Coasties Recall Tough, Fun Days at Salem Air Station

The stories and the memories flowed easily at the old Coast Guard Air Station Monday as about 25 former “coasties,” and their family members gathered on at the invitation of the Coast Guard's public affairs office.

Bob “Ace” Adams, who drove from his apple farm in Maine, recalled his two tours of duty as an aircraft mechanic at the station in the 1960s as both fun and tough in the winter.

“Working out on the flight line was tough in the winter,” he said. “I know why they closed it.”

But it was the fun memories that he lingered on – the steak or lobster lunches on Wednesdays, the dances in the hangar, the rides at the and the tag football games on the green lawn next to the harbor.

“It was a nice station,” Adams said.

Barry Young came to learn more about what his father, one of the last “enlisted pilots,” did in the Coast Guard. As a child, he recalled coming from Beverly, where the family lived, to play at the base and even go for rides in the seaplanes his father flew.

His father, Edward B. Young, never talked much about what he did at work, Young said.

“He would have loved this” gathering of old coasties, he said.

Young described his father as one of the “old breed” and brought his father's uniform and log books kept in a red box to show the other men who had served there.

Nelson Dionne, a retired Salem police officer and , recalled that his first job was as a Pinkerton security officer at the station. He brought several books of newspaper clippings about the station that he had collected over the years. The coasties poured over the books for hours.

John F. Parks, who served at the station in the early 1950s, said the clippings and the stories being told by the other coasties “brings back a lot of things I haven't thought about in years.”

The gathering at the was the brainchild of Petty Officer Connie Terrell, a public affairs specialist.

With the 200^th anniversary of the War of 1812 and the 100^th anniversary next month of the sinking of the Titanic, the Coast Guard is in a mood for preserving its history. Terrell thought it would be a good idea to invite a few of the men who staffed the Coast Guard Air Station on Winter Island, serve some coffee and donuts and listen to their stories.

“They wanted to meet others who served here and see old friends,” Terrell said.

She asked Jack McGrath, the vice president of the Coast Guard Heritage Museum on Cape Cod, for help in finding some of the old Salem coasties. McGrath, who served in Salem, sent out a few emails.

“It spread like wildfire,” she said.

Coasties from Alabama to Washington state made their way back to Salem.

Air Station Operated for 35 Years

The air station opened in 1935 because the station at Gloucester had run out of room. It had 35 men and two airplanes, doing mostly medical evacuations and rescues, according to the United States Coast Guard.

In World War II, the station grew to 37 aircraft, making it the second largest station on the east coast. The station did air patrols along the coast armed with depth charges to fight enemy submarines.

Salem Harbor was large enough that it could have three sea lanes, which allowed the planes to take off regardless of the wind direction.

With the development of the HH-52A, an amphibious helicopter, the need for seaplanes declined. Air stations that had only water landing capabilities, such as Salem, were phased out. It was eventually replaced by Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod in 1970, according to USCG. The station was donated to the city of Salem in 1972. Its surviving facilities are part of Salem's Winter Island Marine Park.

Terrell said some of the coasties were disappointed that the Coast Guard signage over the old hangar was gone, but that did not stop the men from lining up in front of the deteriorating hangar for a group photo.

Bob Nersasian with the Friends of Winter Island, took a day off from work to attend the gathering and invite each of the Coasties to join the organization for free for life.

Meanwhile, the city is trying to find the money to maintain and even restore some of the Coast Guard buildings on Winter Island. The recently completed master plan estimated it would take $1.5 million to restore the hangar and $2 million to stabilize and renovate the barracks building.

Looking at the hangar, Terrell voiced the concern of all the coasties.

“They have got to do something," he said.

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