USCG Vets Crossing the bar

[Acaciavet]

God Bless 

[BuoyJumper]

Sometimes the grape vine travels slowly.  I just learned today of the passing of Captain Bill Bailey, USCG Retired.  Captain Bailey is well known amongst Coasties for the many articles he has authored that are posted at Jack's Joint.  As a tribute to Captain Bailey I have posted his story "BUOY TENDER DUTY IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC 1943-1946  HERE  which tells his story of his service aboard the 180-buoy tenders TUPELO and REDBUD during WWII in the South Pacific.

Captain Claude William "Bill" Bailey,
United States Coast Guard (Retired)

              

Bailey, Captain Claude William, USCG retired, 92, died March 26, 2008, in Plantation, Florida. A native of Lynn, Massachusetts, he attended Capital University and was commissioned in the US Coast Guard in 1942. He served for 30 years, retiring as Deputy Commander, Atlantic Area, in New York. He commanded a record number of ocean-going cutters (9), including the Coast Guard's largest ships, and was awarded the Legion of Merit and the Coast Guard Commendation Medal. He was also decorated by Great Britain for a major rescue at sea. Upon retirement, he continued his seagoing career by commanding three 40,000 ton tankers and a large geophysical research vessel in the Merchant Marine. Throughout his lifetime, Captain Bailey was a well-known classical musician, performing on trumpet, French horn and tympani, and as soloist, conductor and music arranger of numerous community bands and orchestras, as well as liturgical brass groups in various churches. He was married to the late Dorothy Neideck Bailey, and is survived by three sons, William (married to Gail), Brian and Bruce (married to Jacqueline) and two grandchildren (Jack and Robyn). Services will be held Saturday, April 5 at 11am at St. Benedict's Episcopal Church in Plantation.

Click on this LINK  to read Captain Bailey's USCG Bio.

[Acaciavet]

Rest in peace Sir.Semper Par.

[Salba]

Fair winds and following seas.

Prayers out to you and yours.

Best Wishes

[BuoyJumper]

For Release
HQNOTE 5360
5 DECEMBER 2008



RADM John D. McCubbin, USCG (Ret) John, age 94, passed away peacefully November 3, 2008, at his home in Steilacoom, WA. Born in Wichita, KS, John was raised in Dallas. TX. After graduating from the United States Coast Guard Academy in 1939, he served as an Ensign aboard the USCG Cutter Taney in Honolulu, HI. In 1942, after completing naval flight training at Pensacola, FL, he was assigned to anti-submarine warfare duty, flying out of Greenland during WWII. He served in operational and command positions in search and rescue at Port Angeles, WA, Elizabeth City, NC, Kodiak, AK, Barbers Point, HI, San Francisco, CA and Washington, DC. While serving as Chief of Staff for the 17th Coast Guard District in Juneau, AK, he was promoted to Rear Admiral in 1969.

He was then assigned as Chief, Office of Reserve for the Coast Guard in Washington, DC, receiving honors as Minute Man of the Year by the Reserve Officers Association. His final assignment was Commander, 8th Coast Guard District, New Orleans, LA. On June 30, 1973, Admiral McCubbin retired after more than 45 years in uniform, including 34 years of commissioned service. His many personal decorations include the Legion of Merit and Air Medals. Admiral McCubbin was much admired by servicemen of all ranks. An extremely generous and kind man, he was highly regarded for his integrity, devotion to duty and outstanding strength of character. A man loved by all who knew him, especially his family, he will be dearly missed. As he often said, "I've had a good life, thanks to the people who helped me". John was preceded in death by Margaret Budd of Summit, NJ, his wife of 48 years.

He is survived by wife Mary Frances, children John D. McCubbin, Jr. of San Francisco, CA and Sandy (Richard) Sander of Seattle, WA, sisters June Wergin of San Antonio, TX and Margaret McCubbin of Sacramento, CA and granddaughters Christina and Katherine Sander. A celebration of John's life will be held at Little Church on the Prairie, 6310 Motor Ave. SW, Lakewood, WA on Friday, November 21, at 11 AM. Burial with full military honors will follow at Arlington National Cemetery next year. Remembrances are suggested for USCG Academy Alumni Assn., 47 Mohegan Ave., New London, CT 06320, CG Aviation Assn. (Pterodactyls), POEBox 222905, Chantilly, VA 20153, or Little Church on the Prairie.

[EX-CG-GM]

 

[Salba]

 

[BuoyJumper]

Pendleton hero Bernie Webber dies in Florida
By ROBERT GOLD
rgold@capecodonline.com
January 26, 2009


Coxswain BM1 Bernie Webber, aboard the CG 36500 rescue boat that rescued 32 people off the Pendleton tanker in 1952, died Saturday in Florida.

Melbourne, FL - Bernie Webber, who helped rescue 32 people off the coast of Chatham in 1952, died this weekend at his Florida home.

Webber, 80, was one of four Coast Guard crew members who braved storm-ravaged Cape waters on Feb. 18, 1952, after the 503-foot tanker Pendleton broke in two.

Webber and the other Coast Guard members were able to save 32 of 33 people on the tanker, huddling them onto their 36-foot motorized lifeboat. The men had to climb down a ladder rope and jump onto the boat. One man missed and drowned.

The four Coast Guard crew members were hailed as heroes and their boat, the CG36500, has been turned into a floating museum by the Orleans Historical Society.

"They considered it at the time one of the most dangerous (Coast Guard ) rescues in the 20th century," said Bonnie Snow, the Orleans society's historian.

Chatham resident Bob Ledoux, a friend of Webber, said he died unexpectedly Saturday. He lived in Melbourne, Fla., but would come to North Eastham every fall.

Ledoux met Webber in 2000 on the Cape. Ledoux was struck by how modest Webber was, never talking about the rescue.

"He was a very mild mannered guy, very quiet, very unassuming. There was no bragging. He was just one heck of a person to be with," he said.

Ledoux said Webber's wife, Miriam, plans to hold a service on the Cape this spring.

Theresa Barbo, a Yarmouthport resident who co-authored a book about the Pendleton rescue, met Webber in 2002 after a 50th anniversary event. They quickly became good friends.

Barbo said Webber, who held several maritime jobs over his lifetime, including captain of a tug boat, accomplished far more than just the rescue. Barbo said Webber would often speak with Coast Guard cadets.

"He was just a wise person. He saw a lot," she said.

Original Article
Nice Article on Bernie From PR Web
USCG History On The Pendleton SAR

[LTGunner]

Wow, a CG Friend of mine gave me a copy of The Pendleton Disaster Off Cape Cod The Greatest Small Boat Rescue in Coast Guard History, A True Story for Christmas this past year.  I need to move it up the list of books to read this month! 

[BuoyJumper]

Tim ... I was just getting to know Bernie a little when he passed.  He was a very sweet man.  I met him at the CG Channel Community.  I have read all about the Pendleton SAR on the USCG History site and our CG History section here and though the name Bernie Webber rang a bell, I just didn't make the connection that this was THE Bernie Webber I had read about.  When he joined the CG Channel Community and my 180 Vets group he had a really bad photo of a 36-foot MLB he was using as a profile photo.  Well I remembered having seen a photo of CGSTA Chatham and their 36-foot, 44-foot and 47-foot MLBs together in the CG Image Library.  So I cropped the photo of the 36-footer and resized it for Bernie to use as his profile photo which he did.  He was extremely greatful and left a very nice post on my CGCC My Page thanking me for making it for him.

Talk about irony ... it was not until I read the article above that I realized that the cropped profile photo I had made for him was none other than that of the restored 36500 that he coxswained that terrible night with 40-foot seas back in 1952.  Bernie was greatly admired by all who knew him and he will be missed.     

[LTGunner]

Thanks Ron,

Nice tribute / memorial on CG Channel site.  Rest in peace Bernie.   

[CGRDCS]

Bernard C. Webber, Coxswain of CG36500/ Tanker Pendleton Fame has passed over the BAR.
Here is the Press Release:
Bernard C. Webber, Coast Guard Hero of Cape Cod Rescue, Dies at Age 80

Bernie Webber, the hero of a seemingly impossible rescue on Cape Cod near Chatham, Ma., died this past Saturday in Melbourne, Fl. Webber was among the most famous of U.S. Coast Guard rescuers. He was awarded the Gold Lifesaving Medal from the Coast Guard -- its highest honor -- and the American Legion Medal of Valor.

Melbourne, FL (PRWEB) January 26, 2009 -- Bernard C. Webber, who steered his small boat into the impassable waves of Chatham Bar on an impossible mission to rescue the crew of a stricken tanker off Cape Code, died Saturday at age 80 in Melbourne, Florida.

Mr. Webber, one of the U.S. Coast Guard's most fabled and honored rescuers, was stationed in Cape Cod in February of 1952 when two tankers, the Pendleton and the SS Fort Mercer, split in half on the same day in rough weather.

"Bernie Webber represented the very best values of the Coast Guard and of America," said Robert R. Frump, a maritime writer who had interviewed Webber recently. "The code he followed and the culture he engendered through his actions will live on so long as there is a U.S. Coast Guard."

Webber and his makeshift crew were dispatched on what was considered a suicide mission in an era when the informal motto of the Coast Guard was, "You have to go out, you don't have to come back."

His orders were to perform four virtually impossible tasks that night. He was to take a small motorized lifeboat over the perilous bar at Chatham, Ma. Then, in a blizzard and 60-foot waves in the darkness of night, he was supposed to find the Pendleton stern section, rescue more than 30 men in a boat rate for 20, and then find his way back to Chatham -- all without the help of radar.

Most thought Webber's rescue effort would end at the Chatham Bar. There, churning seas from the storm hammered down on a shallow bar as breakers pound the beach. Webber was counseled by friends in the fishing community of Chatham to say he got lost or could not shoot the bar because the bar had previously been thought impassable at such times.

Instead, Webber revved up the CG 36500 lifeboat, and headed straight into breakers as high as a house.

The waves picked up the little boat and slammed it down hard on the bar, shattering the windshield and destroying the compass. Shards of glass were embedded in Webber's head and face. But he and the crew managed to right the boat and survive the breakers.

Then they faced 60-foot swells and the dead of night and the confusion of a blizzard, but through luck and skill found the stern half of the Pendleton - the second impossible task.

The third task was evacuating 30 men down the side of a storm-tossed tanker into a boat rated to carry only 20. They lost only one man in the process, and, loaded so that the boat was barely clear of the water, turned back toward land.

Again, through skill and luck, Webber and his crew were able to find Chatham. The entire town turned out to welcome him home and to treat the half-frozen crew and tankermen.

The rescue was front-page news worldwide the next day. Webber and his crew were awarded the Coast Guard's highest honor -- the Gold Lifesaving Medal -- and Webber toured on behalf of the Coast Guard for several years.

At heart, he was a humble man who yearned for little more than the ranks of the Coast Guard, and he often wore his hero's status uncomfortably. He told an interviewer in 2008 that he still thought daily of the man they lost on the Pendleton and it was that sorrow he carried with him rather than a sense of heroism or being special.

He also revealed in later years that he refused the Gold Medal initially because his crew was offered only the Silver Medal. The Coast Guard agreed to grant the whole crew the gold meda.

The U.S. Coast Guard honored Webber and his crew again in 2002 on the 50th anniversary of the rescue. He steered the restored CG 36500 over the Chatham Bar yet again on a mild day in May.

Webber's widow, Miriam Webber, told the Cape Code Times that a memorial service would be scheduled on the cape in the spring.

For more information about Bernie Webber, Web Search cg36500.org -- the website of a non-profit organization that restored Bernie's rescue boat -- or coastguardheritagemuseum.org. Information is also at .twotankersdown.com

###

Other Releases by this Member
"Two Tankers Down," Story of Coast Guard's Greatest Cape Cod Rescue, Releases 2008-07-21
"Two Tankers Down" Breaks New Ground in Famous Cape Cod Rescue 2008-04-22
'Two Tankers Down' Chronicles Famous Coast Guard Cape Cod Rescue 2008-04-14

Rest in Peace "Boats" Rest in Peace.

Jack

[Salba]

Fair winds and following seas!

Best Wishes

[BuoyJumper]

RMC Daniel (Dano) McClung Jr. (Retired)

 

It is with great sadness that I must announce to our Coast Guard family the passing of our shipmate Dan McClung. While Dan was not a member here that long, I enjoyed his posts and he always had a kind word to say.  Dan enlisted in the Coast Guard in Sep 1958 (K-37). RM school in Groton class 1-59. Retired June 1979 as RMC. Member CGCWOA ZUT-17. Vietnam Sqdrn-3 aboard CGC Yakutat 1967. Precom COMMSTA Portsmouth/NMN Plank-Owner.

Dan served on the following units: CGC Chincoteague, CGC Yakutat, CGC Evergreen, CGC Bibb, Radsta WashDC, Group Woods Hole, Commsta Portsmouth and Commsta Boston.

Dan's Obituary:

Daniel L. McClung, Jr., 68, of Mashpee, died at home on January 28, 2009. He was the husband of Donna L. (Stanley) McClung.

Mr. McClung was born and raised in West Virginia. He served with United States Coast Guard during Vietnam and retired as Chief Radio Officer after more than 20 years of service. After his Coast Guard career he worked 18 years for CommElectric out of the Plymouth office.

He enjoyed being outside, and playing golf while in the Coast Guard. However, the last 10 years he enjoyed gardening and reading. But what made him the happiest was being available to be with his grandchildren and helping them with their activities.

Besides his wife, he is survived by his son, Daniel McClung of Maine; daughter, Debra Goward of Sagamore Beach; grandchildren, Matthew and Alexander Goward, and Daniel, Michael, and Zachary McClung; and sisters, Mary Champe of Roanoke, VA and Jo Kilgore of Sonocco, NM.

Visitation will be from Noon to 1:00 pm on Monday, February 2, 2009 in the Chapman, Cole & Gleason Funeral Home, 74 Algonquin Ave. at Route 151, MASHPEE. A service in the funeral home will begin at 1:00 pm followed by burial at Massachusetts National Cemetery in Bourne. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the charity of one’s choice.

Dan's usmilnet profile
Dan's Guest Book
View Dan's Guest Book

[vftb]

Last Active:     January 28, 2009, 07:04:27 am (one of our own)

RIP brother