A Coast Guardsman
in World War II

In 1943, 18-year-old Jim Hanlon went off to war in the Pacific on the U.S.S. Orange, a Navy patrol frigate manned by a Coast Guard crew. This site includes a hair-raising battle story, some rare historical documents and some of the photos he brought back from one of the most exciting experiences of his life. 

Jim Hanlon, my father, died in 1973. He served his country in the Orange's engine room, and his name appears in no history of World War II. Yet he and the other 171,000 Coast Guardsmen who served deserve our respect and admiration just the same.