“Who lives here reveres honor, honors duty” Capt. Krietemeyer truly represents the USCG Academy motto

“Who lives here reveres honor, honors duty” Capt. Krietemeyer truly represents the USCG Academy motto

By Walt Viglienzone
The Mobile Bay Area Veterans Day Commission has selected Captain George Krietemeyer as the 2017 Veteran of the Year. Capt. Krietemeyer retired from the United States Coast Guard where he logged over 5,000 hours as a pilot and commanded Mobile’s Aviation Training Center.
Prior to serving as Chief of the Training and Education Division for the entire Coast Guard in Coast Guard Headquarters, Capt. Krietemeyer, a graduate of the United States Coast Guard Academy, also commanded the Aviation Technical Training Center, Elizabeth City, NC. He was awarded four Meritorious Service Medals and numerous other decorations. He has also received the Coast Guard’s Distinguished Public Service Award for his contributions after retirement.
As Director of Organizational Development for the City of Mobile for 10 years, his efforts were instrumental in improving the efficiency and effectiveness of government operations. He has been a trustee on the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation Board for 20 years and was a Commissioner for the Battleship ALABAMA. He led the successful fundraising campaign to build a monument at Battleship Park to honor Coast Guard personnel who lost their lives in Alabama while performing operational missions. Capt. Krietemeyer will be recognized during the commission’s Veterans Day on Nov. 10 at Fort Whiting Armory. Battleship Memorial Park will be host to a Veterans Celebration and Parade of Flags at 3 pm and the Mobile Symphonic Pops Band concert beginning at 7 p.m.
I first met George when I arrived, and he was a paid employee of the NAVAIR Museum – Membership & Public Relations. One claim to fame was giving NFL Hall of Famer Emmitt Smith a museum tour.
Recent Naval Air Museum initiatives sheparded by George, include the 100th Anniversary of Coast Guard Aviation as a featured event at the NAS Naval Symposium; the unveiling of only the second Coast Guard stamp in history, establishing Hanger Bay One in the museum’s Coast Guard Wing (his uniform is one of three displayed), and the planned HH-3F Helicopter Exhibit. He was also instrumental in earning Mobile the Congressionally approved designation as a Coast Guard City, the third in the nation. He was instrumental in honoring both Mobile Bay Area, and the Coast Guard by bringing Admiral Thad Allen here, on Veterans Day 2015. He is also writing a boo Tnhe Guardians of the Gulf – The 200 Yar History of USCG in Mobile. In his spare time, George and wife Barbara visit their six grandchildren, scattered around the Southeast, and he admits trying to recruit them into USCG careers…
George is a life long public servant and volunteer, a true representative of the Coast Guard Academy motto: “Who lives here reveres honor, honors duty.