Coast Artillery Corps Gunner

Manned fixed harbor-defense guns and underwater minefields to keep enemy fleets off the US coast — at Fort Monroe, Fort Hancock, the Panama Canal, Manila Bay, the Golden Gate.

The Story

A hundred years ago the Coast Artillery had more guns and more people than the Field Artillery. The branch mascot — the Oozlefinch, a featherless mythical bird with bulging eyes that could see incoming targets — survived the death of the branch and is still the unofficial mascot of Air Defense Artillery today.