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Voices of Veterans: Chief Warrant Officer 4 George Wise Shares His Story of Service in the U.S. Coast Guard

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AUSTIN, Texas— Today, Texas Land Commissioner and Veterans Land Board (VLB) Chairwoman Dawn Buckingham, M.D., is proud to introduce the next installment of the series highlighting the VLB's Voices of Veterans oral history program. This week, we highlight the service of Chief Warrant Officer 4 (CWO 4) George Wise, who served in the U.S. Coast Guard.

Wise was born in Arkansas in 1937 and lived in several U.S. cities while growing up, including Texarkana, Texas, Denver, Colorado, and Detroit, Michigan, before settling in San Francisco, where he graduated from high school.

Wise discussed how he decided to join the U.S. Coast Guard, and it all began one Saturday night in San Francisco. Wise was out with a friend when they were informed that their names were on a list for the peacetime draft. In response, the two men agreed to go and gather more information about military service, with Wise favoring the Air Force and his friend interested in the Coast Guard.

When they met to de-brief their experiences, Wise was surprised to learn that his friend had joined the Coast Guard. Wise laughed while recollecting the conversation, “Whoa, whoa, wait, wait! We were just supposed to be investigating! He says, ‘Yeah, well, I decided I’d just go ahead and join.’ Which he did. The Coast Guard training center was in Alameda, California, right across the bay from San Francisco. He ended up calling me just about every evening, telling me how great and wonderful the Coast Guard was, how good the food was, and all of that. So, I decided I would go ahead and look into the Coast Guard after a week or two of listening to him.”

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Chief Warrant Officer 4 George Wise

Chief Warrant Officer 4 George Wise

After receiving a perfect score on his entrance exam, Wise began a 21-year career in the Coast Guard at 21. Wise was quick to learn the ropes. When he realized that night watches during training were particularly draining, he began “keeping house” so his barracks would avoid accumulating demerits. In exchange, crew members would trade their earlier shifts to him. Wise exclaimed, “It was a good trade-off!”

During training, the men learned how to fire rifles, “rope a boat,” and were, of course, trained as expert swimmers. Wise was not a strong swimmer when he joined and chuckled when asked if he was scared, saying, “I didn’t have enough sense to be scared. We actually had to jump off a 30-foot tower, and the first time they coaxed us up it was, ‘Oh, just go up and look and come back down.’ Well, they didn’t mention that the big dude who was standing on the top of the tower was there to throw us off if we couldn’t climb down! I ended up jumping off that tower more than anyone else in the company.”

After boot camp, Wise chose electronics as his specialty and went to Connecticut to study, where he learned he had a strong aptitude for his chosen field. After being assigned to his first vessel, Wise realized, “I didn’t like rocking up and down on that ship out in the Pacific!” He was diagnosed with chronic seasickness and, instead of being discharged, was sent to work in electronics overseas on the Island of Sardinia off the coast of Italy for two years, where it was touted to be like “resort” living for military members.

Despite his diagnosis, Wise went on to serve on the Galletin Coast Guard cutter as the Chief Warrant Officer in charge of electronics. The boat went out to the Northern Atlantic, and Wise joked that when it returned to port in New York, his family couldn’t see him waving from the deck because he had “shriveled up to almost nothing.” Wise was glad when he was eventually stationed in the Caribbean, where the waters were much calmer.

However, this more tranquil sea contained its own peril, including drug-smuggling boats, of which Wise encountered an American ship involved in nefarious activity. Wise also discussed how a German transport that had passed them heading for the Panama Canal had lost a man overboard. The boat Wise was on “had two jet engines along with the conventional engines, so we put [the lights] on high power so we could move around pretty quick […] we found him later that evening […] he was dead. He had been in the water for quite some time, but we took him aboard and informed his ship that we had him. They turned around and came back for him.”

Wise also served as a project engineer in Alaska, installing stations in the Gulf of Alaska. He was based in Juneau but traveled by plane all over Alaska to tend to his duties while enjoying the beauty of the state’s wilderness. His family loved living in the nation’s biggest state despite its dramatic weather. Wise had more than one harrowing flight experience while living and working in this gorgeous but fierce place. He couldn’t help but laugh while recalling one particular journey when he looked out of his plane’s window and saw that “the wings were flappin’ like a damn bird! I couldn’t take it, so I bent over and went to sleep. It was too much to take in, believe! I got to Anchorage.”

Wise rose to Chief Warrant Officer 4 before retiring from the Coast Guard. When leaving a message for those who may listen to his interview, Wise said, “If they have any young men who are considering military service, […] I spent 21 years in the Coast Guard, and I enjoyed it. It’s a good service and it can be a lot of fun.”

To listen to CWO 4 George Wise tell his story, click the button below:

CWO 4 George Wise's Story


Veterans can email VoicesofVeterans@glo.texas.gov to tell their stories. Please note that the Veteran must be a resident of Texas at the time of their interview.

Voices of Veterans is a state agency's first Veteran oral history program. It records the stories of Texas Veterans through their time in service and after returning home from combat.

The VLB records interviews with Veterans over the phone or in person. Their interviews are then permanently archived in the Office of Veterans Records at the GLO, where they join the historical documents of other Texas heroes such as Sam Houston, Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, and William Barret Travis.

Veterans' interviews are also available to researchers, historians, genealogists, and the public. These precious records inspire future generations and remind us of our Veterans' sacrifices.

To listen to the over 500 archived stories of Veterans documented through the GLO's Voices of Veterans oral history program, click the button below:

Voices of Veterans

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Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham, M.D., brings a lifetime of experience to the Texas General Land Office (GLO). In 2016, she became the first Republican elected to the Texas State Senate from Travis County and the first woman to represent Texas Senate District 24. She made history again in 2022, winning a statewide election to become our state’s first female Land Commissioner.