Over The Bow Volume 77 Issue 1 Winter 2019 | Page 25

A painting of high-endurance cutter Taney firing at Japanese aircraft from it' dock in Honolulu (Coast Guard Collection).

These units included high-endurance cutter Taney and patrol cutters Tiger and Reliance; buoy tenders Kukui and Walnut, patrol boats CG400, CG-403, CG-27, and CG-8; a buoy boat and the former Lighthouse Service launch Lehua.

Coast Guard radiomen George Larsen and Melvin Bell manned the communications station at the Diamond Head Lighthouse broadcasting that an attack was underway.

Coast Guard aviator, Lt. Frank Erickson, who later pioneered helicopter flight, was standing watch at Ford Island before the attack then took command of an anti-aircraft battery to fight off enemy aircraft.

To read more about the Coast Guard in wartime, click here for the Coast Guard Compass - The Official Blog of the U.S. Coast Guard.