I/We lost a great man this morning...

He was the cool old guy on NPR. Condolences to you and yours.

Marvin Perrett, 81, World War II Icon
Thursday, May 10, 2007 - By Paul Purpura - West Bank bureau

Marvin Perrett, who as a teenager in the Coast Guard drove troops ashore during World War II amphibious invasions in New Orleans-built landing craft, died Sunday at his home in Metairie. He was 81.

Born in New Orleans on Sept. 17, 1925, Mr. Perrett was the adopted son of a World War I Army veteran and his wife.(That would be my Great Grandfather and Great Grandmother). He attended Warren Easton High School. At age 17, he wanted to enlist in the Navy, but his father, who was wounded in the first world war, barred him from doing so.

A year later, he went to a Navy recruiter's office in downtown New Orleans, but the recruiter steered him to the Coast Guard. By nightfall, he had enlisted.

Widely known for wearing a replica Coast Guard combat uniform to tell his war stories to students and service members, Mr. Perrett made his last speaking appearance May 2, when he piloted a relic boat in Lake Pontchartrain near the Coast Guard station in Bucktown, where the duty room is named in his honor.

"He is just an absolute icon within the eyes of Coast Guard members, and he will truly be missed," said Capt. Frank Paskewich, captain of the Port of New Orleans and commander of Sector New Orleans. "Right up to his last few days, he was busy speaking about his experiences during World War II. We are blessed to be a part of his last week."

"Losing him was like losing a historical artifact," said Petty Officer 1st Class NyxoLyno Cangemi, who was befriended by Mr. Perret him three years ago. "It's a great loss, and it's a loss felt throughout our country, and throughout humanity. Marvin may be gone, but the story he shared with so many people throughout the world will live on forever."

Mr. Perrett was passionate about New Orleans. He authored and self-published two books on the city's history, "Nostalgia: Lifestyle of Old New Orleans," and "More Nostalgia."

He found that a missing piece of the city's history was a monument to industrialist Andrew Higgins, whose landing craft, widely known as Higgins boats, played a key role in the World War II amphibious invasions, said Mr. Perrett's daughter, Melissa Perrett Cook of Chicago.

Mr. Perrett said in a Coast Guard interview that as a young man he witnessed practice beach landings in Higgins boats on Lake Pontchartrain.

"I thought, 'Boy, that looks pretty dangerous, I don't want any part of that,' " he said. "Wouldn't that just be my dumb luck. That was the exact assignment I received."

He participated in the June 6, 1944, D-Day invasion, launching his Higgins boat from the USS Bayfield about 2:30 a.m., about 12 miles off the Normandy coast.

In his first of two trips ashore that day, Mr. Perrett, an 18-year-old coxswain's mate second class, delivered 36 soldiers of the Army's 4th Division to Utah Beach, about 7 a.m. In his second trip, he safely delivered the 4th Division's commander, Maj. Gen. R.O. Barton, and the general's vehicle.

A month later, Mr. Perrett participated in the invasion of southern France, and then of Iwo Jima in February 1945. It was there that his Higgins boat sank, leaving him and his three crewmates briefly stranded on the beach. He later took part in the invasion of Okinawa.

"The students to this day would ask me, 'Well, Mr. Perrett, were you shot at?' I said, 'You're darn right we were shot at,' and what would happen, maybe like a city block from the beach I'd see out ahead of me the machine gun bullets hitting the water and cascading 10 feet high, and this is in front of me," Mr. Perrett said June 18, 2003, for a Coast Guard oral history program.

In June 2004, on the 60th anniversary of the D-Day invasion, Mr. Perrett was one of 100 World War II veterans from the United States invited by the French government to attend ceremonies in France. The French government awarded him its Knights of the Legion of Honor medal.

The Coast Guard also presented Mr. Perrett with its Distinguished Public Service Award, its highest civilian honor. He was made an honorary chief petty officer by the Chief Petty Officers Association chapter in New Orleans.

He donated his body for research at Tulane Medical School, a decision he often revealed to people with his usual humor, Cook said: "Oh, did you hear I'm going to Tulane?"

In addition to his daughter, he is survived by his son-in-law and two grandchildren.

A memorial service is being planned by the Coast Guard.
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Paul Purpura can be reached at ppurpura@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3791.
Marvin Perrett