Eyes Right! March to a Coast Guard Celebration

If you’ve ever had a wish to meet a Coast Guard Commandant, this might just be your lucky year. When Cape May County becomes an official Coast Guard Community, a gigantic wing-ding festival is planned May 8-10 in and around the Cape May Coast Guard Training Center. In the parlance of the Fifties, “Be there or be square!” It’s expected that the top brass of the sea service plans to join the fun, so mark it on those calendars.
Capt. Todd Prestidge, commanding officer of the center, addressed the Cape May County League of Municipalities Feb. 23. He spoke of his excitement about “the first annual, not a celebration, but the first annual Coast Guard Festival in Cape May County. We could not be more proud of this fact.” Better still; the monumental occasion will take place on his watch. In fact, to him and the Coast Guard members on base, it’s sort of like “an engagement or wedding. It’s the coronation of Cape May County as a Coast Guard Community. It should be proudly broadcast,” he said.
The designation means the crossed anchors and the “racing stripe” that adorns vessels and aircraft, is something that virtually everyone in the county can take as his or her very own. In simple terms, it means the people of this county appreciate the Coast Guard, as a body and as individuals, and that sentiment is mutual, he offered.
The good captain pointed out some ways that elected officials in the room could publicize being a Coast Guard Community: Post it on the town’s welcome signs. Put it on the municipal website. Get a Coast Guard flag and fly it along with the other flags by the municipal building.
Prestidge also told ways that shopkeepers could make the designation known, fly a flag, make mention, let the world know the community is united behind the service.
Only those who have worn the uniform for a hitch or two can truly appreciate what Prestidge shared about giving a presentation at the 177th Fighter Wing, Air National Guard recently. Of the state’s 12 congressmen, 10 were present in the same room with Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, who toured the training center in the summer of 2014. He said he “Spoke with some conviction about Cape May County being a Coast Guard Community. You should have seen Congressman Frank LoBiondo’s face beam with pride as I talked about this, as the others jealously looked at him.”
He added the congressman was “furiously emailing his staff to make sure he cleared his calendar” to be present at the festival. “When he got back to D.C., one of the first calls he made was to our commandant. And he said, ‘Hey, listen, I’m going to be there, I think it would be a really great idea if you were too.’ And so, immediately the commandant’s office called and said, ‘Yes, we’ll be there, sure, absolutely.’”
If that were not enough ammo to blast cannon that could be heard from Cape May Point to Ocean City’s north end, Prestidge said there is also senatorial support and support from the governor’s office.
He noted the big weekend will begin with a formal ceremony, a review of the recruit regiment where the Commandant of the Coast Guard will officially proclaim Cape May County as a Coast Guard Community. The public is invited and heartily encouraged to attend. And that will be just the beginning,” he said.
There will be trolley tours of the base, visiting Coast Guard cutters will be moored for public inspection, search-and-rescue demonstrations with helicopters in the harbor will take place on Saturday, and food and drink vendors will line Delaware Avenue. The weekend will be capped off by a Mother’s Day breakfast at the ferry terminal.
Admitting that he’s “Shooting for the moon,” Prestidge said he has asked schools in the county to hold essay and art contests “for all the children.” He wants them to draw a picture or write an essay on what the Coast Guard means to them. He plans that the winning works will be read and displayed at the auspicious occasion, and artwork on display around the base, “for the full year until we can do this again.”
Only those who have spent long evenings in boot camp spit-shining shoes to a mirror-like finish can truly appreciate what the Coast Guard recruits will be doing in preparation for this huge event. Just the thought of an admiral’s visit brings cold sweat to many a brow, officer and enlisted. So think of those young men and women, ordered to salute virtually everything but a bread truck, will be imagining as they parade past the eyes of Adm. Paul Zukunft, 25th Commandant of the. U.S. Coast Guard.
They will be the first ones in their service to graduate from Cape May County, a Coast Guard Community. Nothing like this will happen again in our lifetime, so make it a point to be part of this monumental event. Semper Paratus!