Honoring Legacy Veteran Hero Coast Guard Orlo Marlatt

The United States Coast Guard, one of the country's five armed services, is a unique agency of the federal government.  We trace our history back to 4 August 1790, when the first Congress authorized the construction of ten vessels to enforce tariff and trade laws and to prevent smuggling.  Known through 19th and early 20th centuries as the Revenue Marine and the Revenue Cutter Service, we expanded in size and responsibilities as the nation grew.   

 

The service received its present name in 1915 under an act of Congress when the Revenue Cutter Service merged with the Life-Saving Service.  The nation then had a single maritime service dedicated to saving life at sea and enforcing the nation's maritime laws.  The Coast Guard began to maintain the country's aids to maritime navigation, including operating the nation's lighthouses, when President Franklin Roosevelt ordered the transfer of the Lighthouse Service to the Coast Guard in 1939. 

 

In 1946 Congress permanently transferred the Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation to the Coast Guard, thereby placing merchant marine licensing and merchant vessel safety under our purview. 

 

The U. S. Coast Guard has seen combat in virtually every conflict fought by the United States since 1790.  World War II saw the Coast Guard come to grips with the empire of Japan as well as the armed might of Nazi Germany

 

Mr. Orlo Marlatt never realized at age 12, after hearing the Dempsey-Smelling boxing match on the radio, that he would eventually serve under the famous boxer as his 1st commanding officer in the US Coast Guard. 

 

“I had an opportunity to spar with Jack but I was afraid I’d end up punch drunk so I refused”. He enlisted in the Coast Guard after being talked into the guard by a fellow guardsman home on leave in Ringwood. “Pearl Harbor caused me to want to join”. 

 

He served from 1942 – 46 protecting the shores from Maine to Florida from the approaching enemy.  He began in the CG Mounted Beach Patrol and protected the shores on foot along with horse and dog patrols. There was a great need for housing and stables on the islands so his job was to dismantle existing CC barracks and ship them to the islands for reconstruction.  It provided much needed shelter for the troops.  He had 20 men under his command that couldn’t drive a straight nail.  “They could after I got through with them”. 

 

Coming from a family history of carpenters and serving with one of his triplet siblings, he and Robert traveled all over the coast performing construction and entertaining the troops with their singing skills.  

 

Many ships and submarines attempted to land on the coast but retreated when they saw the protected shores.  He only experienced one occasion of an invasion when German saboteurs were caught off the coast near Long Island, New York.  They were apprehended and jailed. 

 

He also served under a Civilian Engineer in the Merchant Marines to repair lighthouses and build additional boat docks. After returning to Oklahoma, he was the “trouble shooter” for Mayor Paul Crosslin and helped build Enid Army Air Field now known as Vance AFB.  He drove a truck for Allied Van Lines for over 38 years. 

 

“I done it for my country and the Coast Guard is one of the greatest services that protects our nation.  May God Bless America and keep it safe”, states Marlatt.