Minding the Helm: An Unlikely Career in the U.S. Coast Guard

One of 18 books in the series: North Texas military biography and memoir series available on this site.
Thumbnail image of item number 1 in: 'Minding the Helm: An Unlikely Career in the U.S. Coast Guard'.
Thumbnail image of item number 2 in: 'Minding the Helm: An Unlikely Career in the U.S. Coast Guard'.
Thumbnail image of item number 3 in: 'Minding the Helm: An Unlikely Career in the U.S. Coast Guard'.
Thumbnail image of item number 4 in: 'Minding the Helm: An Unlikely Career in the U.S. Coast Guard'.
Showing 1-4 of 278 pages in this book.

PDF Version Also Available for Download.

Use of this book is restricted to the UNT Community. Off-campus users must log in to read.

Description

As a boy growing up in New York City, Kevin P. Gilheany had two dreams: to join the Coast Guard and to play the bagpipes. But by the time he finished high school he was overweight, had a drinking problem, and couldn’t swim. Undeterred by the doubts of the folks at home, he decided to enlist in the Coast Guard anyway. With great determination and some divine intervention, he passed the swim test and graduated from boot camp, thus beginning an eventful and diverse twenty-year career in the 1980s and 1990s Coast Guard. He set a goal for himself to … continued below

Physical Description

viii, 269 p. : ill.

Creation Information

Gilheany, Kevin P. May 2019.

Context

This book is part of the collection entitled: University of North Texas Press and was provided by the UNT Press to the UNT Digital Library, a digital repository hosted by the UNT Libraries. It has been viewed 36 times. More information about this book can be viewed below.

Who

People and organizations associated with either the creation of this book or its content.

Author

Publisher

Named Person

Person who is significant in some way to the content of this book. Additional names may appear in Subjects below.

Rights Holder

For guidance see Citations, Rights, Re-Use.

  • Gilheany, Kevin P.

Provided By

UNT Press

The University of North Texas Press was founded in 1987 and published its first book in 1989. Though it is the newest university press in North Texas, it has quickly become a leading press with the most titles in print (more than 300) and published (15 to 18 each year). The UNT Press is a fully accredited member of the Association of American University Presses. Its books are distributed and marketed nationally and internationally through the Texas A&M University Press Consortium.

About | Browse this Partner

Contact Us

Corrections Questions

What

Descriptive information to help identify this book. Follow the links below to find similar items on the Digital Library.

Titles

Description

As a boy growing up in New York City, Kevin P. Gilheany had two dreams: to join the Coast Guard and to play the bagpipes. But by the time he finished high school he was overweight, had a drinking problem, and couldn’t swim. Undeterred by the doubts of the folks at home, he decided to enlist in the Coast Guard anyway.

With great determination and some divine intervention, he passed the swim test and graduated from boot camp, thus beginning an eventful and diverse twenty-year career in the 1980s and 1990s Coast Guard. He set a goal for himself to get command of his own patrol boat, and along the way he was involved in capturing drug smugglers, rescuing hundreds of Haitian migrants at sea, recovering Space Shuttle Challenger debris, surviving a “hooligan navy” experience on a Coast Guard workboat, coordinating search and rescue during the famed “Perfect Storm,” and leading armed boardings of ships following the terrorist attacks of 9/11.

When he was asked by one of his men, who was dying from brain cancer, to play bagpipes at his retirement ceremony, Kevin started down a new path to have bagpipers officially recognized as part of the Coast Guard. This ultimately led a boy who couldn’t swim to fulfill both of his childhood dreams and leave a lasting legacy by founding the U.S. Coast Guard Pipe Band.

Physical Description

viii, 269 p. : ill.

Language

Item Type

Identifier

Unique identifying numbers for this book in the Digital Library or other systems.

  • OCLC: 1078894166
  • ISBN: 9781574417500
  • ISBN: 9781574417562
  • Library of Congress Control Number: 2019002205
  • Call Number: V63.G47 A3 2019
  • Archival Resource Key: ark:/67531/metadc1506237

Collections

This book is part of the following collection of related materials.

University of North Texas Press

Scholarly and general interest books published by UNT Press covering biography, history, culture, folklore, nature, cookery, arts, and more. Some items in this collection are restricted to use by the UNT community.

About | Browse this Collection

What responsibilities do I have when using this book?

Digital Files

When

Dates and time periods associated with this book.

Creation Date

  • May 2019

Added to The UNT Digital Library

  • June 13, 2019, 7:27 a.m.

Description Last Updated

  • June 30, 2021, 10:25 a.m.

Usage Statistics

When was this book last used?

Yesterday: 0
Past 30 days: 0
Total Uses: 36
More Statistics

Where

Geographical information about where this book originated or about its content.

Place Name

Publication Place

Map Information

  • map marker Place Name coordinates. (May be approximate.)
  • Repositioning map may be required for optimal printing.

Mapped Locations

Interact With This Book

Here are some suggestions for what to do next.

Start Reading

Thumbnail image of item number 1 in: 'Minding the Helm: An Unlikely Career in the U.S. Coast Guard'.
Thumbnail image of item number 2 in: 'Minding the Helm: An Unlikely Career in the U.S. Coast Guard'.
Thumbnail image of item number 3 in: 'Minding the Helm: An Unlikely Career in the U.S. Coast Guard'.
Thumbnail image of item number 4 in: 'Minding the Helm: An Unlikely Career in the U.S. Coast Guard'.

PDF Version Also Available for Download.

Citations, Rights, Re-Use

International Image Interoperability Framework

IIF Logo

We support the IIIF Presentation API

Purchase a Copy

Links for Robots

Helpful links in machine-readable formats.

Archival Resource Key (ARK)

International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF)

Metadata Formats

Images

URLs

Stats

Gilheany, Kevin P. Minding the Helm: An Unlikely Career in the U.S. Coast Guard, book, May 2019; Denton, Texas. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1506237/: accessed May 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Press.

Back to Top of Screen