In the late 1940''s, right after Tojo yelled "Uncle," the United States Coast Guard was the place where it was happening. Two ex-Navy swabs and I shipped over into this outfit for a two-year hitch (This was a special "short hitch" the CG was offering only to ex-Navy enlisted men). We were sent to Government Island, Alameda, CA, for assignments on the West Coast. I went first to the CGC Alert, in Eureka, CA, where I was second radio.From air/sea rescue work on the northern California coast I went to the CGC Chautauqua, on weather patrol midway between Frisco and Honolulu.

In that one two-year hitch I served on six cutters on both coasts and in Alaska!
The Hooligan Navy is my version of that wild, reckless time in the United States Coast Guard