GRAND HAVEN, Mich — The Coast Guard has a long and proud history of brave men and women serving their community and county, and that history is celebrated every day in Grand Haven. But not every "Coastie" celebrated is human
"My favorite nugget of local Coast Guard lore is that the Coast Guard Cutter Woodbine actually had a dog mascot named Woody," Tri-Cities Historical Museum Exhibits Curator Kate Crosby told FOX17.
Woody was a mixed breed born on the deck of the Woodbine in the 1960s and was quickly adopted by the ship's crew. For the next 16 years, he achieved celebrity status in Grand Haven.
"He had hand-sewn uniforms that people had used," Kate said. "He was written up in the newspaper multiple times. He went AWOL once and they had to go find him and he was at the pound because he had gone missing. So there's actually a great photo in the newspaper of him getting retrieved, bailed out exactly of him getting bailed out from the pound."
His four-legged legacy still lives on along the water in Grand Haven to this day, with a final resting place alongside the brave men and women of the Coast Guard who adopted him.
And so he lived for 16 years and was actually buried at Escanaba Park. And so he has a headstone down there. It's a flat headstone. It's not a raised one, but you can go down there and in addition to learning about the many men and women who sacrificed their lives," said Kate.
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