Connecticut – Home of the Coast Guard
Niederwiener Travel Blog 23-27 April 2019
On Vacation with my friend, Errol in Groton, Connecticut
I finally made it to the Coast Guard Academy’s Admissions Office in Waesche Hall in New London, Connecticut. I figured that with my zeal for the Coast Guard and previous eight years of service as a Petty Officer I‘d be sure to getting all the necessary waivers to bring me into the class of 2023. Then history would be made as the first 68-year-old graduate. Man! Was I ever wrong! They said I was too fat, too old, too deplorable physically, too many health problems (Hey, now isn’t a heart with four stents stronger than one with none?). REQUEST DECLINED, TOTALLY REJECTED! I was broken hearted.
We left the admissions office, walked across the lobby of Waesche Hall and into the smallest military museum I’d ever been to. The Coast Guard has been around since 1790, participated in every war, does so many missions mandated by congress that I assumed the official museum located on the academy grounds would be a grand day long adventure! It took me two hours. My name was not mentioned once! Not once! Being electrocuted on Yap Island (failing to use a “dead man’s stick” to test that 440 volt 3 phase main power was off, had nothing to do with it!), frozen on Lake Michigan (minus 23 degrees is not CG issue Speedo weather) and lost in New York City at 3AM (being drunk had nothing to do with it) doesn’t seem to get a guy into the history books.
I admit to learning a few things about America’s oldest military service. Such as during WWII Coast Guard Cutters sank more Nazi U-boats than the mighty U.S. Navy. I also learned Waesche Hall and the new National Security Cutter Waesche are named for Admiral Waesche, Commandant during the second world war. “Admiral Waesche saw his small peacetime fleet swell with Coast Guardsmen manning more than 750 cutters, 3,500 miscellaneous smaller craft, 290 Navy vessels, and 255 Army vessels. The Coast Guard participated in every major amphibious operation.” (www.history.uscg.mil/) He also introduced the helicopter to Its first military usage and created the Coast Guard Auxiliary.
Next day we went to the Navy Submarine Museum featuring the 1st nuke sub the U.S.S. Nautilus. It was closed. So, we went to Fort Griswold, where British troops bayoneted surrendering Americans in Revolutionary war. The Fort was open but too steep a walk for me and my 2/3rd foot. We went into New London to see Fort Trumbull Historic Site, Closed. Then to the historic Customs House where the first hearings for disposition of slaves that revolted aboard the slave ship Armistead was held (also an excellent movie). Open but closing in ten minutes.
Right down the street was an awesome looking tattoo parlor in an old store front. I think from the 1870’s. I was either getting a tattoo of a rose with “Joan” written on it or of a Hulu dancer on my belly, so she’d dance when I pulled my belly in and out. CLOSED for remodeling.
It was now getting towards dinner time. We decided to drive the scenic route up into Rhode Island to find a local place to eat. We stopped at an Italian restaurant in Westerly, Rhode Island overlooking the Pawcatuck River, Very nice. At about 6:50 I remembered we were going to attend a Masonic Lodge meeting. But it was an hour drive away, plus time to go back and change clothes, so we choose to just relax at our cottage.
That long drive really gets a man thirsty. First thing I did when we got in was to open the refrigerator to grab an icy bottle of my favorite caffeine free diet pop. (some readers are probably thinking I’m being sarcastic, but I’m not!). “Hey’, says I, “this bottle is really warm!” The refrigerator was kaput. Next day we watched intimidating black clouds roll in. The winds picked up making flags stand out like a starched sheet. And then the lighting and the rain, lots of rain. So much rain we stayed inside and watched TV and wrote post cards. But I forgot the address list.
That night as I closed the folding closet door it came of its track. It fell hitting me in on my handsome head.
Not the best vacation but it was an adventure in a place I’d never been to before.
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