The Coast Guard participated in the British and Canadian landings as well. Left: Coast Guard LCI(l)-85 sinks in the transport area after the crew safely evac uated the wounded.

The Coast Guard’s participation in amphibious activity during World War II was perhaps the most important war-related job the service performed. In addition, the Coast Guard manned more than 800 cutters, nearly 300 ships for the Army, and thousands of amphibious-type assault craft.

The Coast Guard participated in the British and Canadian landings as well. Four Coast Guard-manned LSTs trained with and carried British troops and equipment to the landings at Gold, Juno and Sword. The Coast Guard also partially manned many U.S. Navy vessels including the transport USS Charles Carroll.

US Military Casualties in World War II

USCG-1 escorted the first waves of landing craft into the Omaha assault area on D-Day morning. Its crew pulled 28 survivors from a sunken landing craft out of the English Channel right off the beaches before 0700, 6 June 1944.

The Battle of the Somme
The Battle of the Somme was one of the largest battles of World War I, and among the bloodiest in all of human history. A combination of a compact battlefield, destructive modern weaponry and several failures by British military leaders led to the unprecedented slaughter of wave after wave of young men.

The Marine Corps
The Marine Corps experienced the highest fatality rates per 100,000 for all causes (122.5), unintentional injury (77.1), suicide (14.0), and homicide (7.4) of all the services. The Army had the highest disease and illness-related fatality rate (20.2 per 100,000) of all the services.