Sebago Sailors - News Items

Welcome Aboard, Shipmate!

It's been a long time since any of us walked across the brow of Cutter Sebago and asked "permission to come aboard", and have you stopped to think that the youngest of us is at least 51 years old? The Sebago has been gone 34 years and many that sailed aboard her since she was first commissioned have crossed over the bar.

The homeports of Norfolk, Boston, Staten Island, Mobile, and Pensacola, and the dozens of ports that we called at for a bit of rest and adventure no longer remember that white ship with the big 42 painted on the bow. Sure, there are still in-laws in those towns that remember us; but the fact remains that Cutter Sebago (WHEC-42), like the others that bore the name before her, is only faint memory - a forgotten footnote in their municipal history. This site dedicates itself to all that sailed aboard and pledges not to forget that it was the CREW that made the ship, not the other way around.

This site will not attempt to duplicate Fred's Place, the 255 Sailors, or any other site. It stands alone as the spot where old men gather to look through the photo album and talk about the days they were young. We remind each other that we frequently sought ways to smuggle alcohol aboard and consume it at inappropriate times. This is the place where we gleefully admit our sins (Okay, WHO DID throw that hatch overboard?) and take pride in our accomplishments (Yes, we DID fire the five inch AT THE SLED!).

This may also be the place we remember our shipmates that still sail aboard Sebago or other duty units. Those men, our friends, that died in auto accidents or from some other unfortunate situation. Those that once gave us reason to grin broadly but now mist our eyes with old mens tears. Here we may remember the young girls that bade us goodbye from the dock and were there to greet us upon our return...and those that greet us still and others that now can only greet us as fondest memories.

So, send your photos, stories, dates of service, shipmates listings, anything you think may be enjoyed by other crews. Click on the link below and it will be posted appropriately. Suggestions are welcome.

-"LB"

Great Submission!

08/06/2008 - Don Bette must have celebrated Coast Guard Day by rooting around in his old scrapbooks. He found five photos taken during his time on Sebago (1967-1968). Two of them are SUPER shots of the crew standing inspection on the municipal pier at Pensacola and one or two from a patrol out to OS Charlie. The submarine has been identified as USS Sea Leopard a Tench Class conventional power boat, most of you guys from GITMO visits would remember her as a 'Guppy'.

Don shares the following memories with us:

Transisting southbound around Cape Hatteras...seas so rough it raked the life jacket lockers right off the bulkheads and took the railing and stanchions.

Ensign L'Esperance getting killed in a head-on collision in Bermuda (maybe Jamaica)

Some of our crew getting the tar beat out of them by Marines in Argentia N.F. after strutting into THEIR NCO club in OUR uniforms, complete with chips on their shoulders....

Sending a Sebago motor launch to the bottom during a repositioning exercise (swapping boat davits)...Cmdr. Dudley C. Goodwin Jr. instructed the crew to grunt it around the fantail by hand...he didn't take into account the sea swells, when the stern came up out of the water, sucked the motor launch under the stern and came crashing down on it.

Participating in the search for the USS Scorpion, May 27, 1968. A somber search..all hands lost somewhere off of the Azores...about all we found was some flotsam, which looked like bedding, but was never tied to Scorpion.

Burning secret crypto documents off the coast of Cuba (with Cuba in sight!) after the USS Pueblo was captured in January of '68.

Ramming an MSTS in either Jamaica or Bermuda (I think it was probably Jamaica, since I believe we tendered in Bermuda)....we put a gash in the hull of the MSTS at someone's stateroom....the occupant stuck his head out of the porthold and was NOT a happy sailor.

Running out of fuel as we were approaching Pensacola after a long OS Bravo....the decision was made to switch fuel tanks on "approach" and I guess that didn't go quite as planned....we floated for awhile while we restarted....wives and loved ones were quite perplexed as to why we weren't docking....they could see us, we could see them...so near, yet, so far....

Thanks, Don, for your submission. And the rest of you guys... let's not wait two or three more years before you send your snapshots in. None of us will live forever and we all would like a chance to share your memories of the old 'Seabag' once again.

The Face Of An Old Veteran


What can you see in the face of an old veteran? What can you hear from their voices weak and frail? What can you feel when their hands and hearts reach you with the gentle touch of wisdom earned from old age? What can anyone learn from a veteran whose best times are long passed and whose future is so uncertain? For those who look beyond the creases and folds of a weathered face we see the dreams of a youngster who left home long ago and did his best for those he left behind. When his voice quavers with the doubt of an uncertain memory we hear the echoes of pride in a job well done. When you hold their hands and show your hearts to them you feel a bittersweet moment pass between you. You are the reason they left home on a day they will always remember and they are the reason you feel you can never do enough. For those that spend time with a veteran the lesson is simple. The many moments of courage they displayed while in uniform and the thousand indignities they endured were rarely more than we expected of them - and we call them heroes. Yet they don’t want to be known as anything more than your friend. Found within their friendship is the final honor we grant each other. Spend time with a veteran today. - Essay by Lee Wonnacott Click on the Canadian flag for a nice little video from our Canadian cousins about remembering veterans. Thanks to John Powers and T.F. Kirk for finding it and sending along..."A Pittance of Time" Now, some of you may think this is off the beam, including Canadian content on a website about American Coasties.. and Powers and Kirk didn't even know, but my father, F/Sgt Glenn W. Wonnacott was one of the 8,000 Americans that enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1940 and 1941. On December 7, 1941, he was already flying as a combat pilot in Britain. The video is worth a few minutes.

Ocean Station Alpha - 1949