Lighthouse Replica Honors Coast Guard
By Sue Clark on Dec 17, 2007 in Opinion 
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Private Aid To Navigation Chosen
A replica of a lighthouse situated on the Delaware Maryland state line has been installed to honor the Coast Guard at a park in San Jacinto, California, according to a story in the Press Enterprise. The monument is the latest to be installed at the Druding Park to honor different branches of the armed forces. It joins an M-60 tank dedicated to the US Army, an 11 ton anchor honoring the US Navy and a 10 foot propeller from a B-17 Bomber. The only one left to honor now is the US Marines.
Standing 18 feet tall and built on a 4 foot base of stones, the white tower was chosen because of its availability and traditional lighthouse feel, according to San Jacinto mayor Jim Ayres. Other rejected suggestions for the monument included a depth charge, life preserver and another anchor. The city’s Public Works Department, along with city councilman John Mansperger and Ayres, did the design and construction.
A Better Choice
Why a Private Aid to Navigation, and one on the other side of the country, was chosen out of the hundreds of lighthouses that the Coast Guard still manages, I don’t know. Fenwick Island was decommissioned in 1978 and the property was given to the state of Delaware, which maintains a museum at one of the houses. The other lighthouse keeper’s home was sold and is now a private residence. The Friends of Fenwick Island Lighthouse manage the tower, which was relit in 1982 as a private aid to navigation, with its original Third Order Fresnel lens.
While Fenwick Island is undoubtedly a beautiful lighthouse, perhaps a more fitting tribute would have been one that is still maintained by the Coast Guard. Or perhaps a lifeboat replica from the US Lifesaving Service, which was also absorbed by the US Coast Guard, would have been a better monument. For to me, the Coast Guard is best exemplified by their unofficial motto: “When you’re coming in, we’re going out.”
Photo credit to gmeyervanvoorthuijsen on Flickr (Creative Commons license).
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