OCEAN STATION RESCUES

UPDATED DECEMBER 2021

Photos: U.S. Coast Guard

It was a miracle on the high seas and the U.S. Coast Guard was there. On Oct. 16, 1956, Pan American World Airways Flight 6, bound for San Francisco from Honolulu, was forced to ditch in the Pacific Ocean, after two of its propeller engines failed.

Though the fuselage broke apart on impact, all 31 souls were taken aboard the cutter Pontchartrain WHEC-70, which was on routine "Ocean Station" patrol. 

The cutter was posted at Ocean Station November - a fixed spot between Hawaii and California - for weather observation and search and rescue assignments, such as downed aircraft. The Coast Guard posted ocean station cutters in the Atlantic Ocean, too.

Flight 6 ran into trouble after midnight. The crew contacted Pontchartrain by radio, arranged a rendezvous and ditched after first light with the cutter's lifeboats crews at the ready. It's been said the Coast Guard gets no respect. Legend has it one of the rescued passengers exclaimed "Thank God for the Navy!" once aboard the cutter.

Forty-four cases of canaries trapped in the cargo hold of the aircraft weren't as fortunate.

The Ocean Station program was established in 1940 under orders from President Franklin Roosevelt. It initially focused on the Atlantic Ocean under the name Atlantic Weather Observation Service. 

BERMUDA SKY QUEEN

Photos: National Archives, U.S. Coast Guard 

In an earlier close call, cutter George M. Bibb WPG-31 - assigned to Ocean Station Charlie in the North Atlantic - went to the aid of a Boeing 314 "flying boat" that landed intact on Oct. 13, 1947 - and bobbed about with nowhere to proceed.

The "Bermuda Sky Queen" operated by American International Airways was bound for Gander, New Foundland, from Ireland with 62 passengers - many of them children - when it ran out of fuel. It also carried a crew of seven.

There were no serious injuries, however, transferring passengers to the Bibb proved extraordinarily dangerous due to sea conditions and stretched into a second day.

Bibb landed the passengers in Boston. The Queen was scuttled. The flying boat's crew was found at fault for miscalculating its ability to reach Gander with ample fuel in Atlantic headwinds. It was also determined that the aircraft was overweight.

Ocean Weather Station Dog, about 380 miles off Newfoundland, was the scene of another aircraft rescue. It happened April 27, 1948, when a C-47 - Military Air Transport Service Flight 6396 - ditched near the cutter Sebago WHEC-42. The C-47's crew of four survived, according to Coast Guard archives.

Ocean station patrols ceased in the 1970s.

Image: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

DOUGLAS A. MUNRO

Signalman First Class Douglas A. Munro, 22, was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his service at the Battle of Guadalcanal in World War Two - the first member of the U.S. Coast Guard to receive the nation's highest military honor.

His citation reads:

"For extraordinary heroism and conspicuous gallantry in action above and beyond the call of duty as petty officer in charge of a group of 24 Higgins boats, engaged in the evacuation of a battalion of marines trapped by enemy Japanese forces at Point Cruz, Guadalcanal on 27 September 1942.

"After making preliminary plans for the evacuation of nearly 500 beleaguered marines, Munro, under constant strafing by enemy machine guns on the island, and at great risk of his life, daringly led five of his small craft toward the shore.

"As he closed the beach, he signaled the others to land, and then in order to draw the enemy's fire and protect the heavily loaded boats, he valiantly placed his craft with its two small guns as a shield between the beachhead and the Japanese.

"When the perilous task of evacuation was nearly completed, Munro was instantly killed by enemy fire, but his crew, two of whom were wounded, carried on until the last boat had loaded and cleared the beach.

"By his outstanding leadership, expert planning, and dauntless devotion to duty, he and his courageous comrades undoubtedly saved the lives of many who otherwise would have perished. He gallantly gave his life for his country."

- Congressional Medal of Honor Society