As many of their active-duty counterparts worked at the front line of relief efforts in Haiti, members of the V.I. Coast Guard Auxiliary gathered this weekend on St. Thomas to salute some of their own and welcome a new division commander aboard.
In a time-honored change of watch ceremony Sunday at the East End Café, members applauded Klaus Willems for 30 years of service and greeted the new V.I. Division Commander, James “CC” Kreglo, of St. John, who replaced Duane Minton of St. Croix.
As emcee of the event, Capt. Eduardo Pino, commander of the Coast Guard’s San Juan sector, recounted all the fishermen, boaters and others who were rescued last year in local waters with the help of the more-than-100-strong V.I. auxiliary.
“There are a lot of people alive because of what you do,” he said.
Pino said the volunteers of the auxiliary have helped Coast Guard find drugs, illegal immigrants and weapons, and are needed now more than ever as active-duty Coast Guard personnel focus on relief efforts in Haiti.
By the second day after the earthquake that leveled much of Haiti, Pino said the Coast Guard had rushed four vessels to Haitian ports, dispatched helicopters from Virginia, and scrambled to send personnel from San Juan and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
“It’s a massive, massive rescue effort,” he reported after having just returned from Haiti.
Pino thanked the auxiliary members for their immediate willingness to help.
Turning briefly away from the tragedy, Pino and the others applauded the 81-year-old Willems, a charter member of the auxiliary when it was established in 1972.
They also welcomed new officers into their posts during the change of watch.
The new officers on St. Thomas included flotilla commander Deb Bundy and John Melucci, vice flotilla commander. On St. John, Cheryl Boyners Jackson took over as flotilla commander, and Robert O’Conner became vice flotilla commander. And on St. Croix, Art Wollenweber took over as flotilla commander, while Paul Lordi assumed duties as vice flotilla commander.
