U.S. Postal Service celebrates Coast Guard’s 225th birthday 

The U.S. Postal Service commemorated the U. S. Coast Guard’s 225 years of service to the nation by creating a Forever Stamp to honor its role in protecting the security of the nation and advancing vital U.S. maritime interests.

The stamp shows two icons of the Coast Guard — the cutter Eagle, a three-masted sailing ship known as “America’s Tall Ship,” and an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter, one of the Coast Guard’s rescue aircraft. Coast Guard Air Station Atlantic City coordinated the photo opportunity with the Coast Guard Barque Eagle while underway in the Atlantic Ocean.

Fifteen million United States Coast Guard Forever stamps will be issued and are available at post offices.

Aviation artist William Phillips of Ashland, Ore., painted the image using oil and Masonite. Phil Jordan of Falls Church, Va., is the art director.

Aug. 4 marked the 225th anniversary of the United States Coast Guard.  On Aug. 4, 1790, the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service was established as one of the five federal services that would eventually make up the Coast Guard.

One of those services, the U.S. Life-Saving Service, played an important role in the history of the Outer Banks. Its men and women saved thousands of survivors of shipwrecks in the dangerous water of the Graveyard of the Atlantic.

In 1915, the Life-Saving Service and the Revenue Cutter Service were combined to form today’s U.S. Coast Guard, which continues saving lives of those in peril at sea along our coast.