English: South side of the United States Coast Guard Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, in the United States. The memorial is located atop a steep hill in Section 4, and commemorates two incidents. The first occurred on September 19, 1918, when the SS Wellington, a British ship, was torpedoed 300 miles off the coast of Great Britain. Although the Wellington's crew was recued 18 of the Seneca's crew volunteered to try to take the Wellington back to shore. Shortly after midnight on September 20, the Wellington sank and 11 of the Seneca's crew died aboard her. The second incident occurred on September 26, 1918, when the Revenue Cutter Tampa was torpedoed by the Gernman submarine UB-91 in the English Channel, with the loss of all 111 Coast Guardsmen as well as four U.S. Navy sailors, a British Army captain, 10 sailors of the Royal Navy, and five civilian dock workers.
The U.S. Coast Guard Memorial was designed by architect George Howe and sculptor Gaston Lachaise, and dedicated on May 23, 1928. The foundation is composed of successive rings of reddish granite and rock set in concrete. Decorative elements in some of the rings, composed of black rock, mimic the points of a compass. Two triangular bases of reddish granite support a marble pyramid. On the westward face is a a bronze seagull in flight, the Coast Guard motto ("Semper Paratus" or Always Ready), and the Seal of the U.S. Coast Guard.
On the southern face is an inscription regarding the dead of the Seneca, as well as others of her crew who died during World War I. Inscribed into the base below is the Biblical phrase "Thy Way Is In The Sea." On the northern face is an inscription regarding the dead of the Tampa. Inscribed into the base below is the Biblical phrase "And Thy Path In The Great Waters."