Henry Novian

Henry was in San Antonia, Texas when he enlisted in the Coast Guard in 1955. He took basic training at Cape May, New Jersey and had subsequent assignments at Portsmouth, Virginia, Groton, Connecticut, Berkeley, Virginia and spent a large part of his assignment out of the Pier 4 facility on Pratt Street in Baltimore. He served much of this time manning the Craig Hill Channel Light Station in the Bay outside of Baltimore. He was one of the three men assigned to the Light Station. His principle duties involved maintaining the light, the system of batteries that power the light, and the fog horn. He also did general maintenance of the station.
Henry achieved the rank of Engineman 2nd Class. He remembers being part of port security operations for the Coast Guard. One of his interesting assignments was being part of a team that was dispatched to retrieve a forty foot CG cutter that had run aground near the mouth of the Bay. The team recovered the ship and returned it to Norfolk where repairs were made. He also recalls providing security for the President’s Cup hydroplane races which were held on the Potomac River.
Henry says he considered re-enlisting, but the Coast Guard wouldn’t meet his terms, and so he left the service in 1959.