Coast Guardsmen standing at attention during the commissioning ceremony for the USCGC Mayflower, Virginia, 1943

Gift of the Scanlan Family
Description: 

Photograph. Coast Guardsmen standing at attention during the commissioning ceremony for the USCGC Mayflower. Official caption on reverse: "102143(3). From: Public Relations Division / U.S. Coast Guard / Washington, D.C. PRAYERS FOR THE MAYFLOWER. Prayers for the safety of the famed old presidential yacht MAYFLOWER, going on patrol with the Coast Guard, are offered by Chaplain H. B. Hodgkins, USN, during ceremonies as the ship is commissioned for service in the U.S. Coast Guard. Standing behind the chaplain are Rear Admiral Felix X. Gygax, Commandant of the Norfolk Navy Yard; Commander G. B. Whitehead, acting captain of the yard, and Lieutenant Commander Fred E. Morton, Coast Guard officer named to command the vessel. / This will be the third war in which the MAYFLOWER has participated. In the Spanish-American war the vessel served as a dispatch boat during the Havana blockade, and took part in the capture of the Spanish vessel SANTIAGO APOSTOL. During the first World War the MAYFLOWER operated as a patrol ship out of Norfolk, Va." Norfolk, Virginia. 19 October 1943

Image Information

Donor: 
Mrs. Kathleen M. Scanlan
Accession Number: 
2015.063.105
Date: 
10/19/1943
Location: 
Hometown: 
Branch: 
Theater of Service: 
Unit: 
USCGC Mayflower (WPE-183)
Campaign / Event: 
POW / KIA: 
Topical Subjects: 
Military parades & ceremonies--United States
Ships--American--United States
Collection Level: 
Items from the service of John J. Scanlan Jr., who served in the United States Coast Guard. Born in Quincy, Massachusetts, Scanlan worked for a newspaper prior to joining the Coast Guard. During the war, he acquired photographs published by the Public Relations Division of the United States Coast Guard. The collection consists of photographs from most of the theaters of operations and depict life in the field and aboard a ship for Coast Guardsmen and Marines. Also included is a satirical piece of military correspondence. See collection 2012.321 for more items from the collection subject.
Geography: 
Norfolk
Latitude: 
36.833
Longitude: 
-76.283
Thesaurus for Graphic Materials: 
Military parades & ceremonies--United States
Ships--American--United States