Edwin Trettin in U.S. First Time in a Year

ROCKFORD, IOWA -- Setting foot in this country for the first time in a year, Coxswain [sp] Edwin Trettin of the U.S. Coast Guard, son of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Trettin, Rockford, called his mother from Boston on Mother's day. He stated he was to return immediately for sea duty.

Trettin enlisted in 1940, receiving his training in the state of Washington.

He was one of those who took part in the dramatic rescue of 235 soldiers and sailors in the North Atlantic last February in the worst convoy disaster in U.S. history, in which 850 others lost their lives when two merchantmen went down.

A coast guard cutter's crew threw ropes to men on the rafts. Some were too weak to grasp the lines, so coast guardsmen dived into the icy water and tied ropes around them. Several times the big cutter had to break off rescue operations and dash away to drop depth charges to ward off lurking submarines.

[Mason City Globe Gazette - Tuesday, May 18, 1943]