Media Advisory: Coast Guard to hold annual memorial ceremony in Ilwaco, Wash.

[The Patriot]

ILWACO, Wash. — The Coast Guard is scheduled to host a memorial service, Saturday, at the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center in tribute to Coast Guardsmen and mariners who lost their lives during seven separate tragic accidents involving Coast Guard personnel and assets in the Pacific Northwest.

The media is invited to join family, friends, former and current Coast Guardsmen in remembering those who have been lost at sea with wreath ceremonies on land and at sea.

The tribute recognizes:

• The seven lives, five Coast Guardsmen and two mariners, lost, Jan. 12, 1961, attempted rescue of two crew members aboard the 38-foot fishing vessel Mermaid by the crew of the 52-foot Motor Life Boat Triumph near the Columbia River Bar.
• The four lives, all Coast Guardsmen lost aboard a 36-foot motor life boat, Feb. 5, 1946.
• The three lives, all Coast Guardsmen, lost of 10 aboard Coast Guard 41-foot Utility Boat 41332, Nov. 15, 1977, during night navigation training near the Columbia River Bar.
• The one life, a Coast Guard aviator aboard Coast Guard aircraft 1353, Nov. 14, 1981.
• The three lives, one Coast Guardsman and two mariners, lost, Jan. 11, 1991, during rescue operations, of the 75-foot fishing vessel Sea King in, which two Sea King crew members were rescued near the the Columbia River Bar.
• The three lives, all Coast Guardsmen, lost during the Feb. 12, 1997, rescue operations of two crew members aboard the 31-foot sailing vessel Gale Runner near the Quillayute River Bar.
• The three lives, all Coast Guard aviators aboard HH-60 Jayhawk helicopter 6017 from Air Station Sitka, Alaska, lost, July 7, 2010, during return flight from Astoria, Oregon.

Personnel at Coast Guard Station Cape Disappointment host this memorial service annually at the beginning of the new year in honor of Coast Guardsmen who paid the ultimate sacrifice.

Media interested in attending are requested to RSVP with Petty Officer 1st Class Levi Read at 206-819-9154 or by email Levi.A.Read@uscg.mil.

WHO:Rear Adm. Mark Butt, commander Coast Guard 13th District; Capt. William Timmons, commander Sector Columbia River; Master Chief Petty Officer Leilani Cale-Jones, deputy master chief petty officer of the Coast Guard; Master Chief Petty Officer Sean McPhilamy, command master chief, Coast Guard 13th District; Master Chief Petty Officer Karl Keyes, command master chief, Sector Columbia River; retired Rear Adm. Daniel Neptun; family, friends, former and current Coast GuardsmenWHAT:Annual Coast Guard Station Cape Disappointment Memorial CeremonyWHEN:Saturday, Jan. 14, 2017 at 10 a.m.WHERE:244 Robert Gray Drive SW, Ilwaco, WA 98624


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