The surprise attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese caused widespread panic among Americans. There was a real fear that the Japanese would strike the mainland United States next. It didn’t help that Japanese submarines were sighted off the coasts of New York, Virginia, and New Jersey and that small Japanese balloons dropped a few bombs in Oregon and Washington.
Mounted patrols kept watch on American beaches. (simplymarvelous.wordpress.com)
To protect the American citizens, especially those living in coastal regions, from threats by the Japanese and Germans, the United States Coast Guard launched a new division, the Coast Guard Beach Patrol, otherwise known as the Sand Pounders. In these colorized photos, we will take a look at the brief history of the Sand Pounders.
A Branch of the Coast Guard
A colorized photo of a Sand Pounder on the beach. (pinterest)
About a month after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the U.S. military was discussing ways to protect the country’s shores from foreign invaders. It was decided that this task would fall under the umbrella of the Coast Guard. After all, as the name implies, the Coast Guard’s job is to guard the coast. In June 1942, the U.S. military officially introduced the Coast Guard Beach Patrol, an organization dedicated to scouting the coastal regions of the country for suspicious activity, preventing the enemy from landing on American soil, and interrupting ship-to-shore communication by enemy saboteurs.
Who Were the Sand Pounders?
Even though the Beach Patrol was set up to patrol the beaches along the Atlantic coast in the east and the Pacific coast in the west, the Coast Guard recruited men from the Midwest to serve as Sand Pounders. This is because soldiers from the Midwest were generally better horsemen. The division was established to be a mounted unit because many of the more remote coastal areas could be best accessed by horseback. Since the Beach Patrol spent the majority of their time riding their horses on the beach, they became affectionately known as the Sand Pounders.
Men between the ages of 17 and 73 years old joined the Beach Patrol. At first, their numbers were a meager 2,000. At their peak, there were more than 24,000 men working as Sand Pounders. The men worked in pairs about one hundred yards apart as they rode up and down the beaches.
A PR Campaign?
In this colorized photo, we see a two-man beach patrol in action. (history.uscg..mil)
Officially, the role of the Coast Guard Beach Patrol was to keep watch for Japanese invaders and protect the shores of the United States. But the Sand Pounders served another important yet unofficial function. They were a visual presence that demonstrated to the American public that the military was on guard and ready to protect them. Seeing the men on horseback patrolling the beaches put the collective minds of nervous residents at ease.
The Sand Pounders were appreciated by the residents, but other members of the military did not take the Beach Patrol seriously. One reason could be that the Sand Pounders did not go through the same rigorous military training that other branches had. It could also be that the primary piece of equipment for the Sand Pounders was a whistle. To be honest, the Beach Patrollers were issued pistols, rifles, and radios as well. If the Beach Patrol were to encounter the enemy, they were supposed to report it to soldiers to handle the threat.
Proving Their Chops
An incident near Long Island on June 13, 1942, helped to give the Coast Guard Beach Patrol some much-needed legitimacy. A rowboat with eight German men came to shore near Amagansett. A Sand Pounder named Seaman John Cullen was patrolling the beach and encountered the men. One of the men told Cullen that they were fishermen who had trouble with their boat. But Cullen heard the other men speaking in German, so he ordered them to report to the nearest Coast Guard station with him. They refused and threatened to kill him. Then they gave him money to forget what he saw.
Seaman Cullen immediately reported the incident to the duty officer at the Coast Guard station who sent a unit to investigate. They discovered explosives and incendiary devices in the Germans’ row boat but the Germans were nowhere around. The FBI got involved and tracked down the Germans about two weeks later. They were arrested and charged with planning an attack on U.S. soil. Six of the Germans were executed for their crimes. The other two were sentenced to life in prison. Cullen was presented with the Legion of Merit and the Beach Patrol was finally given the credit it deserved.
From One Beach to Another
A colorized photo illustrating how the Sand Pounders got their nickname. (globetrotting.com.au)
The Coast Guard Beach Patrol continued its mission until February 18, 1944. On that date, the number of men in the Beach Patrol was cut in half. Most of the former Sand Pounders were reassigned to another mission, which also involved a beach. They were sent overseas to prepare for the Invasion of Normandy and the U.S. military needed as many men as possible for sea duty. All able-bodied Sand Pounders were needed for the massive military operation.
By 1944, only about 800 Sand Pounders remained on duty. Once the war was over, the Coast Guard Beach Patrol was dismantled. Was the mounted division successful in its mission? Although the number of foreign enemies apprehended by the Sand Pounders was relatively low, we will never know if the Beach Patrol’s presence served as a deterrent to any foreign invasion activities.
