We have lived for almost eighteen years with Coast Guard families occupying the house next door. These are usually young people with small children, and they brighten our lives. We have always found them to be good neighbors and dedicated to their work and the community. No retrospective of our lives in Bayfield would be complete without giving special recognition to the Coast Guard and its Guardians.
The ferry is still running, the fishing tugs will go out until the
ice is too thick, and freighters still ply the big lake and may need
medical assistance, so the Coast Guard stays on the ready; and when the
ice is too thick to operate boats they will maintain ice rescue
readiness. When they can no longer sail they rely on wind sled and helicopter.
I think the Coast Guard is not always given the same respect as the
other branches of our uniformed services, but it requires as much
dedication to duty, and in many respects is just as dangerous or more so, as duty
in the other services. The Coast Guard is often deployed to serve
hazardous overseas duty in unfamiliar foreign waters, where it is
subject to enemy action, and they routinely interdict drug traffickers
and smugglers. Even here in quiet Bayfield, the Coast Guard is at the
ready.
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