the landing craft was free, and Munro pulled behind it.
Years later, best friend and shipmate, Raymond Evans remembers what happened next.
Doug was facing forward and I was standing by the coxswain looking back.
I was this line of water spouts coming across the water and I yelled at Doug to get down.
He couldn't hear me over the engine noise. And it hit him. One burst of fire.
Evans grabbed the wheel and sped back to Lunga Point.
Beaching the boat, he jumped down to Munro, who had just regained consciousness.
Munro asked Evans, “Did they get off?” Evans replied “Yes”.
Munro smiled and died.
He saved a battalion of Marines.
He was instrumental in getting us in and making himself the target. And he paid for it.
Thanks to Munro's heroism, his swift action, and excellent leadership, 500 Marines made it off the beach that day,
including future Medal of Honor recipient, Gunnery Sergeant John Basilone.
The men he saved went on to help capture the Matanikau River early in October,
which meant the beginning of the end for Japanese forces on Guadalcanal.
Colonel Chesty Puller, who had ordered that fateful attack, nominated Coast Guardman Douglas Munro for the Medal of Honor.
The nomination was endorsed by Admiral William Halsey Jr.,
and President Franklin Roosevelt approved the decoration on May 1, 1943.
On May 27,1943, in a small White House ceremony, the President of the United States
presented America's Highest Military Award, the Medal of Honor, to Doug's parents, James and Edith.
A few short hours later, Edith Munro raised her hand, swore an oath,
and joined the Coast Guard to honor her only son.
She persisted when the Coast Guard was reluctant to allow her to join.
She was 48, and a Gold Star Mother of a Medal of Honor recipient.
At her own insistence, she went through boot camp as any recruit would do,
requesting no special treatment.
Edith earned a commission in the SPARS
the acronym for Semper Paratus Always Ready
which was the women's branch of the Coast Guard.
Mrs. Munro ran the Coast Guard Barracks in Seattle and was discharged in late 1945 with the rank of Lieutenant.
After the war, Munro's remains were brought back to the United States.
He was buried with honors in 1948 at the Laurel Hill Memorial Park in his hometown of Cle Elum, Washington.
The Greater Seattle Chapter of the Chief Petty Officer Association is honored to welcome you
to the annual reclaim and remembrance ceremony to honor Signalman First Class Douglas A Munro.
A United States Coast Guard hero and Medal of Honor recipient.
Every year on September 27th, a ceremony honors him at this town memorial.
The Marine Corps will never forget his actions on Sept 27, 1942 in saving so many Marines.
To honor him, Douglas Munro was added to the Hall of Heroes
of the National Museum of the Marine Corps, becoming the only non-Marine represented on it.
The US Coast Guard has honored Signalman First Class and Medal of Honor recipient Douglas Munro in many ways.
Three ships have been named after him.
A larger than life statue of Munro resides outside the US Coast Guard Training Center in Cape May, New Jersey.
And inside Munro Hall resides Doug's Medal of Honor on display with accompanying citation from President Roosevelt.
And in the ultimate symbol of honor, the US Coast Guard named their national headquarters in Washington, DC
the Douglas A. Munro Coast Guard Headquarters Building.
In the two hundred thirty three year history of the United State Coast Guard, one signalman stands out
22 year old Douglas Munro, the Guard's only member to receive our nation's highest military honor.
If history can be taught with stories
they can never be forgotten.
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