By David Fleet
Editor
Groveland Twp. — In October 1942 Charles Gulf, then a 21-year-old along with a friend, traveled to Detroit and enlisted in the United States Coast Guard.
On May 28, Gulf was one of several area residents that participated in the annual flag retirement ceremony at the Ortonville Cemetery conducted by Boy Scout Troop 139 Ortonville.
Gulf enlisted as a Yeoman and was stationed at the Coast Guard Station Cleveland Harbor on Lake Erie. The Ninth District Atlantic area covered all the Great Lakes along with borders with Canada.
In January 1944 Charles was reassigned to the Greenland Patrol on the North Atlantic, aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Storis.
The USCGC Storis was a 230 foot ship that was in service from 1941 to 2007. They sailed north from Boston to Iceland and Greenland making several voyages over his year and half at sea. At the time the Army secured several bases in the North Atlantic area. The mission was to keep the safe passage of the commercial traffic between the United States and Europe.
Charles met his wife Karen a member of the United States Coast Guard Women’s Reserve or SPAR while they both were serving. They married on Veteran’s Day, Nov. 11, 1945. The couple were married for 76 years and resided in the area.
Karen died in 2022.