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Coast Guard History Series

Frank DeVita was born in Brooklyn, New York, on May 15, 1925. While still in high school, DeVita wished to serve in the armed forces as the United States joined the war effort in 1941.  However, he was only 16 years of age and Frank's mother refused to let him join until he finished high school. Two years later, in 1943, Frank enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve. A week later, he reported for active duty as an apprentice seaman to Coast Guard Training Station, Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn, New York. 

Upon his entry to active duty, Mr. DeVita was assigned to Coast Guard-manned transport ship USS Samuel Chase. The Chase was an attack transport ship that participated in all five of the major amphibious operations in the European Theater of World War II, including combat operations in both France and Italy. 

On June 6, 1944, during the Normandy invasion of France, DeVita crewed a Higgins boat landing craft on repetitive landings. His job was to lower the LCVP’s forward ramp to allow troops to assault the German-held beaches. On D-Day, his Higgins boat was part of the first wave, landing at Omaha Beach.  Ultimately, he made 15 trips to Omaha Beach that day to ferry troops to the fight, and return with fallen troops and those in need of medical attention.

Mr. DeVita said "By 10 o’clock at night, ... our Higgins boat started going back – it looked like popcorn, all shot up. I was determined to live so my mom wouldn’t get that telegram. It was by the grace of God I was alive."

His Coast Guard service record contains entries noting meritorious conduct during the initial assault landings at Omaha Beach.  DeVita continued to serve in a combat role for the remainder of the war, and was honorably discharged from the Coast Guard on April 3, 1946.  In his later years, Mr. DeVita returned to the beaches of Normandy to pay tribute to those who fought there.  In 2019, he marked the 75th anniversary of D-Day by authoring his D-Day story “To Hell and Back".

On March 12, 2020, Mr. DeVita passed at his home in Bridgewater, New Jersey. He was a selfless and courageous Coast Guardsman who embodied the service’s core values of Honor, Respect and Devotion to Duty.

You can learn more about Mr. DeVita's story at the following link.