Heart-Wrenching Experience

“It was a heart-wrenching experience,” recalled Everett E. Jackson, an SPCK-2 (Pay Clerk) stationed at Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington, D.C., during 1933.

Of the 165 warrant officers transferred to the Civilian Conservation Corps, some remained there for several years. William W. Worcester, a temporary warrant at the time, was “one of those temporary warrants sent to ‘the Woods’ in 1933,” and remained assigned to the CCC until 1938. Norman D. MacLellan served even longer, spending six years in the program.
For some, the situation was even more difficult. Chester L. Jordan, commanding officer of the cable ship PEQUOT, described the painful position in which he found himself:
“I had five temporary warrant officers and orders to bust them to chief on a certain date, and to bust my chiefs to make room for them within our allowed complement. We were moored at Baltimore at the time and, through the officers in the National Council, proceeded toward a more equitable arrangement…”
Just days before the reductions were to take effect, the President was persuaded of the inequity and signed an executive order placing the surplus temporary warrants into CCC assignments.
Initially, however, the order applied only to the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps. The Coast Guard was not included.
When this omission was brought to the attention of Admiral Russell R. Waesche, corrective action was taken. The oversight was addressed, and most of the affected warrant officers were ultimately promoted to temporary commissioned grades rather than reduced in rank.
In response to the broader legislative pay inequities and the hardships endured during the Great Depression, the Association continued to evolve and reorganize. In 1934, the National Council was formally established as the governing board of the Association. It was composed of active-duty and retired members residing near or stationed at Coast Guard Headquarters.
This structural change ensured that a dedicated and engaged core group of warrant officers would always be present in the nation’s capital—ready to advocate for the interests of the warrant corps.