VETERANS AFFAIRS Honoring the Troops By Chief William C. Carl “In respect for those who have gone before us and as a guide for those who follow” M
y name is Chief William C. Carl. I have been in the United States Coast Guard Reserve for more
than 29 years, many of those years on active duty.
On several deployments overseas, I’ve
heard time and time again, “U.S. Coast Guard? What are YOU doing here?”
There was always a lot of interest in the Coast Guard and our missions and that interest brought about a meeting with Mr. Michael Jernigan, prior U. S. Navy. I was serving with the USCG RAID TEAM in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom- Operations New Dawn when we met in 2010, and first informed me he was a visual artist and not a traditional member of the media, but wanted to take a few pictures.
He was curious about the RAID Team’s
missions and after a while, it began to feel like a job interview so I finally asked, “Since you are no longer in the Navy and are not a paid contractor, why are you here?”
His response was that he was an
artist, specializing in sculpture, and had a personal desire to honor our military with the goal of sculpting busts of twenty- one men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan as a way of honoring all our troops.
He’d spent a good deal of time in Iraq and Afghanistan. Meeting and planning to sculpt a bust of two members from each branch of service that would eventually be displayed back in the U.S. I told him if there was anything I could do to help, he could count on me, and as he was leaving my office, he said, “Chief, I am looking for two people in each branch of service, and I just found my second Coast Guardsman, Chief William ‘Black Knight’ Carl”. I was indeed honored.
I wished him the best of luck on his quest and did not see him again. Many
Sculptor Michael Jernigan with Chief William C. Carl VISIT US ONLINE AT
WWW.NAPLESCHAMBER.ORG I BUSINESS CURRENTS™ I NOVEMBER 2014 25
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