Coast Guard Bicentennial Unit Commendation

The Coast Guard Bicentennial Unit Commendation is unusual in the annals of the medals of America, in that it is a one-time commemorative award. These Coast Guard military ribbons were issued between June 4 of 1989 and August 4 of 1990 to all active, auxiliary, and civilian personnel of the Coast Guard to commemorate the founding of the United States Coast Guard in 1790. When it was founded, the Coast Guard was known as the Revenue Cutter Service, and it was established at the urging of then Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton as an armed maritime law enforcement service. Right after the Revolutionary War, the fledgling United States was struggling to stay afloat financially. At this time, smuggling was rampant, and the need to collect tariffs for much needed federal government income was desperate. So, Congress created the Revenue-Marine as a naval force to interdict shipping to crack down on smuggling. In 1832 Treasury Secretary Louis McLane ordered the Revenue-Marine to conduct winter cruises to assist mariners in need as an expansion of the new service’s duties in which one can see the beginnings of the modern Coast Guard. It was later renamed the Revenue Cutter Service by another Act of Congress in July of 1894. The Revenue Cutter Service merged with the United States Life-Saving Service to form the United States Coast Guard under a law signed by President Woodrow Wilson in January of 1915. The Coast Guard Bicentennial Unit Commendation was no longer issued after September of 1991, but regulations permit the continued wearing of these US military medals. These military ribbons are worn below the Coast Guard E Ribbon and above the Coast Guard Good Conduct Medal in the general order of precedence that has been established for the proper display of all military medals and ribbons.