>> Click to enlarge << The audience at the retirement ceremony of BMCS ...

One of our favorite Coast Guardsmen has retired. We may be a little late in reporting this, but BMCS Tommy Dutton has finally retired from the United States Coast Guard. We say finally, because he was supposed to retire some time ago, but circumstances changed that.

>> Click to enlarge << BMCS Tommy Dutton, USCG, addresses the audience ...

While stationed in Maine, before his move to Hawaii, Dutton was one of the most respected and admired Aids to Navigation Coast Guardsman by the lighthouse community, to ever serve out of southern Maine in the history of the Coast Guard.

>> Click to enlarge << The Change of Command & retirement of BMCS Tommy ...

His Change of Command and Retirement Ceremony appropriately took place at Hawaii's Diamond Head Lighthouse. For the last few years Dutton was the Officer In Charge of ANT Honolulu.

>> Click to enlarge << Dutton's ANT Coast Guard team pose for one final ...

Dutton's motto has always been “You can't be a beacon if your light don't shine,” a motto he lived up to while in the Coast Guard.

Now in retirement, he's grown a beard, but still plans to “stay in the loop” with lighthouses as a member of the Coast Guard Auxiliary. We wish him and his wife Mary the very best.