CAPE MAY – Almost every Friday afternoon, about 50-75 community members gather outside Coast Guard Training Center Cape May to wave and cheer for recruits who graduated and are on their way to their first assignments.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, the weekly Coast Guard graduations were closed to family and friends, although they are broadcast over social media. Instead of leaving Cape May after graduation, with their family and friends, recruits head to the airport or a local destination, with their colleagues.
“We are proud to represent the families and friends who are unable to attend the graduations due to COVID-19,” said Mike Couch, executive director, Cape May County Coast Guard Community Foundation (https://coastguardcommunity.org/), who sponsors the activity.
“It’s a heart-warming experience to see the community and the Coast Guard connect during these challenging times,” he added.
Members of the community have assembled alongside Pennsylvania and Pittsburgh avenues, in Cape May, between 12:30-1 p.m., every Friday to wave and cheer for the recruits, as they pass in their buses.
These weekly send offs started, in April, for a few weeks during the height of the pandemic, stopped while there were no recruit graduations, and resumed, in mid-June.
“These graduating recruits arrive to boot camp on buses, in the dark of night, and leave directly after graduation without having any off-base liberty,” Couch said. “The community welcomes the opportunity to thank them for their service, as they depart to their first-duty stations across the U.S.”
Couch said some people try attending the send offs each week, while others appear for their first time. “We had people on vacation attend while they were here, and bike riders stop to participate once they find out why the crowds are gathering,” he noted.
“Recently, family members of recruits have come to Cape May to join us before driving to the Philadelphia (International) Airport to see their recruits,” he added. “One family came from California, drove to the airport, flew with their recruit to Florida, and then went home to California. Another family traveled from Alaska to join us, in Cape May. We’ve been having one or two recruit families each week.”
The foundation has been providing 30-50 personalized signs, which family members can order, and community members hold for recruits since September, personalizing the messages and event. “This has led to messages on Facebook between family members and the community member who held their recruit’s sign,” he noted.
Graduations are scheduled every Friday through Dec. 4, except for Oct. 30 and Nov. 27.
To contact Karen Knight, email kknight@cmcherald.com.
