SEATTLE — The U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Coast Guard retirees, along with residents from the city of Cle Elum, Wash., honored Signalman 1st Class Douglas Albert Munro, the only Coast Guardsman to receive the Medal of Honor, at an annual ceremony at Laurel Hill Memorial Park in Cle Elum, Sept. 27.
“There is no higher compliment then to be called a shipmate and no better goal then to be a good one,” said Rear Adm. Richard Gromlich, commander of the 13th Coast Guard District. “On Sept. 27 of each year, we remember Douglas Munro for being one of our greatest shipmates; one who left a legacy for all Coast Guardsmen to follow in today.”
Munro, a native to Cle Elum, led a small boat force during the battle of Guadalcanal on September 27, 1942. Munro was fatally wounded while extracting a battalion of nearly 500 Marines who were under attack by Japanese forces.
For his heroic and selfless actions, Munro was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor and the Purple Heart Medal.
The ceremony also featured the unveiling of two newly refurbished cannons that stand at Munro’s gravesite as a permanent memorial and reminder of his devotion to duty and his country.
