My father’s service in the U.S. Coast Guard was something he deeply cherished and talked about often. His only regret was never having had the opportunity to attend the Coast Guard Academy.
This was impossible in 1939 when he enlisted, as the only way a Black man could enter the service was to be a mess attendant. And this is how he began his career: shining shoes, making beds, and serving meals to white officers on a ship. Fortunately, and much due to his own determination, he was eventually transferred to the Pea Island station.
While my father is perhaps known best known for his service at the Pea Island Life Saving Station during World War II, his life also represents much more than that experience. It was because of this, at his memorial service in 2010, the title for a speech I gave about him was called “Beyond Pea Island.” The use of these three words for the title of my talk about his life came easily to me. Although at the time I did not know anything close to what I know today about his life, his family history, and the heroic service at the historic station during World War II, these three words continued to stick with me as I believe they are so telling about his life.
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Ironically, these same three words, “Beyond Pea Island,” have helped me to make the difficult decision some 16 years later to resign as a board member with the Pea Island Preservation Society Inc., or PIPSI. As I reflect on this decision, perhaps this is some way my father is speaking to me now. He constantly encouraged change, always remaining open to new experiences and encouraging me to do the same. For me, my decision to resign from PIPSI has opened the door for me to be my own voice and to share what I learned in a creative way, something I continually strive to do.
I joined PIPSI shortly after my father died, initially traveling to Roanoke Island from my Maryland home to attend PIPSI board meetings before moving here after my mother died. Although my involvement with PIPSI and the Pea Island Cookhouse Museum has rewarded me in ways I never imagined, I am comfortable with my decision to move on. I have struggled for a while now with this decision, as my passion for raising awareness of the story of Keeper Etheridge and the Pea Island Lifesavers has not changed. However, I also know there is more to do and the time to do it is now.
I have also come to realize my family’s remarkable record of 400 years of combined service in the U.S. Coast Guard is very important. I want to focus more time and energy helping to make this story known. It continues to amaze me that my great-grandfather, Joseph Hall Berry, who began his career at the Pea Island station serving under the famed Keeper Richard Etheridge, had 21 members of his family follow in his footsteps and join the Coast Guard. This included one son and 14 grandsons. My father was one of these grandsons.
Since moving to Roanoke Island and working with PIPSI, I have also come to better understand the significance of the history of the Pea Island station and my father’s life. I have learned more about the challenges people like my father faced, especially during the Jim Crow era. Yet my father always remained positive, and his love for Roanoke Island and the Coast Guard never wavered. Although his race meant he was denied a great deal, he continued to do more, including obtaining his private pilot’s license at 26 years old while working at Pea Island and earning his GED several years later.
When things were winding down at the Pea Island station and the decision was made to decommission it, this is what he chose to do. He then used his free time to learn to fly. Since speaking at my father’s memorial service in 2010, I have also learned so much more about the place where he was born, the significance of his service, and the obstacles and challenges he faced. This is something I am extremely grateful for having the opportunity to do.
I am also very grateful for my involvement with PIPSI. I gained so much from this experience. Yet I also know it is time to focus on sharing my father’s life story in my own way, an undertaking I realize now began 16 years ago when my father died. When my father passed, one of the first things that came to mind for me was to commission a portrait of him in uniform. I had heard him say often that as a kid he grew up longing to wear a Coast Guard uniform one day. I knew how important this was to him. Also, the most famous picture of him while serving at Pea Island is a picture of him in a Pea Island surfboat wearing a sweatshirt. He told me that, at the time the photograph was taken, his Coast Guard uniform had not yet arrived.
Having his portrait done compelled me to commission more artwork displaying images of my father and his family. Through my experience giving numerous talks for PIPSI, I learned art can be a powerful tool to preserve and teach others about my father’s life. My resignation from PIPSI will allow me to do much more in this regard, including continuing my research, which is also very important to me. I will now have more time to do this and to write and speak about what I have learned.
I also want to bring to light new and lesser-known stories, particularly stories that shed light on the experiences and history of those who were not white and who lived on Roanoke Island. Unfortunately, these stories remain overshadowed by the colonial history that the Outer Banks and Roanoke Island are most known for. Most importantly, I hope to motivate others to share their own stories, particularly stories that will help fill in the gaps and provide a deeper understanding of the history of where my father was born and the challenges faced by men like my father.
So, while saddened to leave PIPSI, I am very excited about what is beyond. I am also incredibly grateful to my cousin, Darrell M. Collins, president emeritus and founder of PIPSI, who passed away about a year and a half ago. While my father opened the door to the Cookhouse Museum and the pathway for me to do and learn more, it was Darrell who let me in. A historian with the National Park Service for over 40 years, he was known worldwide for his incredible interpretation of the Wright Brothers’ famous first flight. However, the Pea Island story and the history connected to it was something equally important to him. His invitation for me to join PIPSI and work closely with him enhanced my life. I also am very appreciative of his support of my ideas to help raise visibility of the story of Keeper Richard Etheridge and the Pea Island Lifesavers and to have worked closely with him after moving to Roanoke Island. This meant the world to me.
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I am also grateful to all who have supported PIPSI and my involvement with this organization over the years. I met and made many new friends through my involvement with PIPSI and helped share the inspiring story of Keeper Richard Etheridge and the Pea Island Lifesavers with thousands. I look forward to sharing my new “Beyond Pea Island” story in a unique and special way.
