Enlisted heroes honored
March 22nd, 2010 | Coast Guard | Posted by Susan Schept
An artist's rendering of the fast response cutter. // Bollinger Shipyards Inc.
An interesting turn has taken place in the naming of the new class of 154-foot fast response cutters. The first was supposed to be, Sentinel, and the second, Guardian, as previously reported in November when news broke about construction beginning at Bollinger Shipyards in Lockport, La.
After the passing of several well-known Coast Guard heroes last year, Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard Charles “Skip” Bowen mentioned in his blog that the Coast Guard does not do enough to honor its fallen heroes.
Now that’s about to change.
In Friday’s iCommandant blog, Commandant Adm. Thad Allen changed course and announced that all 58 of the Sentinel-class of fast response cutters would be named after enlisted heroes. The first cutter will carry the name of Boatswain’s Mate 1st Class Bernard C. Webber, who took part in the famous rescue of the freighter Pendleton in 1952. The Pendleton had split in half during a storm, and Webber and three crew members rescued 32 sailors.
Webber, who retired as a chief warrant officer, died last year. The official keel laying ceremony for Webber’s namesake will be April 9 at the Bollinger Shipyard in Lockport, La.
Comments
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Glenn Says:
March 22nd, 2010 at 12:14 pmI am so excited to hear that “Bernie” Webber will be the lead ships name. I grew up in Eastham, Mass. He was a neighbor and hero of mine in the 50′s and 60′s. His son and I were good friends. A humble, great man. He also brought the first 41′ to Chatham, the station he was assigned to during the Pendleton saga. If you ever saw the “bar” in Chatham when angry, you’d really be dumbfounded that the crazy bastard pulled it off. A sailors sailor.
Glenn, STS/1 (SS)
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