Although Waesche’s plan made no provision for training black petty officers, 50 to 65 percent of the crew in small cutters and miscellaneous craft usually held such ratings, and it followed that blacks would eventually be allowed to “strike” for such ratings. Some 300 of these men would be trained for duty on small vessels, the rest for shore duty under the Captain-of-the-Port of six U.S. The Coast Guard would enlist approximately 500 African Americans in the general service for all enlisted ratings. When President Franklin Roosevelt made it clear that blacks were to be enlisted, Coast Guard Commandant Russell Waesche already had a plan. Here, black “Coasties” would receive their initial indoctrination and training, or “boot camp.”
For African Americans, their service would begin at Manhattan Beach Training Center in Brooklyn, New York. It was World War II and most able men wanted to serve their country and United States Coast Guard welcomed many of these young volunteers. Manhattan Beach-Building a World War II Training Center
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