Summary
John H. Coppens was a Coast Guard chief warrant officer who, according to a July 1967 retirement notice, enlisted at Charlevoix on December 8, 1938 and spent his first hitch on Beaver Island. His later assignments included the Sundew at Charlevoix, waterfront security at the Palm Beach home of former President John F. Kennedy, and the Naugatuck at Sault Ste. Marie.
Evidence and limits
The dates here bound the service account supplied by the retirement notice, not necessarily Coppens’s full life. The source does not give his service number, complete rank history, exact Beaver Island dates, or personnel-file confirmation of each assignment.
Open questions
- What was the exact role and date range of Coppens’s first Beaver Island hitch?
- Can Coast Guard personnel and cutter records document the complete career?
- What was the service history of the Sundew and Naugatuck assignments?
See also
- Retirement of CWO John H. Coppens from the Coast Guard (1967)
- Mae Gallagher (John Coppens's wife, 1967)
- Beaver Island Life-Saving Station
Sources
- Beaver Beacon, July 1967, “CWO John Coppens Retires.”Reports that Coppens enlisted at Charlevoix on December 8, 1938, spent his first hitch on Beaver Island, served during World War II and at multiple Coast Guard assignments, and retired July 1, 1967.
- Beaver Beacon, October 1960, service-men news.Reports Chief Boatswain John H. Coppens and Mrs. Coppens recently going to Lake Worth Inlet Lifeboat Station. It does not supply an effective date, station record, or complete household identity.