BALTIMORE, Md. — There are images frozen in time of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter 37 returning from a tour in Vietnam reuniting crew members with their awaiting loved ones.
“It’s just that they were finally home and he was safe,” recalled Kathy Kierks, caught on film as she embraced with her husband that day in March of 1970, “and oh my gosh, we had so much to look forward to.”
More than 50 years later, some of the surviving members of that crew returned to the Cutter, now a historic landmark moored in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, for a special reunion.
Dale Rice re-enlisted to join the journey to the South China Sea.
“It’s just that the ship was going over,” Rice said. “She’s a veteran of World War II… Pearl Harbor. They had taken part in the search of Amelia Earhart. They served in Korea, and I wanted to be part of it going to Vietnam.”
Along with sharing memories of their time spent on the ship, veterans on the ship in the Harbor also paid tribute to their nearly four dozen crewmates who are no longer alive.
During its 11-month-tour of duty, crewmen cut off arms and supply lines to the enemy and fired more than 3,400 rounds in support of American and South Vietnamese troops.
While the cutter is an educational attraction now, serving students and tourists alike, those who once called it home say it deserves its place in history.
“It’s great because certainly this ship deserves it,” said Lyle Dierks. “I mean, it went through all those different wars since 1936, so it’s been a terrific piece of Americana. I mean there’s not too many ships that did that. I worked in shipyards for over 35 years after getting out of here and I worked on everything the Navy and Merchant Marine had and nothing was as old as this ship.”
For more on the historic ship, visit this website.
