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U.S. Coast Guard. Via ibiblio.org
The U.S. Coast Guard is an independent uniformed service, with its own Academy, whose function in peacetime is to ensure the safety and security of traffic in American waters. All of its ships above 65 feet in length, except lightships, are designated as Coast Guard cutters. Ranks are similar to those in the Navy but the insignia are distinctive (featuring shields in place of stars.)
In time of war, the Coast Guard comes under the command
of the Navy. The Roosevelt
administration took this action on 1 November 1941, shortly before
the attack on Pearl Harbor,
with Executive Order 8929. Relations between
the two services was not entirely frictionless, as might
be anticipated. Coast Guard crews were nonetheless highly
professional and performed their wartime duties (mostly antisubmarine patrolling)
well. Some 241,093 Coast Guardsmen served during the Second World
War, and 1,917 became casualties
(including 574 killed in action).
In addition to antisubmarine patrol, Coast Guardsmen often crewed troop transports and landing craft. One Coast Guardsman, Douglas A. Munro, was awarded a posthumous Medal of Honor for deliberately exposing his landing craft to Japanese fire to divert the Japanese from a trapped Marine battalion at Guadalcanal.
References
Coast Guard Historian's Office (accessed 2007-5-20)
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