A recognition letter addressed to Michael J. Swierc, who enlisted in the Coast Guard on Aug. 11, 1942, from Adm. Joseph F. Farley, the Commandant of the Coast Guard from 1946 to 1949. Swierc, who turned 100 years old on Nov. 6, 2021, received the Bronze Star Medal for helping save 126 Allied troops from drowning in the English Channel on June 6, 1944. (U.S. Coast Guard photo, courtesy Sector/Air Station Corpus Christi)