The Coast Guard is scheduled to hold a memorial ceremony at the USS KIDD Veterans Museum in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Saturday, to honor the crew of the Coast Guard Cutter White Alder that sank 56 years ago, killing 17 Coast Guard members.
- Who: Capt. Ulysses Mullins, Chief of Staff, Eighth Coast Guard District, Capt. Gregory Callaghan, Sector Commander, Coast Guard Sector New Orleans, and members from Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit Baton Rouge, Coast Guard Sector New Orleans, Coast Guard Aids to Navigation Team New Orleans, and the Coast Guard Cutter Pamlico.
- What: Coast Guard Cutter White Alder memorial ceremony
- Where: USS KIDD Veterans Museum, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
- When: Dec. 7, 2024 at 11 a.m.
The White Alder and the Motor Vessel Helena, a 455-foot Taiwanese flagged freighter, collided in the Mississippi River near Bayou Goula Bend Dec. 7, 1968. The cutter sank in 75 feet of water. Three of its 20-person crew were rescued, while the other 17 perished. The remaining crew members are entombed in the sunken cutter at the bottom of the Mississippi to this day.
Coast Guard Cutter White Alder was homeported in New Orleans, Louisiana, from 1947 until 1968. The cutter’s primary responsibility was to tend river aids-to-navigation, although it was also called upon to conduct other traditional Coast Guard duties.
A special aids to navigation structure was built in honor of the crew and marks the location of the sunken vessel near White Castle, Louisiana. Every year on December 7, Coast Guardsmen and surviving family members gather at the site in remembrance of those who lost their lives.
The original announcement can be found here.