This Day in Coast Guard History – March 22

1917-The first Coast Guard aviators graduated from Pensacola Naval Aviation Training School.  Third Lieutenant Elmer Stone, USCG, became Naval Aviator #38 (and later Coast Guard Aviator #1).

1919-  The Acting Secretary of the Treasury advised that light keepers and the officers and crews of vessels were not entitled to the benefits of the Public Health Service free of charge after retirement.

2003- Three Iraqi sailors were captured in the northern Persian Gulf, the first Enemy Prisoners of War (EPOWs) taken by Coast Guard forces deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.  The 24-member crew of the CGC Adak plucked the Iraqi sailors from the sea.  The Iraqis had jumped overboard as their patrol boat was destroyed by coalition forces operating in the Gulf.  The POWs were taken aboard the Adak and later transferred to an undisclosed location.

(Source: USCG Historian’s Office)