From the Coast Guard Auxiliary

Congress founded the Coast Guard Auxiliary in 1939 as an organization of volunteers to promote boating safety and to augment the United States Coast Guard. On June 23, 2014, the Auxiliary celebrated its 75th anniversary of dedicated and heroic service to our Nation.
The Auxiliary provided sustained mission excellence to the nation and the Coast Guard during this diamond anniversary year, as it has throughout its proud history. This year, Auxiliarists delivered over 4.2 million hours of operational and administrative manpower to Coast Guard missions. Auxiliary instructors spent over 96,000 hours teaching boating safety classes, and its vessel examiners performed over 130,000 recreational and fishing vessel safety checks. Auxiliary operators performed more than 66,000 hours of search and rescue mission support saving over 470 lives and assisting 13,000 members of the boating public. Much to the credit of the Coast Guard Auxiliary, the number of boating safety-related deaths in the U.S. reached a historic low for a second consecutive year.
Congratulations to the Coast Guard Auxiliary for 75 years of outstanding service. In recognition of the profound devotion, sacrifice and achievement of the Coast Guard Auxiliary, Admiral Paul F. Zukunft, Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, awarded the Auxiliary with the Coast Guard Unit Commendation at Coast Guard Headquarters on June 23. Please join him in honoring their long and distinguished history of service by congratulating Auxiliarists everywhere.