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Fighting Coastie from The Big Easy dies at 81

Former Coast Guard Boatswain’s Mate 2nd Class Marvin Perrett, a World War II-era Coastie and New Orleans icon who spent his retirement years sharing history with younger generations, died May 6. He was 81 and donated his body to Tulane University Hospital and School of Medicine.

Perrett died at his home in Metarie, La. He was best known for wearing his uniform around town, speaking to youngsters and giving classes aboard a Higgins Boat landing craft he lovingly maintained.

The day before Perrett died, he gave a tour of Lake Pontchartrain to service members from Coast Guard Sector New Orleans on his Higgins Boat, as well as 39-foot rigid hull inflatable craft, said Coast Guard spokeswoman Lt. j.g. Anastacia Visneski.

“He was all about bridging the gap between generations,” Visneski said.

Perrett enlisted in the Coast Guard on Sept. 18, 1943. Less than nine months later, he maneuvered a landing craft onto Utah Beach during the D-Day landings at Normandy, carrying 36 soldiers into battle under heavy machine-gun fire, and later ferrying 4th Infantry Division commander Maj. Gen. Raymond O. Barton onto the beach.

Perrett later served in the Pacific, transporting Marines to the beach in the battle for Iwo Jima — an amphibious landing in which he lost his landing craft and became stranded on the beach under heavy gunfire. He escaped without injury and returned to his ship, the amphibious attack transport Bayfield.

Toward the end of the war, Perrett participated in a diversionary tactical offense before the battle of Okinawa.

He was admitted to the French Legion of Honor with the rank of Chevalier and was presented the accompanying medal during the 60th anniversary of D-Day in 2004.

Since World War II, Perrett collected memorabilia and dedicated his life to educating children and raising awareness of the U.S. Coast Guard. In 2005, after touring Iwo Jima on the 60th anniversary of the battle there, he fired off a letter to several members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and his then-congressman, now senator, David Vitter, about the Coast Guard’s role in the invasion.

“The impressive and elite U.S. Marine Corps Band failed to include the Coast Guard marching song ‘Semper Paratus’ in their musical services salute! With Mount Suribachi in the background, this slight was difficult to embrace,” Perrett wrote.

The former Coast Guardsman volunteered at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans and appeared in several television documentaries as a Coast Guard resource.

This year, he rode for the first time in a Mardi Gras parade.

“We really have lost not just a part of our history but a man who was the embodiment of the Coast Guard spirit,” said Visneski, who accompanied Perret on a float. “He spent his last days doing something he loved, showing the future generations of the Coast Guard the pride that is held in our history.”