Were Coast Guard Auxiliarists always very active in search and rescue?
By 1950 the Auxiliary’s four cornerstone programs had been established: vessel examinations, public education, safety patrols, and fellowship. During the 1950s, the main focus was on public education, vessel examination, and regatta patrols and membership remained at about 13,000. From the late 1950s on, several social and economic factors produced a tremendous boom in the Auxiliary’s search and rescue work, along with its membership. During the postwar years, millions of Americans, large numbers of whom were Navy and Coast Guard veterans, moved to the suburbs. Families then had room to park a trailered boat. The federal government built hundreds of inland dam and reservoir lakes which produced a pleasure boating boom in the West. The introduction of fiberglass as a major construction material lowered prices, making a boat more affordable. The baby boom had teenagers begging dads to buy boats so they could water ski. Boating was also a family activity in which all could happily engage.
