USCG/USCGAux History
The History of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary
at Rochester, N.Y.
1934
A west coast yachtsman proposed to the Coast Guard an idea of a Coast Guard Reserve to
establish a relationship between the Coast Guard and the boating community.
June 23, 1939
U.S. Congress legislated the establishment of the Coast Guard Reserve as a volunteer
Civilian organization comprised of U.S. citizens. It was this year that the first members of the future Rochester
Coast Guard Auxiliary started as volunteer Coast Guard Reservists.
February 19, 1941
Coast Guard Reserve was restructured with the start of WWII. The civilian portion was called the Coast Guard
Auxiliary and a new Coast Guard Reserve functioned as a military unit. The Reserve consisted of Regulars who had
to meet certain requirements and Temporary Reservists (TRs) who could not meet requirements. The ‘temporary’
designation referred to the member that was not on full time duty. Members of the Auxiliary could offer to become
TRs and many of our Rochester original members enrolled. These TRs offered their boats for war time patrol in
the local area as well as performing shore patrol. The Coast Guard requisitioned guns for these vessels.
1942
First Coast Guard Auxiliary uniforms (khakis) were authorized.
April 13, 1943
The Rochester Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla 3-01 was established headed by J. Webb L. Sheehy and Harold
Field who were both TRs. The Auxiliary trained members to become TRs. (
1945
The Temporary Reserves were demobilized at wars end and all TRs were “honorably disenrolled” and
awarded the Victory Medal.
1947
When the Sodus Flotilla disbanded, 7 members transferred to Rochester Flotilla 3-01.
1947 - 1950
J. Webb L. Sheehy held the office of Vice Commodore of Area O (a part of District 9) which covered
Lake Ontario west to Dunkirk and south to Ithaca. In 1951 he was elected as District Commodore.
1948
The Public Education and Vessel Examination programs were established.
The Auxiliary District 9 reorganized it’s Divisions and Flotillas changing Flotilla 3-01 to 2-04.
May 1950
Flotilla 2-04 acquired its’ current building from the estate of Lorraine Gussen.
Flotilla 2-04 had an Auxiliary aircraft piloted by Lawrence C. Gleason VFC.
1955
J.Webb L. Sheehy was elected as the 3rd National Commodore of the Coast Guard Auxiliary.
1960s
Al Bowers and Jack Palmer had Auxiliary aircraft facilities.
November 1974
District 9 reorganized changing Flotilla 2-4 to 4-2. All members of the old 2-4 were assigned new ID numbers
and became charter members of 4-2.
1975
The Auxiliary switched from the original khaki uniforms to blues. National said the khakis could be worn until
they wore out. Well, these khakis seemed to not wear out fast enough so National directed all to change to blues.
The 42 elections could not produce a Flotilla Commander so we were granted a waiver for Richard Tanner to run
for a third consecutive term. (
1970s - 1980s
Annual weekend SAR training cruises to various lake ports were a tradition. One team would be charged with
establishing coordinates where they would set out early in the morning to set the markers. Four to five teams
with boats and crew, each assigned to a marker, would set out to locate and collect the markers.
1990s
The Auxiliary has constantly improved processes to make our efforts more productive
with better training and technology such as Boat Crew, Coxswain and GPS training.
March 2001
Auxiliarists from Flotillas 42 and 48 manned Station Rochester for a few days when the Station duty crew was
dispatched to Buffalo to help in the search for 4 Coast Guardsmen missing on routine patrol.
2002
George Webster was elected Commodore for District 9ER and was re-elected for 2003.
In November a train wreck near our Base caused a fire that narrowly missed our building requiring the Flotilla
to have meetings and PE classes at Holy Cross church until February 2003.
2006
The Auxiliary Career Counselor (CC) program was terminated and replaced by the new Academy Admissions
Partner Program (AAPP). This was done to adapt Coast Guard Academy recruiting to meet today’s competitive
college recruiting challenges. Flotilla 4-2 remains active in the new program.
A new CG support program began rolling out known as Aux/Chef subsequently changed to Aux/FS (food services)
with a few Flotilla 4-2 members getting qualified.
2008
Division Captain and Division Vice Captain positions were changed to Division Commander (DCDR) and
Division Vice-Commander (DVCDR) to align with the Coast Guard.
2009
The first Flotilla 42 web site was established.
2010
Paddleboat inspections became part of the VE program.
Major building repair in replacing sills, new front and sign to building.
2013
New core training requirements were introduced by National to put all Auxiliary members on the some footing
as Coast Guard personnel.
The Flotilla historical archives for the period 1939 - 1st quarter 2013 were all scanned, reproduced on CDs
and distributed to members.
New Auxiliary Staff Officer position created for Diversity.
New District staff officer position (DSO-UPV) created for vessel exams of commercial boats.
2017
New Staff Officer positions were created at Flotilla and Division levels for paddlecraft safety training.
2019
Due to high water and Auxiliary Base flooding, meetings and training were held in other locations during June & July.
Flotilla 42 celebrated their 80th birthday.
2020
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Coast Guard Auxiliary was directed to stand-down from any face-to-face interactions.
Flotilla virtual meetings began in April using ZOOM Web conferences.
Modifications to the election process were developed to accommodate virtual elections due to the pandemic.
Kayaks were approved as Operational Facilities.
Staff officer position (FSO/AS) established to enhance partnering between the Auxiliary and the Sea Scouts. The
objective of this position is to improve Sea Scout training opportunities, enrich Coast Guard and Auxiliary
recruiting, and better overall promotion of recreational boating safety. Sea Scouts is a youth program supported
by the Coast Guard.
NOTE: This page will be updated as more information becomes available.
Last Update: by Len McFadden, Flotilla 4-2 Historian, 27 September 2022
Reference
by Michael Scott and Chilloa Young (Unit Historians)
December 3, 1988
If you wish to get a copy of the document you can download it by clinking on the link below.