CAPE MAY, N.J. — Coast Guard recruits are scheduled to attend a special screening of the movie The Finest Hours, Saturday, at Franks Theatre in Rio Grande, N.J.
Approximately 300 recruits from India, Kilo and Juliet 192 companies will be bussed to the theater from the training center for a private screening of The Finest Hours as a way to expose them to one of the greatest rescue missions in the service’s history.
“The crew of the Coast Guard Motor Lifeboat 36500 exemplify selfless service,” said Capt. Todd Prestidge, commanding officer Coast Guard Training Center Cape May. “At the training center, we work hard to instill a sense of honor, respect and devotion to duty in our recruits so that when they leave here they have a deep respect and understanding of our heritage and what, exactly, it means to serve in the Coast Guard.”
The movie is based on the rescue of crew members from the tanker vessel SS Pendleton after it broke in half off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, during a storm, Feb. 18, 1952. Petty Officer 1st Class Bernard Webber, Petty Officer 3rd Class Andrew Fitzgerald, Seaman Richard Livesey and Seaman Ervin Maske departed Coast Guard Station Chatham, Massachusetts, in a 36-foot Motor Lifeboat and saved 32 of 33 crew members aboard the sinking tanker. All four Coast Guardsmen were awarded the Gold Lifesaving Medal, the standard to which requires an “individual who performs a rescue or attempts a rescue at the risk of his or her own life, and demonstrates extreme and heroic daring.”
“Training Center Cape May is the birthplace of the enlisted corps,” said Prestidge. “This is where our service’s culture begins and where these young men and women learn to rely on each other, and their training, so that when it’s time to go out, when it’s time to put their lives on the line, they are ready.”
Media interested in filming the recruits at the movie theater and obtaining interviews from active-duty members of the Training Center are invited to attend. Recruits are expected to be boarding busses back to the training center at approximately 10 a.m. following the screening. For more information or to schedule an interview, contact Lt. Cmdr. Roger Omenhiser at 609-435-2174. Media will not be able to attend the private screening.