SIGNALMAN FIRST CLASS
U.S. COAST GUARD
CLE ELUM, WASHINGTON
COAST GUARD COMBAT VETERANS ASSOCIATION
Edith
LT US COAST GUARD
WORLD WAR II
Marion
THIS LIGHTED FLAGPOLE IS DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF mARION "mIKE" COOLEY
MIKE FAITHFULLY RAISED AND LOWERED THE AMERICAN FLAG DAILY OVER THIS GRAVESITE FOR OVER 40 YEARS IN TRUE DEVOTION AND DEDICATION TO HIS FRIEND
SM1/C DOUGLAS MUNRO, USCG
SEATTLE CHAPTER USCG CHIEF PETTY OFFICERS ASSN
USCG COMBAT VETERANS ASSN
VFW POST 1373 CLE ELUM, WA
mARION
S SGT US ARMY
WORLD WAR II
Douglas Albert Munro (October 11, 1919 – September 27, 1942) was an American coast guardsman who was posthumously decorated with the Medal of Honor for a single act of "extraordinary heroism" during World War II. As of 2019, he is the only member of the United States Coast Guard to have received the medal.
Born in Canada to an expatriate American father and a British émigré mother, Munro's family repatriated to the United States when he was a child. He was raised in South Cle Elum, Washington and attended Central Washington College of Education before leaving to volunteer for military service on the eve of World War II. During the Second Battle of the Matanikau, Munro was tasked with leading the extrication of a force of United States Marines that had been overrun. He died of gunshot at the age of 22 while using the boat he was piloting to shield from Japanese fire a landing craft of Marines.
Numerous ships and buildings have been named after Munro, and several memorials and monuments dedicated to him. The anniversary of his death is annually observed in Cle Elum, Washington and at Coast Guard Training Center Cape May, and his grave has been designated a historical site by the State of Washington. He is the namesake of the "Douglas Munro March", of the Navy League's Douglas A. Munro Award, of the Coast Guard Foundation's Douglas Munro Scholarship Fund, and of the Veterans of Foreign Wars' Douglas Munro-Robert H. Brooks Post.