Allamakee County native donates items from Coast Guard career

Allamakee County native and retired U.S. Coast Guard Commander Charles Robert Hinrichs (right) stands with Allamakee County Historical Society Vice President John Simmons (left) with several of the items Commander Hinrichs recently donated to the Allamakee County Courthouse Museum from his career collection. Commander Hinrichs, a 1943 graduate of Waukon High School who retired from the U.S. Coast Guard in 1975, made the trip from his home in Mobile, AL to his native Allamakee County the last full week in April with retired U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral Dave Belz, who had Commander Hinrichs as his first commanding officer upon entering the Coast Guard.
The donated items pictured at right include a nearly six-foot in diameter ship's wheel Commander Hinrichs acquired while living in Mobile, AL. The book being held by Simmons, entitled "Foundation for Coast Guard History," is one of three copies donated by Commander Hinrichs to the museum, the Waukon High School library and Robey Memorial Library in Waukon. The painting displayed by Commander Hinrichs is a smaller replica of a painting of the USCG Barque Eagle, a tall mast ship taken as a war prize from Germany following World War II. The larger, original painting was a gift from Commander Hinrichs to his wife prior to her passing last year and will be donated to the museum at a later date. In addition to his donations, Commander Hinrichs was also able to visit "a number of shirt-tale relatives" still living in the Allamakee County area, some of the names of which include Beardmore, Wild and Weymiller.