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Andy Fitzgerald On Being Part Of The Greatest Small Boat Rescue In Coast Guard History
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In 1952, Andy Fitzgerald was a 20-year-old engine man at the Chatham Coast Guard station. Today, he's the last surviving member of the crew of CG36500: the ship that carried out the daring rescue portrayed in this year's film "The Finest Hours."
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Andy Fitzgerald, former Coast Guardsman, awarded the Gold Lifesaving Medal for his rescue with CG36500.
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Radio Boston: Heroic Ship Rescue Off Cape Cod Debuts On Big Screen
- "A humble Cape Cod lifeboat is the unlikely star of a new movie. 'The Finest Hours,' starring Chris Pine and Casey Affleck, tells the tale of the Coast Guard’s greatest small boat rescue in U.S. history."
- "Fitzgerald got what he wished for, and more, when he volunteered to be the boat engineer to rescue men off a stricken tanker on Feb. 18, 1952. He and the three other Coast Guardsmen on the CG36500 were awarded the Gold Lifesaving Medal, the Coast Guard’s highest honor, for plucking 32 men off the SS Pendleton."
This segment aired on February 8, 2016.