Editor’s Note: Starting in 1942, during World War II, the Coast Guard Beach Patrol employed about 24,000 men aged 17 to 73 who patrolled thousands of miles of coastline primarily to watch for signs of an enemy invasion and for the landing of saboteurs. Armed with pistols, rifles, and radios, they patrolled mainly on foot, accompanied in many cases with dogs, and, in some areas on horseback.
This elegy, simply titled, “The Coast Guard Patrol” was written by Rev. Melville A. Shafer (1872-1946) and was dedicated to Officer John J. Lannon and the men of the Beach Patrol at Pemaquid Point, Maine. We don’t know when or where it was published, nor have we been able to find information of Officer John J. Lannon or a photograph of him.
I
At Pemaquid long ago,
When first bold pioneers
Possessed this land,
A goodly band
Of brave men held the Fort
Against the Redmen’s cruel sport,
And all that endears
A people free
From cunning foe.
II
Now once again at Pemaquid,
Where rocks and ocean meet,
Our Coast Guard youth stand
Guard, for this great Point
Is nearest to the foe’s mainland,
And our Patrol doth vigil keep,
Themselves with holy zeal,
And valor most discreet,
To do what they are bid
In heroism real;
For it is well on balmy days,
When summer guests tread o’er the ways
Through woods and on the magic shore,
But when the winter cold
Shuts down on Pemaquid,
And midst the snow and ice
These Coast Guard boys
Pursue their loyal tasks,
As pioneers first did,
With only nesting deer
And rabbits near,
And wind at sixty miles,
With creaking boughs for noise,
While on the ocean deep
Strange shadows creep –
Then when duty asks
For sacrifice,
They pay the price –
Far from their home
These sentries roam,
And nobly serve
With steady nerve –
Long vigils with their officers they keep,
While in security we sleep.
III
And who shall tell
The tale half well
Of brave youth at Pemaquid,
Who their full duty nobly did?
