At home and overseas, the United States Coast Guard served a variety of vital functions in World War II, providing service that has been too little recognized in histories of the war. Teaming up with other international forces, the Coast Guard provided crewmembers for Navy and Army vessels as well as its own, carried troops, food, and military supplies overseas, and landed Marine and Army units on distant and dangerous shores. This thorough history details those and other important missions, which included combat engagement with submarines and kamikaze planes, and typhoons. On the home front, port security missions involving search and rescue, fire fighting, explosives, espionage and sabotage presented their own unique dangers and challenges. “provides a thorough, comprehensive account of the Coast Guard’s wartime service”― Seapower ; “extensively researched and well-written history”― Baird Maritime ; “Ostrom gives us most enlightening lessons on the ‘Guardian of the Heartland’ that had previously been adequately recognized in U.S. combat history...World War II and Coast Guard history buffs alike will be pleased with Thomas Ostrom’s latest book. I can’t recommend this book highly enough”― Proceedings. At home and overseas, the United States Coast Guard served a variety of vital functions in World War II, providing service that has been too little recognized in histories of the war. Teaming up with other international forces, the Coast Guard provided crewmembers for Navy and Army vessels as well as its own, carried troops, food, and military supplies overseas, and landed Marine and Army units on distant and dangerous shores. This thorough history details those and other important missions, including combat duties, kamikaze attacks, and typhoons. It also describes how the home front presented its own unique dangers and challenges, as Coast Guard personnel faced dangerous search and rescue missions, firefighting, explosives loading, and enemy espionage and sabotage. Also included are illustrations of aircraft, vessels, and combat action, maps of maritime combat theaters, and documents such as combat action reports and personal correspondence. A member of the United States Coast Guard Reserve from 1961 to 1969, Thomas P. Ostrom taught anthropology, geography, and history at Rochester Community College in Minnesota before retiring. He is a member of the U.S. Navy Memorial and the Naval Historical Foundation. Events Leading Up to Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor: The Infamous Day Coast Guard Structure and Roles Harbor Protection, Navigation, and Aviation Coast Guard Personnel on Navy Vessels Defense Across the Great Lakes and Oceans Admiral Russell R. Waesche's Wartime Leadership Air and Sea Combat Operations The Greenland Patrol Mission The Atlantic Theater of War Protecting Convoy Routes Mediterranean Campaign: North Africa, Sicily, Italy D-Day: Normandy Invasion The Aleutians and Bering Sea Campaign The Pacific Theater of War