U.S. Coast Guard cutter Katherine Walker (WLM 552) conducting aids to navigation servicing in the New York Harbor, Sep. 15 2025. B-roll video showing the crew performing routine service of buoys. (U.S. Coast Guard video by Petty Officer 3rd Class Logan Kaczmarek)
Rear Adm. Francis “Stash” Pelkowski is a veteran, merchant mariner, maritime industry business leader, licensed attorney and a professor at SUNY Maritime College. To say the 58-year-old father has accomplished a lot in life is a gross understatement. However, to hear him describe his early adult years leading to his enlistment in 1980, his present-day success and many achievements were far from predictable.
Thirty-eight years later,...
