CG Graduation Send-Off Attendees Honored As Hometown Heroes

The Cape May County Coast Guard Community Foundation award the CG Graduation Send-Off Attendees as 2021  Hometown Heroes. These community members have gone above the call of duty to embrace the Coast Guard as part of the Cape May County Community.
The weekly graduations at USCG Training Center Cape May (TRACEN) are a source of pride for families and friends of graduating recruits who travel from across the U.S. to attend the ceremonies. The graduations were closed to all visitors in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in April 2020. The celebratory lunches on Fridays in Cape May were replaced with buses full of the newest Coast Guardsmen traveling to the Philadelphia International Airport to report to their first duty station. Members of the Coast Guard families living in base housing outside the gates of TRACEN decided to show their support by standing along the sides of the roads as the buses departed. The Cape May County Coast Guard Community Foundation posted a call for community members to join in the weekly send-offs. The response was immediate and continued to grow over the ensuing months through good weather and bad. The buses generally departed between 12:30 pm and 1 pm each week. Community members would arrive early with flags and signs to wave and cheer as the buses passed by in minutes. The community members who attended these weekly departures represented a variety of constituencies. People who lived in the neighborhood would walk over each week along with people who would drive from outside Cape May County to be there to honor the men and women of the Coast Guard. Military veterans from all branches and local Coast Guard Auxiliarists were there. Families and friends of the graduating recruits would travel from their homes around the county to catch a glimpse of their recruit before heading to the airport for a brief reunion. Workers would spend their lunch time and tourists would stop their bike rides to participate. The community embraced the opportunity to show their support and looked forward to returning each week. The parent of a recruit contacted the Cape May County Coast Guard Community Foundation in September 2020 to request a sign for their recruit. A new program was developed for parents and friends to request a sign to be held by a community member. There have been nearly 600 signs held by community members since the program started. Photos of the signs are posted on Facebook each week and family members and the people who have held their recruit’s sign have connected online. The community members are honored to have the opportunity to represent the families and friends who are not able to attend the graduations in person. This nomination is to honor every graduation send-off attendee, whether it was for one day or weekly since April 2020, for their ongoing show of support for the Coast Guard and their newest shipmates.
The mission of the Cape May County Coast Guard Community Foundation is to nurture the relationship between Coast Guard members and their families and the people of Cape May County.  The Foundation hosts and promotes family-friendly activities throughout the year, including its signature annual Coast Guard Community Festival, to celebrate the men and women of the United States Coast Guard serving in the South Jersey region. These and other programs honor Coast Guard men and women who serve our country and celebrate the County’s designation as a Coast Guard Community. Learn more at www.coastguardcommunity.org.