Existing comment:
During World War II, the unit continued to watch and report the activities of fishing boats in the area, to provide assistance in cases of distress, and to provide transportation by air for other government departments. In 1943, the station was redesignated as an Air-Sea Rescue Squadron, with successful results in rescue missions throughout patrolled waters.
Other wartime Coast Guard activities in San Diego included training for amphibious landings from the Coast Guard's own troop transport ships. One such ship was the Hunter Liggett (APA-14) pictured below. For the next eight months, Hunter Liggett imparted the lessons learned from earlier heroic duty in the Solomons campaign to those who would carry out some of the largest and best executed assaults of the war -- Leyte, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and others.
Today, San Diego's Coast Guard detachment enforces maritime law and deals mainly with issues of illegal immigration and drug enforcement along the border with Mexico. On constant standby, the Guard responds to search and research missions, as well as performing Homeland Security detail escorting cruise ships and Navy vessels in and out of the harbor. |