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Coast Guard Academys1st African American |
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Congressional Medal of Honor
African Americans in the United States Coast Guard
Coast Guard Academy's First African American Graduate Honored
Coast Guard Academy's First African American graduate is honored Old Saybrook - Retired Coast Guard Cmdr. Merle J. Smith was honored at the "2002 Salute to Minorities in the Military" hosted by the African-American Council of Virginia and the Navy League of the United States, in ceremonies this week in Virginia Beach, Va.
Smith was the first African American to graduate from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, in 1966. He commanded a patrol boat in combat in Vietnam, served on the Joint Agency Task Force to review U.S. asylum policy, and taught law at the Academy.
He also was military aide to the first African American Cabinet member, Patricia Roberts Harris, who was secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President Jimmy Carter.
After 13 years of active duty Smith transferred to the Coast Guard Reserve, where he served another nine years, most of it in a unit that staffed the Atlantic Area Operations Center in times of national emergency. He retired in 1988 as commander of the Reserve Group Long Island Sound.
In 1979 Smith was appointed to a four-year term on the Academy Board of Control, and in 1986 he was elected to the Board of Directors of the Coast Guard Foundation, where he still serves.
"You exemplify and illustrate milestones made by minorities in the military (and) have had a positive impact on the diversification of our country and communities," said Council President Freddi Moody in a letter to Smith notifying him of the honor.
History of African Americans in the United States Coast Guard
Douglas Munro, The Only U.S. Coast Guardsman To Receive The Congressional Medal of Honor
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