Media Advisory: Coast Guard to host Purple Heart ceremony for Coast Guard Cutter Tampa members

united states coast guard 

Media Advisory  

U.S. Coast Guard Pacific Area
Contact: Coast Guard Pacific Area Public Affairs
Office: (510) 437-3375
After Hours: (510) 816-1700
D11-DG-M-PACAREA-PA@uscg.mil
Pacific Area online newsroom

Coast Guard to host Purple Heart ceremony for Coast Guard Cutter Tampa members

WHO: Vice Adm. Linda L. Fagan, the Coast Guard Pacific Area commander

WHAT: Purple Heart ceremony for Tampa crewmembers Edward Kelleher and Arthur Deasy

WHEN: Tuesday at 10:30 a.m.

WHERE: Coast Guard Base Alameda

Editor’s Note: Media interested in attending are asked to RSVP to the Coast Guard Pacific Area public affairs personnel by 8 a.m. Tuesday at D11-DG-M-PACAREA-PA@uscg.mil. Media members must have a valid photo ID and media credentials to gain access to the base.

 

ALAMEDA, Calif. – The Coast Guard is scheduled Tuesday to posthumously present the families of two Coast Guard members with Purple Hearts in honor of those who received fatal wounds in the sinking of the Coast Guard Cutter Tampa Sept. 26, 1918.

The Purple Hearts will be presented to the families of Edward Kelleher and Arthur Deasy.

The sinking of the Tampa is the largest known loss of life by any U.S. naval combat unit during World War I with 111 Coast Guardsmen and four Navy sailors.

Kelleher, an Oiler 1st Class from Perry, Oklahoma, and Deasy, the acting quartermaster from Brooklyn, New York, were among the Coast Guardsmen who served aboard the Tampa, a convoy escort protecting ships carrying allied war material in European waters.

-USCG-