Memorial Day 2012

Colleen Cowlan embraces Larry Eastman after helping him fit into a U.S. Coast Guard uniform ahead of the Memorial Day parade in Coos Bay, Ore., Thursday, May 24, 2012. United States Coast Guardsman LTJG Ian Leonard, background, helped procure the uniform for Eastman.

At 101 years old, Eastman is the oldest USCG veteran in Oregon, and will be the grand marshal for the parade.

Eastman's first rescue was in 1936 on the Rogue River Reef, he said. Four pirates snuck out to a ship that ran aground in a skiff to see what they could pillage. Once they boarded the ship, "They lost their skiff!" Eastman said. "They were stranded and we had to put up a beach apparatus to rescue the pirates."

Credit: AP Photo/The World, Benjamin Brayfield