P.O.W. Visits California Coast Guard Units

US Coast Guard District 11 -  American300 returned to the San Francisco Bay area with another special guest as ‘Service with Honor’ featuring Major General Edward Mechenbier, USAF retired visited USCG Stations: Golden Gate, Bodega Bay, Air Station San Francisco and Coast Guard Island. 

Designed to allow guests the ability to share their personal life stories with Service Members in a relaxed ‘embedded’ style, the General moved around Coast Guard Stations guided by young Officers and Enlisted members.  

“The focus of these tours is to allow connectivity, personal sharing of service stories and for our guests to interact with unit members in as relaxed a setting as possible,” says Robi Powers, founder of American300 Tours, adding “It’s often times easier when I have a Olympic medalist then a decorated General, who happens to be a Vietnam P.O.W. as well, but the senior leadership involved with this tour ensured that the visit was low key and personal, despite the obvious military courtesy and respect that follows the General wherever he goes.” 

From Motor Life Boats and Surf Stations to Cutter Crews and UH-65 Helicopter Air Station Coast Guard duties, General Mechenbier shared his personal story of resiliency.  


“We never went to a P.O.W. school house that taught us how to survive through years of solitary confinement and torture,” reflected the General in front of a group of Coast Guardsmen, “You all could survive the same abuse and years of confinement that I experienced... it all comes down to living for the man next to you. We created a bond that was unbreakable.” he added. 
Maj General Mechenbier will continue to visit United States Coast Guard Stations with his next American300 Service with Honor Tour scheduled for mid November when he visits District 5 ( Washington, D.C. area ) units. 

For more information on American300 visit:  www.American300.org

Service with Honor Tours are best followed on facebook at:  American300 Tours 


American300 is a 501c3 all volunteer nonprofit dedicated to supporting the DoD and DoS with subject matter experts in resiliency.   No federal endorsement of sponsors or nonprofit is ever intended or implied.   American300 works with Coast Guard MWR and USCG HQ to establish these tours.  Commanders requesting American300 Tours should contact USCG HQ PAO.

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