Existing comment:
The Coast Guard had placed a number of historic markers on a number of monuments for their alumni.
Commodore Bertholf was born in New York City on 7 April 1866. He entered the Revenue Cutter Service as a cadet on 14 September 1885. He graduated and was appointed a third lieutenant on 12 June 1889. He served through all grades of the Service, on ships stationed along various parts of the coast of the United States and Alaska.
His most noted service had been in connection with Alaska. In 1897 he led the relief party which made the famous overland trip in mid-winter to Point Barrow. Congress voted him a gold medal for this relief of over two hundred American whalers in danger of starving when their vessels were crushed in the ice. In the winter of 1901, Bertholf made a trip across northern Siberia by sledge at the request of the Bureau of Education. The purpose of this mission was the purchase of a reindeer herd to be used by the Inuits of northern Alaska.
He was appointed Captain Commandant of the United States Revenue Cutter Service on 19 June 1911 and re-appointed to the same office in January 1915 when President Wilson joined the Revenue Cutter Service with the Life-Saving Service to form the U.S. Coast Guard. He served as one of the American delegates to the International Conference on Safety at Sea held in London in 1912. In addition to his duties as Captain Commandant of the Coast Guard, Bertholf also served as chairman of the Interdepartmental Board on International Ice Observation and Patrol in the North Atlantic and of the Board on Anchorage and Movements of Vessels.
During the First World War Captain Commandant Bertholf held the temporary rank of Commodore. Upon his retirement as Commandant of the Coast Guard on 30 June 1919, he became one of the vice presidents of the American Bureau of Shipping and was a most active, influential, and important factor in the affairs of that institution. He also made quite an extensive European tour to expand this American organization in foreign fields. He died at his residence at Bretton Hall Hotel in New York City on 11 November 1921.
The above is from http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/epbertholf.htm but it pretty closely follows the actual sign. |