The December 26 edition of The New York Times highlighted New Yorkers who have volunteered to join the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary in the post 9/11 world. One of those volunteers present at a swearing-in at James Gordon Bennett Park in Washington Heights was our own John Gallagher, Director of BMCC’s Media Center.
The ceremony, according to Clyde Haberman’s article, “Volunteers in the Cause of Vigilance,” took place next to a monument dedicated to Revolutionary War battles. According to Haberman, many of the volunteers felt that since 9/11 there was a sense that more New Yorkers “are looking to help others.”
A true New Yorker, John Gallagher, has been a member of the auxiliary for years, and he said quite candidly, “We don’t really have a boating culture here,” which is northern tip of Manhattan and a nearby piece of the Bronx. But this is the area that will be covered by a new flotilla, the basic unit of the Coast Guard Auxiliary.
Haberman writes that there are more than 2,000 volunteers “who form the branch of the auxiliary stretching from the city to Albany” and they “patrol the waters, teach boating safety and keep eyes peeled for suspicious behavior. With port security, or the lack of it, a constant worry, that last chore looms large since 9/11.”
