KEEP CALM. I'M A COASTIE.

Photo: National Archives

The U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary is the volunteer civilian branch of the U.S. Coast Guard with flotillas from Maine to Saipan as well as land-locked posts, such as Colorado.

It was established June 23, 1939 as the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve. On Feb. 19, 1941, the service adopted its current name when a separate Coast Guard military reserve was established in the buildup to World War Two. Commandant Russell R. Waesche was instrumental in the creation of the reserve and the auxiliary.
 
The U.S. Coast Guard, itself, is the nation’s oldest continuously operating naval service, created by Congress as the Revenue-Marine on Aug. 4 1790, at the request of Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton to collect customs duties. Its name was changed to the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service in the late 1800s.

Through a merger of the Revenue Cutter Service and the U.S. Life-Saving Service, the modern Coast Guard was established Jan. 28, 1915 as a humanitarian, safety and security service. Cutters also played a role in every major U.S. war since 1790. "Coasties" landed Army troops at Normandy, and Marines at Iwo Jima and Okinawa during World War Two.

The U.S. Lighthouse Service merged into the Coast Guard in 1939. The Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation - formerly the Steamboat Inspection Service - joined in 1942.

The first commandant of the combined Coast Guard was Ellsworth Price Bertholf, who also served as captain-commandant of the Revenue Cutter Service. He retired in 1919.

Today, the Coast Guard consists of an active duty and reserve force augmented by civil service employees and the auxiliary. It maintains a fleet of coastal and seagoing cutters, patrol ships, buoy tenders, tugs, icebreakers, small boats, specialized craft, helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft.

Auxiliary members staff their personal vessels and aircraft for patrols. They also participate in a variety of other activities, from disaster response specialists to Coast Guard-trained culinary specialists and vessel examiners - among others.

During World War Two, volunteers performed coastal defense, search and rescue and port security. After the war, they focused on safety patrols, public education and vessel examination. In 1996, Congress passed legislation expanding auxiliary’s role to assist in any Coast Guard mission, except direct law enforcement and military operations, as authorized by the commandant.

The Denver flotilla and other Colorado auxiliary units have provided personnel for Coast Guard hurricane relief and recovery efforts in Louisiana and Texas, and supported the Department of Homeland Security on the U.S.-Mexico border.

On the auxiliary's 85th anniversary in June 2024, U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Linda Fagan said the service's "steadfast volunteerism has helped the Coast Guard achieve mission success since 1939."