[Patricia Joyce]

My son, Kevin, whose portrait is posted here just emailed me from the Pacific Ocean (off the shores of El Salvador and Guatemala) from the Coast Guard Cutter Active with their newsletter. Seems my 22 yr old son has been a busy man as they rescued (some time in the past few weeks - security stuff disallowed me from knowing this earlier) a 40-foot boat adrift with 109 migrants, including a pregnant woman. The small boat had departed Ecuador nine days earlier with dreams of reaching the US. Five days into the voyage the vessel broke down and the food and water supplies were exhausted. The crew deserted the boat leaving the migrants adrift. They had been without food and water for three days when the Active arrived. The migrants were transferred to the Active and provided with food, water, blankets and critical medical attention, were watched over round the clock and delivered safely to another CG cutter.

No sooner had they finished with that rescue that they boarded a fishing vessel loaded with more than five tons of cocaine with a street value of over $98M. Two Go-Fast vessels were aprehended as they were disabled with .50 caliber sniper rifle fire. Kevin's crewmen detained six individuals and transferred the crewmembers and the evidence to another Coast Guard cutter.

Thankfully they are now heading up the Pacific Coast to the waters of the Pacific Northwest, to home in Port Angeles, WA. And in three weeks I will be out there for a visit. I'm sure Kevin will have great tales for me. He pilots's the Active and is an Officer on Deck in charge of 1/3 of the crew. Your Coast Guard hard at work and

A Proud Mama here!!