The U. S. Coast Guard released a video compilation of its most dramatic rescues of 2007.  These harrowing rescues confirm the critical lifesaving role performed by the Coast Guard in service to our nation.  Since 1790, the Coast Guard has saved more than one million lives, and it continues to execute this mission with unwavering dedication in often extreme conditions and locations.

“As America’s lifesavers and guardians of the seas, Coast Guard men and women commit themselves every day to serving our nation and its people with selfless courage and unflinching determination,” said Adm. Thad Allen, commandant of the Coast Guard.  “What began as America’s only lifesaving service charged with the dangerous duty of saving sailors from shipwrecks along our coasts has evolved into a modern-day, multi-mission Coast Guard that demonstrates the same commitment to saving lives that it did more than 200 years ago.”

This year’s rescues include:

1. The Coast Guard assisted in the rescue and evacuation of more than 160 people and six pets stranded by flooding in the Pacific Northwest in early December.  Here, an HH-65C aircrew from Port Angeles, Wash., conducts night search-and-rescue operations over flood-ravaged Lewis County, Wash.,  December 3.

2. A boat crew from Coast Guard Station Barnegat Light, N.J., pulled three people out of the water moments before the boat they were on sank after capsizing in August.

3. The Coast Guard assisted four people on a sailing vessel that ran aground at the south end of Lopez Island, Wash.  A Coast Guard HH-65C Dolphin helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Port Angeles and a Coast Guard 33-foot small response boat crew from Coast Guard Station Bellingham assisted, pulling the Shekinech off of the rocks to safely rescue all aboard May 27.

4. Coast Guard Air Station Houston hoisted four people to safety including two young boys after their boat went over the Colorado River dam in Bay City, Texas April 6.  Rescue swimmers and the crew of the helicopter worked feverishly to keep the cable from swaying into the dam and power lines.

5. After Tropical Storm Noel slammed into the Dominican Republic Oct. 30, killing more than 80 people, Coast Guard crewmembers from Air Stations Clearwater, Fla., and Borinquen, Puerto Rico, provided humanitarian relief, including medical evacuations of severely ill survivors.  Here, a child suffering from acute appendicitis was airlifted from the remote mountain city of San Jose De Ocoa Nov. 5. The mountain city was cut off because of severe mudslides and flooding associated with the tropical storm.

6. Passengers from the cruise ship Empress of the North were rescued by the Coast Guard Cutter Liberty after the vessel ran aground May 14 outside of Icy Strait Point, Alaska.

7. When severe rains caused flooding across much of the Midwest this summer, Coast Guard crews from across the region assisted in rescues and evacuations in flooded areas.  Here, a Coast Guard Air Station Detroit HH-65 Dolphin helicopter hoisted two people from the roof of a house in Shelby, Ohio in August.

8. The Coast Guard airlifted a British woman who was attempting to row across the Pacific Ocean after her custom-made row boat rolled in heavy seas 90 miles off the California coast August 24.  An HH-65 Dolphin helicopter from Air Station Humboldt Bay hoisted the woman from her vessel

9. The Coast Guard hoisted a 64-year-old injured male off of Brother Mountain in Port Angeles, Wash., after Coast Guard Sector Seattle was notified by local authorities that a 64-year-old male had been injured and was immobile on the summit. A HH-65C Dolphin helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Port Angeles hoisted the injured male from an altitude of just over 7,000 feet, the highest altitude rescue ever performed by the Coast Guard in the region May 27.

10. The Coast Guard rescued two men after their helicopter crashed 130 miles south southeast of Galveston, Texas.   After Coast Guard Sector Houston/Galveston received the call, Coast Guard Air Station Houston launched an HH-65C Dolphin Helicopter crew to assist. The helicopter crew arrived on scene and searched for approximately 30 minutes before finding wreckage and two people in the water. The two men were hoisted into the helicopter and headed back to Galveston. Due to the extreme distance involved, the helicopter had to refuel on an oil rig on the way back.

All videos are available as a broadcast-quality download on http://cgvi.uscg.mil/media/main.php?g2_itemId=205971.