SIDNEY SANDERLIN

Transcribed and edited from e-mail received from Manny Vega.

About 2 years ago, we were producing a training video on the CG's
use of force policy.  One of the scenes took us to Washington, DC,
to film some names on the Law Enforcement Memorial of two CG personnel
who were killed during the Rum War. These were Boatswain Sidney Sanderlin
and MMO1c Victor Lamby.  Sanderlin was in charge of the 75-footer CG-249
and in addition to the crew, they had a Secret Service agent aboard.
On August 8, 1927, while enroute to the Bahamas, they encountered and
seized a boat full of rum with 2 persons onboard. One man had a weapon
and shot Sanderlin in the back of the head, killing him. Victor Lamby
was wounded and fell into the engine room. He died three days later.
The Secret Service agent was also killed and another Coastie wounded but
they gained control of the cutter after a brief struggle. The gunman
was hanged at Coast Guard Station Fort Lauderdale two years later.

Sanderlin and Lamby can be found in almost every historical book about the
Rum War but the names had not been inscribed on the memorial. After a lot
of research at the archives, we located all the information we needed to
submit the names to have them placed on the wall. After 2 attempts, we
finally had it approved.

At the same time, we were looking for relatives of the two. Until recently,
we had no luck, then Sidney Sanderlin's son, also named Sidney, called
me and provided his father's photo which is now posted on the internet.
I have yet to locate the families of Victor Lamby but I am still trying.