| Abstract |
Captain David E. Perkins recounts his experiences as a Coast Guard officer from enrollment in a New London, Conn. prep school in 1941 until his retirement in 1977. Topics discussed include the Coast Guard Academy, duty on the Atlantic and Pacific coast, search and rescue operations in Alaska, involvement in the weather patrol program, assignment to Coast Guard headquarters, duty in Vietnam, and involvement in the planning and execution of OPSAIL (1976 Tall Ships Event). |
| General note | Interviewer: Donald R. Lennon. Interview date: November 27, 1978 and December 12, 1978. |
| Access restriction | No access restrictions. |
| Cite as |
David E. Perkins Oral History Interview, Special Collections Department, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA. |
| Terms of use | Literary rights to specific documents are retained by the authors or their descendants in accordance with U.S. copyright law. |
| Acquisitions source |
Joyner- Gift of David E. Perkins. |
| Biographical note | Captain David Eaton Perkins, son of Mr. and Mrs. Eaton H. Perkins of Melrose, Massachusetts, graduated from Admiral Billard Academy in New London, Connecticut, in 1943. In 1946 he graduated from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut, and was stationed first in Seattle, Washington, and then along the southwestern coast of Alaska. He was a crew member of the Coast Guard Cutter CLOVER, checking and repairing the buoys and unmanned lighthouses along the southern coast of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands from 1946 through 1948. In 1949 he was commissioned a lieutenant junior grade and by 1946 he was a lieutenant. In 1963 Perkins, then a lieutenant commander, became chief of the Coast Guard Cutter MODOC. He was promoted to captain in 1968 and the following year received the Meritorious Service Medal for work on the Programs Staff in the Office of Operations at Coast Guard Headquarters. Captain Perkins received the Legion of Merit as commander of all Coast Guard activities in Vietnam in 1969 and 1970. In 1971 he was stationed at the Coast Guard base on Governors Island, New York City. Captain Perkins was a director of the Operation Sail 1976 event in New York City and the 1977 New York Harbor Festival. He retired as Chief of Staff to Admiral Rea and is living in Sunbury, N.C. |
