MARBLEHEAD —World War II U.S. Coast Guard veteran and resident of Marblehead Hal Boehler has been chosen for recognition by Honor Flight Network. Boehler, a 50-year member of the Coast Guard Auxiliary and current member of USCGAUX Flotilla 16-12 (USCG Station-Marblehead), will join other veterans on board the aircraft taking them to the memorial ceremonies in Washington, D.C., to be held in their honor. The day begins at 8:45 a.m. Wednesday, June 9.
The Honor Flight Network is a non-profit organization created solely to honor America's veterans for their sacrifices. The organization transports our heroes to Washington, D.C., to visit and reflect at their memorials. Top priority is given to the senior veterans — World War II survivors — along with those other veterans who may be terminally ill. For information, visit www.honorflight.org.
Boehler entered service with the U.S. Coast Guard immediately following his graduation from high school circa 1943. He was assigned to serve aboard the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Tupelo, a 180-foot cactus class cutter. It was commissioned on Aug. 30, 1943, decommissioned on Sept. 30, 1975, and sold Sept. 13, 1977.
He reported that he served aboard the Tupelo as she traveled from Baltimore, Md., along the eastern Atlantic coast through the Panama Canal, up the west coast of California to San Francisco. After a short time there, they were off to Pearl Harbor and eventually out to the South Pacific in service to the U.S. Navy where the crew of the Tupelo assisted during the battle for Guam. Boehler says he witnessed the construction of the airfield on Guam where Army and Navy CB engineers took the top off a mountain to create the runway surface. It was from that runway the U.S. aircraft began striking cities of Japan. Eventually, the Tupelo took Hal and his crewmembers back to San Francisco then back along the route from where he began his service he left service in 1946 at Baltimore.
Upon leaving military service he became a journeyman carpenter and worked for Hossler Construction Co. in Tiffin. He is proud to have worked with Hossler on large construction jobs such as churches. He devotes a great deal of his retirement time to the USCGAUX and enjoys spending time with his two sons, daughter, six grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

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