New Orleans Tribute to honor the Coast Guard and Otto Candies, Jr.
The Coast Guard Foundation’s first tribute event of the year will take place in New Orleans on March 11. Honoring the members of the Coast Guard’s Eighth District – The Protectors of the Gulf and the Heartland – the event will return to the National WWII Museum for the first time since 2020.
The Foundation will recognize the Coast Guard’s 2021 response to historic Hurricane Ida, which devastated a large swath of the Gulf Coast. Following the Category 4 storm’s landfall, the Coast Guard worked with federal, state and local agencies, as well as companies and individuals to respond to thousands of pollution reports and wrecked vessels, replace hundreds of damaged aids to navigation, and safely open key ports and waterways to commerce.
The Foundation will also honor the memory of longtime board member and marine transportation executive Otto Candies, Jr., who passed away in February 2021. Candies started the Coast Guard Foundation’s New Orleans event with Donald T. "Boysie" Bollinger, and Dick Bollinger. Candies also served as the dinner chairman for much of its history. Since 1994 the event has raised nearly $9 million for Foundation programs that support Coast Guard members.
The Coast Guard Foundation’s first tribute event of the year will take place in New Orleans on March 11. Honoring the members of the Coast Guard’s Eighth District – The Protectors of the Gulf and the Heartland – the event will return to the National WWII Museum for the first time since 2020.
The Foundation will recognize the Coast Guard’s 2021 response to historic Hurricane Ida, which devastated a large swath of the Gulf Coast. Following the Category 4 storm’s landfall, the Coast Guard worked with federal, state and local agencies, as well as companies and individuals to respond to thousands of pollution reports and wrecked vessels, replace hundreds of damaged aids to navigation, and safely open key ports and waterways to commerce.
The Foundation will also honor the memory of longtime board member and marine transportation executive Otto Candies, Jr., who passed away in February 2021. Candies started the Coast Guard Foundation’s New Orleans event with Donald T. "Boysie" Bollinger, and Dick Bollinger. Candies also served as the dinner chairman for much of its history. Since 1994 the event has raised nearly $9 million for Foundation programs that support Coast Guard members.
The Coast Guard Foundation will honor Trustee Emeritus Otto Candies, Jr., who passed away in 2021, pictured here with daughter Nicki Candies, who is a member of the Foundation Board of Directors.
The Commandant of the Coast Guard Admiral Karl Schultz, Vice Commandant of the Coast Guard Admiral Linda Fagan, and other national and regional leaders will attend, as will Coast Guard members from throughout the Gulf Coast.
The evening will be emceed by the 23rd Commandant of the Coast Guard, Admiral Thad Allen, USCG (Ret.). Allen served as the Principal Federal Official for both the federal response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The dinner will be followed by dancing to popular New Orleans-based band, Karma.
Title Image: The Eighth Coast Guard District Color Guard at the 2016 Tribute to the Eighth Coast Guard District
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