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A Greatest Generation Service Story:
U. S. Coast Guard Quartermaster Warren James
By Robert Figueroa FSO PE and Robert Robles VFC Flotilla 014-01-03
In the Hamlet of Bay
Shore in the Town of Islip,
New York is a remarkable
symbol of what the well
known television reporter Tom
Brokaw termed “The Greatest
Generation”. A man who grew
up during the depression and
at the outbreak of WWII
reported for duty to serve his
country... Our country.
His name is Warren James. Mr. James, ninety-
four years old, served his country in the United States
Coast Guard with “Honor, Integrity and Devotion to
Duty”, the very core words of the Coast Guard. He
served five years and rose to the rank of Quartermaster
Second Class.
Born on July 2, 1923 he was raised in Queens
County, N.Y. and was educated in the New York
City School system. Today he is a spry 94 years old.
He enlisted in the United States Coast Guard twelve
days after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. After hearing
President Roosevelt’s speech he answered the call to
duty and enlisted.
As a young man Warren spent much of his time
on Fire Island. He spent time working as a deckhand
on Ferries to Fire Island during the summers where he
acquired many maritime skills. His family had a house
on Fire Island and when spending time there he got to
know some of the people out at the Fire Island Coast
Guard Station. He also enjoyed familiarizing himself
with the Ice Breaker AB 25 that used to tie up at the
Maple Avenue dock. These experiences made him a
perfect candidate for Coast Guard Duty.
Sharing his service experiences with us he begins by
telling us that he enlisted and was sent by train to boot
camp in Algiers, Louisiana where he was immediately
placed into a Company of 100 men for basic training.
He remembers his Company Commander (who he
met again while serving in New Guinea), marching
them over and over with rifles slung on their backs.
This is an interesting point because many people were
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not aware of the actual roles played by the Coast Guard
all over the oceans during the war. They were not just
off the American coast but played many roles overseas
such as the selfless, courageous piloting of many of the
landing craft during D-Day and other amphibious
landings. This was because of their expertise in near
shore coastal boat handling. They also crewed some
of the transport ships that took American troops
overseas. Quartermaster James who took part in many
of these roles reminds us that many Coast Guardsmen
gave their lives in this duty. He himself served on five
different ships of which two were U. S. Navy ships and
three were Coast Guard cutters.
Quartermaster James sharing his story with Vice Flotilla
Commander Robert Robles of the U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary.
Warren goes on to tell us that the hardest thing he
remembers in boot camp was being taken out on to
the Mississippi River with his shipmates and rowing
really large boats with ten men rowing up the river
“like hell and going nowhere”. Quartermaster James
remembers one of his instructors who was a First Class
Seaman and also the Assistant Company Commander.
His name was, Justice and he was very good at drilling
the new recruits. However he was an Ex-Marine and
was trying to separate out of the Coast Guard and get
back to Marines. For Warren boot camp was neither
easy nor hard. He just followed orders and worked his
way through.
After finishing his basic training his duty began
with an interesting start. He was being sent to duty on
a transport ship in New York but was given new orders
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