Oliver F. Berry

Oliver Fuller Berry (March 8, 1908 - September 13, 1991) was a Chief Petty Officer in the United States Coast Guard who was chosen to be the namesake for the twenty-fourth cutter of the Sentinel class.[1] He was one the first Coast Guard aircraft technicians trained to work on helicopters.[2][3][4][5]

Oliver Fuller Berry
Oliver Berry in September 1946
Born(1908-03-08)March 8, 1908
Marion, South Carolina
DiedSeptember 13, 1991(1991-09-13) (aged 83)
Florence, South Carolina
Buried
Mount Hope Cemetery
Florence, SC
Allegiance United States of America
Service/branchUnited States Coast Guard
Years of service1928 - 1950
RankChief Petty Officer

Early life

Berry was born in Marion, South Carolina, and graduated from The Citadel in 1928; originally an Officer in the United States Army Reserves he gave up his commission to enlist in the Coast Guard.

Coast Guard service

Berry became a highly skilled mechanic working on early Coast Guard aircraft both land based and seaplanes, he was also one of the world's first experts on the maintenance of helicopters and served as Lead Instructor at the first military helicopter training unit, the Rotary Wing Development Unit which was established at Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, North Carolina in 1946; he also helped develop the rescue hoist.

That same year Berry played a role in a helicopter rescue out of a US base in Gander, Newfoundland that earned him a commendation. Helicopters were new to search and rescue and one was urgently required to search for survivors of a commercial airliner crash in Newfoundland; Berry was able to quickly disassemble one of the primitive helicopters of the time so its parts could be flown to Gander in a cargo plane and then quickly reassemble it in time to find and rescue several survivors. He was awarded the Silver Medal of the Order of Leopold II by Prince Charles, the Royal Regent of Belgium, for his contribution to the rescue of eighteen Belgian citizens.[6]

Legacy

The Coast Guard established an annual award named after Berry, issued to an outstanding aircraft technician who best followed Berry's tradition.

In 2015 the Coast Guard announced that one of the new Sentinel class cutters would be named after Berry. All the ships in that class are named after enlisted personnel who distinguished themselves through a heroic act. Bollinger shipyards completed the USCGC Oliver F. Berry (WPC 1124), and delivered her to the Coast Guard, in Key West, for her sea trials, on June 27, 2017. Commissioning took place at the vessels homeport of Honolulu, Hawaii on October 31, 2017.[7]

References
  1. Eric Haun (2017-06-27). "Bollinger Delivers FRC Oliver Berry to the USCG". Marine Link. Retrieved 2017-06-28. Bollinger Shipyards said it has delivered the Fast Response Cutter (FRC) USCGC Oliver Berry to the U.S. Coast Guard on June 27, 2017 in Key West, Fla. The vessel’s commissioning is scheduled for October 2017 in Honolulu.
  2. "The Chief Oliver F. Berry Aviation Maintenance Award" (PDF). United States Coast Guard.
  3. Christopher Havern (2015-02-20). "Coast Guard Heroes: Oliver F. Berry". United States Coast Guard.
  4. "2010 CHIEF OLIVER F. BERRY AVIATION MAINTENANCE AWARD RECIPIENT".
  5. "The Cold War: 1946-1949" (PDF).
  6. "USCGC Oliver Berry (WPC 1124) Coat of Arms". The Institute of Heraldry. Retrieved 2020-02-20.
  7. "Coast Guard Cutter Oliver Berry (WPC 1124)". Hawaii News and Island Information. Retrieved 2020-02-20.
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