Of the more than 3,500 Medal of Honor Recipients, only one US Coast Guardsman has been awarded the Medal—Signalman First Class Douglas A. Munro. His commitment to others continues to be a source of pride and inspiration for members of the Coast Guard today.
Born in Vancouver, Canada, to an American father and British mother, Munro moved to Cle Elum, Washington, as a child. From a young age, Munro was moved to help those in need. During the difficult years of the Great Depression, Munro gathered wood in the forests near his home and delivered it to those who needed it to keep warm in the winter months.
Helping others quickly became a passion for Munro, and it was no surprise to his family when he decided to join the Coast Guard in 1939. Aware of the worsening situation in Europe, Munro knew the possibility of compulsory military service was likely and preferred to have a choice in how he served his country. His choice was simple, as he told his family, “What I like about the Coast Guard is fundamentally their reason for being is to save lives, rather than to take them.” What Munro could not have known was that in saving lives, he would sacrifice his own.
Munro met fellow recruit Raymond J. Evans while enlisting in the Coast Guard. The two quickly became inseparable as they moved through training together. In 1940, Munro and Evans were stationed aboard USCGC Spencer (WPG-36). As the ship participated in Neutrality Patrols in the Atlantic, Munro worked towards earning the signalman rate. He learned Morse Code, how to communicate with signal flags, and to encode and decode messages. Munro successfully achieved the rate of signalman third class in September 1940.
On August 7, 1942, American forces landed on Guadalcanal, the Florida Islands, and Tulagi in Solomon Islands. Stationed aboard USS McCawley (APA-10) at this time, Munro had qualified as a small boat operator, and piloted landing craft (often called Higgins boats), taking Marines ashore in the third wave at Tulagi. With the beachhead secured, Munro went ashore with this signalman’s gear to provide communication between the Marines ashore and the ships out to sea. The following day he evacuated casualties, returning them to McCawley.
With his skills as a signalman and boat driver, Munro was selected for transfer to a newly assembled boat pool at Lunga Point on Guadalcanal. Living in makeshift accommodations on the still contested island, Munro and Evans moved supplies, ferried casualties out to hospital ships, and rescued downed airmen.
By late September 1942, Japanese forces had withdrawn to the western side of the river, requiring the insertion of Marines to hold the area and prevent Japanese forces from holding ground near American lines. A message from Marines fighting in the area was either misinterpreted or ambiguous but led the 1st Marine Division headquarters to believe they had crossed the river and were fighting there. This resulted in the order for three Marine companies to land via landing craft on a beach west of Point Cruz to enter the attack from the rear.
On September 27, Munro was put in charge of the Higgins boats assigned to land the Marines. At midday, the boats were away, headed towards the shore. Closing in, Munro noticed a reef, and led the group of landing craft around it. The Higgins boats beached, unloaded the Marines and returned to Lunga Point. Munro and his crews were still refueling their boats when word came down that the Marines were already in trouble and needed to be pulled out. Without hesitation, Munro gathered his men and sped off to return the Marines.
Upon reaching the pickup point, Munro’s small group of boats came under fire. Urged by other boat pilots to fall back, Munro refused. He had put those Marines ashore and would take them off. Munro positioned his landing craft parallel to the shore so Evans could provide covering fire for the Marines. Despite the heavy enemy fire, Munro held steady as the Marines swam out to the waiting landing craft. As the last men were picked up, Munro began to turn towards Lunga Point when he noticed a landing raft stuck on a reef. As crews worked to free it, Munro pulled his boat in behind the stuck craft, putting himself in the line of enemy fire.
Evans watched in horror as a bullet struck Munro in the back of the head. He grabbed the wheel and returned to Lunga Point as fast as the landing craft could go. Beaching the boat, Evans knelt to Munro, who had collapsed on the bottom of the landing craft. Munro, who had just regained consciousness, asked Evans, “Did they get off?” As Evans assured his friend the Marines were safe, Munro died. He was twenty-two years old.
In May 1943, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt presented the Medal of Honor to Munro’s parents, James and Edith. Not long after, Edith joined the women’s unit of the Coast Guard, the SPARS. Past the age of enlistment, an exception was made for her, and as a lieutenant she ran the Coast Guard Barracks in Seattle. Today, Munro is remembered with pride by the Coast Guard and with appreciation by the Marine Corps.
Kali Schick is Senior Historian for the National Medal of Honor Museum
