PORT ANGELES — Friends and family gathered at Coast Guard Group/Air Station Port Angeles on Wednesday to welcome a new officer in charge and to wish another “fair winds and following seas.”
The blessing for ideal sailing conditions went to Senior Chief Boatswain’s Mate Thomas Johnson, who after 30 years in the sea-going service passed the torch and retired.
Johnson, 47, was the officer in charge of Coast Guard Station Port Angeles, which was established in September 2003.
Stocked with three Defender Class 25-foot response boats and one 41-foot utility boat, the station has 24 active duty personnel.
Taking his place is BMC George Williams, 40.
Johnson said he will remain in Sequim and continue attending Peninsula College, where he is studying to be a chemical dependency counselor.
He said his final moments in the Coast Guard was a mixture of joy, sadness and bewilderment — not too different from when he joined, 30 years ago.
“I was a 17-year-old kid ready to take on the world,” Johnson said.
“Now I’m a 47-year-old kid ready to take on the world.”
Williams and his family relocated to the North Olympic Peninsula from Louisiana after evacuating from Hurricane Katrina.
He admitted that the weather in the Pacific Northwest is a “little chilly,” but said he has fallen in love with it and is grateful to explore a different part of the country with his family.
“We may never leave,” he said.
Williams will take over command of the station for the next four years.
