CROSSED
ANCHORS
Submitted
by George E. Vincent
To
wear crossed anchors takes
A
very special man,
One
who lives at sea, and not
On
land.
He
stands before you in proper
Coast
Guard appearance,
Yet
his face displays the scars
Of
his endurance.
His
job is that of no other rate,
The
Coast Guard simply labels him
“Boatswains
Mate.”
No
matter what the elements he faces at sea,
If
there’s a job to be done,
Then
done it will be.
To
wear the crossed anchors is an honour to him,
And
nothing can take that from him.
You’ll
never meet a man so easygoing,
Or
hear such tunes on the pipe he is blowing.
Their
days may be long and their night may be cold,
But
they stick it out, the young and the old.
To
wear the crossed anchors was a thrill to me,
Knowing
that I too was a man of the sea.
There
are no other men that deserve the respect,
Than
those who trod the cold, dark deck.
So
when you see a Coastie, look at his sleeve,
He
may be on liberty, he may be on leave.
That
sleeve displays the symbol of his rate,
You
never know,
He just might be a “Boatswains Mate.”