ATLANTIC CITY – Members of U.S. Coast Guard Station Atlantic City will honor five Coast Guard members who died 87 years ago during an attempted rescue off the coast of Atlantic City. The service will be held 10 a.m. Wednesday, March 6 at the Absecon Lighthouse, 31 S. Rhode Island Ave.
The wreath laying will commemorate the members of Coast Guard Lifeboat Station Atlantic City who launched to assist the fishing boat Anna during a nor’easter on March 6, 1932 that blew 60-knot winds and driving rain mixed with snow.
The crew of U.S. Coast Guard Station Atlantic City received a distress call that the Anna was lost in a nearby fishing area. Crew members launched a motorized picket boat to assist the Anna, but were capsized in heavy surf off Steel Pier, which led to the death of two of the three crew members.
A second lifeboat carrying three crew members was launched to aid the capsized crew and was lost at sea in the severe weather.
The five Coast Guardsmen who died are Surfmen Harold Livingston, David Allen Barnett, and William R. Garton, BM2/c(L) Marvin Eugene Rhoades, and MoMM2c(L) William Graham.
During the memorial, Coast Guard members will read an account of the attempted rescue and hold a prayer and wreath lying in remembrance of the fallen.
