US Coast Guard Veteran Seymour Wittek Awarded the Coast Guard Commendation Medal for his Heroic Effort Fighting the El Estero Fire

摘要

The story of the steamship El Estero fire is one that has been told in the pages of such popular periodicals as the Saturday Evening Post and Reader's Digest. As time passes, however, fewer and fewer eyewitnesses are still with us who can recount what really happened that day in April 1943. As part of the United States Coast Guard's Explosives Loading Detail, veteran Seymour Wittek responded to the fire; he provided advice and criticism for Sea History's article.