Recently, I was fortunate to attend the Coast Guard Foundation’s 34th Annual Salute to the Coast Guard in New York City, where honors were bestowed and funds were raised at a gala event in a midtown hotel. Before a crowd of nearly 700 comprising numerous U.S. Coast Guard officers, including the newly installed Commandant, Admiral Paul F. Zukunft, local dignitaries, commercial-shipping and shipbuilding representatives, and friends and family of the Coast Guard and its members, the foundation honored the heroic acts of the helicopter crew CG-6515 from Point Reyes, California (above), and the crew of Motor Life Boat 47212 (MLB) from Station Humboldt Bay, California (below). Both exhibited exceptional bravery in the line of duty to rescue civilians in dangerous situations, and a video presentation showing interviews with the Coast Guard personnel involved highlighted both their extraordinary poise in some challenging situations as well as their startling youth.