By Richard Lamirande
Dedication
This book is dedicated to all the men and women who served at Coast Guard Air Station Brooklyn during its first fifty years of service. Also to my dad, John Lamirande, and my mom, Dolores, thanks for everything.
Acknowledgements
My sincere appreciation and thanks go out to all the people who gave me some of the facts of Floyd Bennett Field and Coast Guard Air Station Brooklyn contained in this volume. Louis E. Nelson, BMCM, USCG Ret. was stationed at Air Station Brooklyn between 1938 and 1940. During his occasional visits to the Chiefs Mess, Lou related many otherwise unknown facts about the air station in its early days. Fred George, ADCM, USCG Ret. spent 16 years of his 23 year career at the air station. The author had the privilege of serving with Fred during the early seventies. Fred related many facts about the air station and field activities of the fifties and sixties. My thanks also go out to the Naval Reserve Center on Floyd Bennett Field for the many references and photographs about the field. To Walt Douglass, Gene Majors and Al Paine, all members of the Senior Enlisted Association, I thank you for answering the many questions I posed to you about Floyd Bennett Field of the forties and fifties. My most sincere thanks go out to Mary Ann ” Maggie” Zadorozny of the U. S. Park Service, located on the field, for the many rare photographs used in this volume. I would like to thank my father-in-law, Charles ” Sandy” McCrodden, for taking time from his schedule to write me about his recollections of Barren Island and to my wife Ruth for her great assistance in proofreading this volume.
About The Author
Rick Lamirande was bom and educated in Lawrence Massachusetts. Enlisting in the U. S. Coast Guard in July 1970, his first assignment was at the newly commissioned Air Station Cape Cod. In 1971, he attended Aviation Electronics Technician School in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. After completion of the school, he was assigned to Air Station Brooklyn, New York. After a three year tour at Brooklyn, he was assigned to the Precommissioning Detail of Air Station Northbend, Oregon where he served a two year tour. In 1976 he moved on to Air Station Annette, Alaska assisting in its decommissioning and the commissioning of Air Station Sitka, Alaska. Leaving Sitka in 1977, he was assigned again to Air Station Cape Cod. In 1981, Chief Larnirande was assigned to Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas. Having served six and a half years at Corpus Christi, he was reassigned in 1988 to Air Station Brooklyn. He is currently serving as the Avionics Shop Chief at Brooklyn. During his career in the Coast Guard, Chief Lamirande has been a qualified search and rescue aircrewman in the HU- 16E Albatross, C-131 Convair, HU-25A Falcon and the Sikorsky HH-52A and HH3F helicopters.
