PCG: The Philippine Coast Guard rendered military honors through a wreath laying ceremony at the Manila American Cemetery in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City in honor of the late US Coast Guard Officer, Lieutenant Thomas James Eugene Crotty, a mine specialist who served the Philippines against the Japanese during World War II.

This is the first time that the PCG has given distinction for any World War II efforts by its counterparts from the USCG.

PCG Officer-in-Charge Commodore Joel S Garcia PCG, Ph.D., H.D., Al-Haj, Lieutenant Commander Jeremy R Obenchain USCG, Maritime Advisor of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency of the US Embassy, and Chief Petty Officer John O’Neil USCG (Retired) from the Coast Guard Combat Veterans Association laid the wreath to the cemetery’s chapel following a military honors today, 09 May.

The said ceremony was culminated by having the name of LT CROTTY etched on the US Coast Guard wall in the said cemetery.

LT CROTTY was born in 1912 and hails from Buffalo, New York. He is a graduate of the US Coast Guard Academy Class of 1934. He was the only active duty Coast Guardsman who fought the Japanese at Bataan and Corregidor during one of the darkest times in the American military history.

He was sent to the Philippines in 1941 and joined a Navy mine recovery unit for his expertise in mine warfare, demolitions, and use of explosives. In February 1942, he also served as Executive Officer of the Navy minesweeper, USS Quail which provided shore bombardment for an offensive against Japanese landings attempting to cut off supply lines to American forces trapped on the Bataan Peninsula and ensured that the US submarines could surface at night to deliver goods and remove critical personnel. Their troops were forced to move in Corregidor as the Cavite Navy Yard was bombed.

As the Filipino forces in Bataan finally surrendered due to disease, starvation and exhaustion, Crotty commanded a force of Marines and Army personnel firing down on Japanese forces landing on Corregidor’s beaches but failed to carry on. LT CROTTY unfortunately was among the troops who were forced to take the arduous 65-mile Bataan Death March and was imprisoned in Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija. With lack of proper medication and health care, LT CROTTY succumbed to diphtheria only three days after getting sick and was pronounced dead on 19 July 1942. He was given his last rites and his remains were buried in a mass grave outside prison walls where no one knows the exact location.

LT CROTTY finally earned recognition of his service not only the Coast Guard, but also the Navy, Marines and the Army on 06 May 2010 at the Armed Forces Luncheon in Connecticut Street Armory after 68 years of his heroism. He was in a selected group of Coast Guardsman to receive the Bronze Star for Meritorious Service, the Purple Heart, the Prisoner of War Medal and the Philippines Defense Medal. The lone Coast Guard prisoner or war since the War of 1812 truly embodied the USCG’s core values — honor, respect and devotion to duty.