Speaker 1: Pushkin Hello, Hello. Before we get on with our show,
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Speaker 1: dot Fm, slash Plus. Now onto the episode. On a
Speaker 1: warm day in spring nineteen forty three, a woman stepped forward,
Speaker 1: raised her right hand and took an oath. She was
Speaker 1: dressed in a neatly tailored uniform, sharp shoulders and insignia
Speaker 1: pinon eche lapel. Her dark hair was carefully curled, her
Speaker 1: mouth a slash of red lipstick. She was in her
Speaker 1: late slim with perfect posture. Her face was lined with grief.
Speaker 1: Just an hour before, she had received the Medal of
Speaker 1: Honor on behalf of her only son. He had been
Speaker 1: a member of the Coast Guard, killed in battle at
Speaker 1: just twenty two years old. It was the middle of wartime,
Speaker 1: so there was no big medal ceremony. She had met
Speaker 1: with President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the Oval Office. From
Speaker 1: behind his desk, Fdr had dropped the medal into her
Speaker 1: outstretched hand, and then she traveled three short blocks to
Speaker 1: the headquarters of the United States Coast Guard, where she
Speaker 1: stood and swore an oath to support and defend the
Speaker 1: Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.
Speaker 1: It was the same promise her son had made. He
Speaker 1: had given his life to serve his country. Now his
Speaker 1: mother was entering the fight. I'm Malcolm Gabwell and this
Speaker 1: is Medal of Honor Stories of Courage. The Medal of
Speaker 1: Honor is the highest military decoration in the United States,
Speaker 1: awarded for gallantry and bravery in combat at the risk
Speaker 1: of life, above and beyond the call of duty. Each
Speaker 1: candidate must be approved all the way up the chain
Speaker 1: of command, from the supervisory officer in the field to
Speaker 1: the highest office in our nation. Not just approved by
Speaker 1: the Secretary of Defense, it has to be agreed to
Speaker 1: by the President. This show is about those heroes, what
Speaker 1: they did, what it meant, and what their stories tell
Speaker 1: us about the nature of courage and sacrifice. Today we're
Speaker 1: telling the story of Douglas Monroe. Out of the two
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty thousand members of the United States Coast
Speaker 1: Guard who served in World War II, he was the
Speaker 1: only one awarded a Medal of Honor. In fact, he
Speaker 1: is still the only member of the Coast Guard to
Speaker 1: have gotten the medal because of one simple fact. In
Speaker 1: nineteen forty two, he saved an estimated five hundred marines
Speaker 1: from death on the island of Guadalcanal. And yes, yes,
Speaker 1: you heard that right, five hundred. The story of Doug's
Speaker 1: heroism is told to every man and woman who joins
Speaker 1: the United States Coast Guard. The Coastguard's headquarters are named
Speaker 1: after him. A legend class Cutter ship is too. He's
Speaker 1: the only non marine honored in the Wall of Heroes
Speaker 1: at the National Museum of the Marine Corps, and every
Speaker 1: year for the past five decades, the Navy League has
Speaker 1: given out the Douglas A. Munroe Inspirational Leadership Award to
Speaker 1: the person whose leadership and selflessness reflects the essence of
Speaker 1: who Doug was. And there's a reason that his story
Speaker 1: resonates so deeply. It's about more than what he did
Speaker 1: that day in Guadalcanal. Usually, the Medal of Honor celebrates
Speaker 1: a particular kind of leader. The lone man out on
Speaker 1: the front lines. In this episode, I want to think
Speaker 1: about a different kind of leader ship, a quieter kind,
Speaker 1: one that isn't built on enforcing a hierarchy, but on
Speaker 1: the opposite service to others and a depth of connection
Speaker 1: that lasts for decades. The day after the attack on
Speaker 1: Pearl Harbor, Fdr adjusts.
Speaker 2: Congress December nineteen forty one, a date which will live
Speaker 2: in infamy. The United States of America was suddenly and
Speaker 2: deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire
Speaker 2: of Japan.
Speaker 1: Japan had launched attacks on Hong Kong, the Philippines, Guam,
Speaker 1: Wake Island, and Midway.
Speaker 3: It was war.
Speaker 2: As Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy, I
Speaker 2: have directed that all measures be taken for our defense,
Speaker 2: no no matter how long it may take us overcome
Speaker 2: this premeditated invasion. The American people, in their righteous might,
Speaker 2: will win through to absolute picture.
Speaker 1: All this at the stage for the conflict Doug Monroe
Speaker 1: would find himself in Right away. The military focused on
Speaker 1: the Pacific Ocean. It was a race between the Japanese
Speaker 1: forces and the Allies to dominate strategic South Pacific islands.
Speaker 1: Because whoever controlled those would control the supplying communications lines
Speaker 1: between the US and our allies in Australia. One of
Speaker 1: America's first targets was the Solomon Islands, a tiny chain
Speaker 1: one thousand miles east of Papua New Guinea, in particular
Speaker 1: a small airfield on the biggest of those islands, Guadalcanal.
Speaker 4: All the forces that controlled Guadalcanal command the approaches to Australia,
Speaker 4: all mastery of the skies over the vitally important Solomon Islands.
Speaker 1: Japanese troops were already there, gaining a stronger foothold by
Speaker 1: the day the Americans had to stop their progress. In
Speaker 1: the early hours of August seventh, nineteen forty two, a
Speaker 1: fleet of more than fifty U S. Navy warships silently
Speaker 1: converged on the Solomon Islands. As the sun rose, Allied
Speaker 1: planes bombed the enemy, then Marines stormed ashore. Within a
Speaker 1: couple of days, the smaller islands were under Allied control,
Speaker 1: but not cordicanal. The Allies secured the airfield, but the
Speaker 1: enemy soldiers just regrouped, moving back further inland. Japanese aircraft
Speaker 1: tangled with Navy flyers overhead, dropping bombs on battleships and
Speaker 1: transport boats. The US was losing valuable planes and warships,
Speaker 1: so the Naval Aircraft Carrier Fleet decided to withdraw from
Speaker 1: the battle days before they were supposed to. With no
Speaker 1: air cover, the remaining ships were dangerously exposed bombed constantly,
Speaker 1: so the rest of the battleships had no choice but
Speaker 1: to retreat to safety as well. Here's the thing, the
Speaker 1: Solomon Islands campaign was a logistical nightmare, thousands of miles
Speaker 1: away from Allied land. When the battleships retreated, they left
Speaker 1: so fast they took half the supplies for Guadalcanal with them, food, medicine, equipment,
Speaker 1: the works. The remaining troops were essentially stranded. They were
Speaker 1: going to have to make do with what little they
Speaker 1: had for weeks. The military planners had optimistically named the
Speaker 1: Solomon Islands invasion Operation Watchtower, but as the Marines started
Speaker 1: scavenging for gear and food, they renamed it Operation Shoe String.
Speaker 1: It would prove to be one of the trickiest, most disorganized,
Speaker 1: and most lethal battlegrounds of the entire war. The Allied
Speaker 1: forces on Guadalcanal came down with danngy fever, and dysentery.
Speaker 1: They were clouds of malaria bearing mosquitoes, and most crucially,
Speaker 1: they faced an enemy whose home country was much much closer,
Speaker 1: which meant that the Japanese were constantly getting fresh troops.
Speaker 1: If the US couldn't hold its operation together on a
Speaker 1: logistical level, there was no chance of victory. And at Guadalcanal,
Speaker 1: responsibility for the most important logistical question of all moving
Speaker 1: men into battle fell to the Coast Guard, and one
Speaker 1: man in particular, the only member of the Coast Guard
Speaker 1: ever to win a Medal of honor, Douglas Monroe. Doug
Speaker 1: Monroe was born in nineteen nineteen and grew up in
Speaker 1: the little town of South clay Ellam, Washington. He did
Speaker 1: all the usual all American kid stuff, boy scout, basketball,
Speaker 1: trific dancer, a skinny kid would, slick back hair, and
Speaker 1: a big devilish grin. But he was maybe best known
Speaker 1: for one thing. His friendships had super close pals, and
Speaker 1: that gift for connection extended to a deep sense of community.
Speaker 1: He was in the Bugle Corps, and he volunteered to
Speaker 1: play tops at the South clay Elham Cemetery to honor
Speaker 1: local veterans. His oldest sister Patricia remembers it well.
Speaker 5: And he used to go out up at the cemetery
Speaker 5: on Veterans Day and he would go way out in
Speaker 5: the woods and he would play the echo on the
Speaker 5: bugle to taps, and he said he used to enjoy
Speaker 5: doing that for the vets.
Speaker 1: This to me is a quintessential Doug story. He's doing
Speaker 1: something out of a sense of duty and obligation for
Speaker 1: a group of people, but they can't even see him.
Speaker 1: It's not about the recognition. This was during the Great Depression, remember,
Speaker 1: and the little town of South clay Elam was hit hard.
Speaker 1: So Doug recruited one of his best buddies, Mike Cooley,
Speaker 1: to gather and split forward and deliver it to people
Speaker 1: who couldn't afford it. Then he watched as the war
Speaker 1: began in Europe. He already had the instinct to serve
Speaker 1: his country. His mom, Edith, came from a military family.
Speaker 1: One of her brothers had fought in World War One
Speaker 1: and served for years as lieutenant colonel in the Canadian Army,
Speaker 1: but the idea of her son willingly enlisting came as
Speaker 1: a rather unwelcome surprise when Doug mentioned it one night
Speaker 1: at dinner, she dropped her fork under her plate. He
Speaker 1: knew enough to change the subject, but Doug was undeterred.
Speaker 1: The only question to him was which arm of the
Speaker 1: military to join.
Speaker 6: So he had pals and various branches of the service
Speaker 6: who wanted him to come with them, and he checked
Speaker 6: it all out, and he said he was going to
Speaker 6: join the Coast Guard because he said they saved.
Speaker 1: Lives, saving not taking lives. That's what Doug believed in,
Speaker 1: and that's what the Coast Guard had been doing since
Speaker 1: nineteen fifteen. It was and still is the smallest of
Speaker 1: the armed forces, a nimble force focused on marine's safety,
Speaker 1: search and rescue, maritime law enforcement. If the name Tavy
Speaker 1: ruled the seas, the Coast Guard protected them. Doug joined up,
Speaker 1: and so did a young man named Ray Evans his Ray.
Speaker 7: They called me back in September and said are you
Speaker 7: still interested? We've got seven openings, and I said, yes,
Speaker 7: I am. When I got to the Federal Building on
Speaker 7: September eighteenth, Doug Monroe was there and that's how it started.
Speaker 1: That's how it started. Doug met Ray, the man who
Speaker 1: would be his best friend and the person who would
Speaker 1: be in the boat with him the day he saved
Speaker 1: those five hundred marines. We'll get to that after the break.
Speaker 1: Just before his twentieth birthday, Doug Monroe joined the Coast
Speaker 1: Guard and met Ray Evans. He and Ray were inseparable.
Speaker 1: They were so close that everyone referred to them as
Speaker 1: the gold Dust Twins.
Speaker 7: In those days, the soap was called a gold Dust Twins,
Speaker 7: you know, and the twins on the label, and that's
Speaker 7: what they called us. And many times couldn't tell us
Speaker 7: a part. I mean, it didn't look alike, but they
Speaker 7: wouldn't mix us up.
Speaker 1: The US, meanwhile, was inching ever closer to war. In
Speaker 1: nineteen forty one, the Navy, preparing for the conflict, tapped
Speaker 1: the Coastguard to train on their best weapon for amphibious warfare,
Speaker 1: Higgins boats. Higgins boats had just been developed as a
Speaker 1: new way to get troops and needed supplies onto beaches
Speaker 1: quickly and nimbly.
Speaker 8: You all know by now the nature of amphibious war,
Speaker 8: a combined land and sea operation against the enemy. Landing
Speaker 8: craft furnished that vital link between sea and shore, between
Speaker 8: the transports and the enemy beach.
Speaker 1: You could run them right up on the sand. They're
Speaker 1: those boats. You see in d Day footage. They could
Speaker 1: hold thirty six fully armed men, with a ramp at
Speaker 1: the front to let the troops off quickly, and two
Speaker 1: machine guns at the rear. The problem was that the
Speaker 1: Navy crews couldn't handle maneuvering the litle Higgins's boats into
Speaker 1: the surf. It just wasn't what they did. Coastguardsmen, however,
Speaker 1: were the most expert small boat handlers in government service,
Speaker 1: so in an amphibious attack, the coast Guard wasn't just
Speaker 1: part of the battle. Without them, there wouldn't have been
Speaker 1: a battle at all. It wasn't the most glamorous role,
Speaker 1: of course, it's all logistics, no glory, But glory wasn't
Speaker 1: what the Coastguard was about. Connection was Doug raised his
Speaker 1: hand to be part of the Higgins boat training. He
Speaker 1: always wanted to be more useful. Ray volunteered as well,
Speaker 1: and according to Ray, Doug wasn't just great at it,
Speaker 1: he was legendary. They called those specialized sailors. Coxin's Coxin
Speaker 1: is spelled like it ought to be pronounced coxway, but
Speaker 1: actually it's an Old English word. Like a lot of
Speaker 1: old English words, It's pronounced in a totally nutty way
Speaker 1: like Worcestershire sauce.
Speaker 3: Look it up.
Speaker 1: Is that how you thought Worcestershire is spelled anyway? Coxon
Speaker 1: has an old English definition. It means literally boat servant,
Speaker 1: and that makes sense. A coxon is the person who
Speaker 1: steers the boat and is responsible for taking care of
Speaker 1: everyone on the boat. It's a mix of two things,
Speaker 1: a leader and a servant. These days, if you're in
Speaker 1: the business world, you've probably heard it called servant leadership.
Speaker 1: But if you were in the Coastguard world, it didn't
Speaker 1: come with all the business branding. It was just something
Speaker 1: that you did. I mean, here's Admiral Linda Fagen, commandant
Speaker 1: of the US Coast Guard.
Speaker 9: I define leadership as showing up as confidence leavened with humility,
Speaker 9: and creating the environment where others can succeed and eliminating
Speaker 9: any barriers to their success.
Speaker 1: Linda Fagan is just a badass, the first woman to
Speaker 1: lead the Coastguard. But she's not talking about barking orders
Speaker 1: and basking in the glory. She's talking about creating an
Speaker 1: environment where leaders so of others and create positive change.
Speaker 1: That's the Coastguard in a nutshell, protecting people and in
Speaker 1: doing so, making connections that become part of a lasting,
Speaker 1: long reaching chain.
Speaker 3: Of good works.
Speaker 1: It's a creed that came naturally to Doug, and he
Speaker 1: was about to have to put it to test. At Guadalcanal.
Speaker 1: It was six weeks into the invasion of Guadalcanal. Supplies
Speaker 1: were short and men were surviving on rice and dried
Speaker 1: fish the Japanese troops had left behind. There were torrential rains,
Speaker 1: swarms of black flies and mosquitoes, leeches and scorpions, crocodiles.
Speaker 1: Doug Monro's friend Ray Evans remembers exactly how bad it was.
Speaker 7: He ended up with malaria, and there was a lot
Speaker 7: of dysentery and dangy fever. And it's jungle, you know.
Speaker 7: It was a mean place. It was a mean place.
Speaker 1: The gold Dust twins both had malaria, but it didn't
Speaker 1: seem to slow them down. They built themselves a little
Speaker 1: house out of scrap materials and packing boxes, one of
Speaker 1: the only houses on the base with actual screens in
Speaker 1: the windows. Doug was in charge of Guadalcanal's contingent of
Speaker 1: Higgins boats and was the go to person whenever anyone
Speaker 1: had questioned about them. The Marines loved him, how skilled
Speaker 1: he was, how seriously he took the responsibility of protecting them.
Speaker 1: Everyone trusted him as a leader, despite the fact that
Speaker 1: he was only twenty two. But it was clear that
Speaker 1: things on Guadalcanal couldn't keep going the way they were going.
Speaker 1: The Allies worried that the Japanese forces might eventually get
Speaker 1: strong enough to run them off the island, so that the
Speaker 1: commanding officers decided it was time to take decisive action.
Speaker 1: On September twenty seventh, nineteen forty two, the Marines launched
Speaker 1: an attack on enemy held territory along the Metanco River
Speaker 1: at a spot called Point Cruise.
Speaker 7: The next thing I know, commanders telling us that Doug
Speaker 7: and I that they were going to send this battalion.
Speaker 7: I guess it was a battalion of Marines to land
Speaker 7: at Point Cruise.
Speaker 1: The Marines loaded onto the coast guards little Higgins boats
Speaker 1: and they had it out. Things went sideways from the start.
Speaker 1: The troop transports couldn't land where they were supposed to.
Speaker 7: Unfortunately, they were supposed to land at the head of
Speaker 7: the cove, and we found the coral would not allow
Speaker 7: us to do that, so we had to make an
Speaker 7: abrupt right turn and land on the beach.
Speaker 1: The fleet of boats led by Doug dropped the Marines
Speaker 1: and headed back to base. The men who landed were
Speaker 1: supposed to meet up with two other of the groups
Speaker 1: of Marines, the Fifth and the Raiders, but those two
Speaker 1: groups couldn't make it to the meeting point. They had
Speaker 1: been decimated and driven back by Japanese troops. Because here's
Speaker 1: the thing, the Allies had thought there were only roughly
Speaker 1: four hundred enemy soldiers on the whole island, they were
Speaker 1: closer to four thousand. Marines had been dropped into a
Speaker 1: situation that was way worse than they imagined. The Japanese
Speaker 1: had anticipated their arrival and prepared battalions of infantry and
Speaker 1: machine guns on the ridge overlooking their landing site. William Shanahan,
Speaker 1: one of the Marines who was there that day, remembers
Speaker 1: it clearly.
Speaker 10: The Japanese had moved in behind us, between us and
Speaker 10: the beach, so we were effectively trapped there.
Speaker 1: Shots were coming from every corner. Motor shells exploded all
Speaker 1: around them, blasting men through the air. Their leader, Major Rogers,
Speaker 1: was killed instantly, and then a seemingly endless number of
Speaker 1: Japanese soldiers was coming over the hill. Even worse, the
Speaker 1: Marines didn't have any way to call for help. Here's
Speaker 1: another Marine who was there that day, Mac McLeod.
Speaker 4: We didn't bring a radio with us, and we didn't
Speaker 4: know that the Fifth Marines code got across and the
Speaker 4: they couldn't get a cross. So in the fact we
Speaker 4: lay on there and before guard man and everybody without
Speaker 4: any help.
Speaker 1: But the Marines are nothing if not resourceful, right They
Speaker 1: took off their white undershirts and spelled out help on
Speaker 1: the ground, and a dive bomber flying overhead saw it.
Speaker 1: Doug and Ray had just gotten back to the base
Speaker 1: when they saw their commander running towards them. He was
Speaker 1: waiting a piece of paper and yelling something they couldn't
Speaker 1: hear over the throttle of the engines. Doug turned to
Speaker 1: Ray with a sardonic smile and said, whatever he's yelling about,
Speaker 1: it ain't good. The commander wanted to know would they
Speaker 1: be willing to go back and rescue the Marines. It
Speaker 1: wasn't an order, it was a question.
Speaker 7: Word came down that they had to be evacuated, and
Speaker 7: so back we go as usual.
Speaker 1: Doug led the boats a group of about ten landing craft.
Speaker 1: He knew exactly what kind of nightmare he was going into.
Speaker 4: On a beach at that time. What was just the
Speaker 4: most chaotic place you would imagine, with all the shells
Speaker 4: falling in, the machine gun fire, water fire, and nobody
Speaker 4: in his right mind which got a boat to come
Speaker 4: in voluntarily to get us, But they did. They came in.
Speaker 1: As the landing craft approached the beach, enemy mortar fire
Speaker 1: caused giant eruptions of seawater that towered over the Higgins boats.
Speaker 1: One hit another. Dug and Ray were in the same boat,
Speaker 1: and they braced themselves as the water crashed down on them.
Speaker 1: Machine gun fires strafed the hull. One of the other
Speaker 1: boats pulled next to Dug and Ray and someone yelled
Speaker 1: that they should return to base. Doug pointed his finger
Speaker 1: at the beach and yelled back, were.
Speaker 3: Not leaving them there, We're going in.
Speaker 1: The group of boats pulled as close to the shore
Speaker 1: as they could get. Within minutes, nearly five hundred marines
Speaker 1: poured out of the jungle and dove into the water.
Speaker 1: They were exhausted, dragging the dead and the wounded, and
Speaker 1: they were well under attack from Japanese machine guns along
Speaker 1: one side of the beach, so Doug positioned his craft
Speaker 1: in between the incoming enemy fire and the Marines. He
Speaker 1: pointed the boat's machine gun to shore and began firing
Speaker 1: at the enemy and giving the Marines cover as they
Speaker 1: swam to the waiting boats.
Speaker 7: Doug said, we had two air cool Lowis machine guns
Speaker 7: between us, so we elected to stay on one boat
Speaker 7: with the two guns and act as kind of a
Speaker 7: covering fire hill. We sent the rest of the boats
Speaker 7: into load E Street.
Speaker 3: Here's William Shanahan again.
Speaker 10: There are people would have been sitting ducks going out
Speaker 10: to the boats, and so when he engaged them, it
Speaker 10: gave us the leeway to get the rest of our
Speaker 10: people off the beach.
Speaker 1: The boats were finally loaded with the rescued Marines. They
Speaker 1: started back to base, Doug and Ray with the last
Speaker 1: to leave, but as they turned arounded one of the
Speaker 1: boats had gotten stuck on a coral reef. Those Marines
Speaker 1: were back into water trying to rock it loose. Back
Speaker 1: in the line of fire again, Doug steered his boat
Speaker 1: over to hell. They had to move quickly. The enemy
Speaker 1: was repositioning their guns, getting them in their sights. Finally
Speaker 1: the boat was free.
Speaker 7: But then I saw this line of water spouts coming
Speaker 7: across the water, and I yelled a Doug to get down.
Speaker 7: He couldn't hear me over the engine noise.
Speaker 1: A stream of bullets ran across the surface of the ocean,
Speaker 1: straight towards their boat.
Speaker 7: And it hit him. There was one burst afire.
Speaker 1: Doug was shot in the back of the neck at
Speaker 1: the base of his skull. He crumpled to the deck.
Speaker 1: Ray took the wheel and raced the boat back to base.
Speaker 1: He drove it up on the beach, and then he
Speaker 1: knelt down and cradled his best friend's head in his lap.
Speaker 1: Doug opened his eyes.
Speaker 7: He said, did they get off? And that's about all
Speaker 7: he said. He died. I don't think he ever heard
Speaker 7: me answer. That's sky a guy who was He wanted
Speaker 7: to complete things.
Speaker 1: Doug wanted to finish the mission he had volunteered to lead.
Speaker 1: He made certain the men were ferried home to safety.
Speaker 1: He was serving those men in his boat, the men
Speaker 1: on the beach, Even when he couldn't stand at the wheel,
Speaker 1: he was still acting on their behalf. The definition of
Speaker 1: a servant.
Speaker 4: Leader without him and the leadership that he exhibited, and
Speaker 4: bringing all his boats in and assembling them that began
Speaker 4: when and bringing them in, I saved a hell of
Speaker 4: a lot of lives, including my own.
Speaker 1: Doug Monroe saved and estimated five hundred marines a day
Speaker 1: he died. He was two weeks shy of his twenty
Speaker 1: third birthday. Three weeks later, on the afternoon of October nineteenth,
Speaker 1: Edith Monroe looked out her living room window and saw
Speaker 1: three uniformed officers, two Navy and one Coastguard approaching her
Speaker 1: front door. They knocked. She pretended not to hear it.
Speaker 1: Doug's father, James, entered the room. They knocked again. Edith
Speaker 1: begged James not to open the door. She knew what
Speaker 1: this visit meant. Edith waited until the officers had left
Speaker 1: before she broke down in tears. She wanted to channel
Speaker 1: her grief into something positive to honor her son's service.
Speaker 1: In November of that year, she learned that the Coastguard
Speaker 1: would start accepting women in their ranks. They called them spars.
Speaker 1: Edith immediately asked to join. She was forty seven, a
Speaker 1: grieving gold star mother. The Coastguard brosse were skeptical to
Speaker 1: say the least, but Doug got his persistence.
Speaker 3: From his mom. I guess she wore them down.
Speaker 1: Within weeks, Edith was traveling across the country to Officer
Speaker 1: Canada training at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut.
Speaker 1: She was one of the first women to show up,
Speaker 1: and the oldest by a couple of decades. The training
Speaker 1: included not dying military drill, seamanship, and small boat operations.
Speaker 1: Edith's first letter to Doug's sister Patricia read pat this
Speaker 1: would kill you and it might kill me. And then
Speaker 1: in May nineteen forty three, the same day Doug was
Speaker 1: awarded his Medal of Honor, she took the Coastguard oath
Speaker 1: of Office, the same one her son had taken just
Speaker 1: four years earlier. She was a lieutenant junior grade. The
Speaker 1: Coast Guard was happy to have her as a kind
Speaker 1: of spokeswoman, but Edith insisted on a bigger contribution. I'll
Speaker 1: be surprised. She was the one who raised Doug Monroe,
Speaker 1: so they made her the commanding officer of the Seattle Barracks.
Speaker 1: Affectionately nicknamed the Old Lady, she established new regulation to
Speaker 1: make it easier for women recruits. She was one of
Speaker 1: the Coastguard's first gender policy advisers. She was way ahead
Speaker 1: of her time. Like her son, Edith was always game
Speaker 1: to do more. In November of nineteen forty three, she
Speaker 1: was quoted Neela Times saying, if legislation is acted upon,
Speaker 1: which will let spars serve overseas, I want to be
Speaker 1: one of the first to go across. We women can fight.
Speaker 1: We're proving that every day here on the home front.
Speaker 1: By the time the war was over, she'd won a
Speaker 1: Commendation Medal. And then, of course there's Ray, Doug's gold
Speaker 1: dust twin. Ray was awarded the Navy Cross for his
Speaker 1: actions at Guadalcanal. He stayed on in the Coast Guard,
Speaker 1: eventually retiring as a commander. He died in twenty thirteen
Speaker 1: at the age of ninety two. He missed Doug until
Speaker 1: the end.
Speaker 7: Never have had as good a friends since then. You know,
Speaker 7: one that close. You never think about dying, even in
Speaker 7: that situation, with the war going on, in bullets flying around,
Speaker 7: you don't really think about it. You just knew the job.
Speaker 7: I guess you anticipate that you're going to be okay,
Speaker 7: and then one day one of you isn't it's pretty tough.
Speaker 1: Ray would tell you what any member of the military
Speaker 1: would tell you. Doug might technically have volunteered for that
Speaker 1: rescue mission, but he didn't see it as a choice.
Speaker 1: He and Ray were coxins there to lead and to serve.
Speaker 1: They put themselves in harm's way because that was the
Speaker 1: promise they had made to the men in those boats
Speaker 1: and to themselves.
Speaker 7: We were asked to take them over there, we were
Speaker 7: asked to bring them back off of there, and that's
Speaker 7: what we did. That's what the Coast Guard does.
Speaker 1: This is the thing about servant leadership. It's not about
Speaker 1: leading by fear or even by example. It's about protecting
Speaker 1: the people you're leading and protecting the connection between them.
Speaker 1: The way a coxin coordinates the action of a boat.
Speaker 1: That's who Doug was, pointing his ship home, even when
Speaker 1: he could no longer stand at its wheel. The long
Speaker 1: chain of Doug's connections started even before his.
Speaker 3: Time in the Coast Guard.
Speaker 1: Remember Mike Cooley, the friend who gave away firewood with Doug,
Speaker 1: joined the Depression. He served his country in the army,
Speaker 1: and years later returned to South Glayellam. He visited Doug's
Speaker 1: grave and was surprised and saddened to see that the
Speaker 1: American flag flying over it was tattered. So he honored
Speaker 1: his friend by buying a new flag and raising it
Speaker 1: at the gravesite in the morning, lowering it in the evening,
Speaker 1: walking six miles round trip to the cemetery twice a
Speaker 1: day every day for forty years. He did it until
Speaker 1: well into his eighties, inspired by what Doug stood for
Speaker 1: his sacrifice, his caring. That to me is the essence
Speaker 1: of servant leadership. I think maybe Mike put it best.
Speaker 2: You know what you what I'm saying, When you do
Speaker 2: a fair for somebody and do something good, you feel
Speaker 2: good inside.
Speaker 5: So that makes me feel good inside.
Speaker 1: See Medal of Honor. Stories of Courage is written by
Speaker 1: Meredith Rollins and produced by Meredith Rollins, Constanza Galardo, and
Speaker 1: Izzy Carter. The show is edited by Ben Dafh Haffrey,
Speaker 1: Sound design and additional music by Jake Gorski, recording engineering
Speaker 1: by Nita Lawrence, fact checking by Arthur Gombert's original music
Speaker 1: by Eric Phillips. If you want to learn more about
Speaker 1: our Medal of Honor recipients, follow us on Instagram and Twitter.
Speaker 1: We'll be sharing photos and videos of the heroes featured
Speaker 1: on the show. We'd also love to hear from you,
Speaker 1: dm us with a story about a courageous veteran in
Speaker 1: your life. If you don't know a veteran, I'd love
Speaker 1: to hear a story of how courage was contagious in
Speaker 1: your own life. You can find us at Pushkin Bonds.
Speaker 1: I'm your host, Malcolm Gamwell.