Coast Guard Lorain Lighthouse veteran donates old uniform

LORAIN — After 72 years, a Coast Guard veteran returned to his post — the Lorain Lighthouse — to give a special donation. United States Coast Guard Engineman First Class Harry Siegfried served from 1946 to 1949. He was stationed at the lighthouse from 1947 to 1949. On Friday, he returned to donate his uniform to the lighthouse. The dress blues were tailor-made for Siegfried in Groton, Connecticut. Although Siegfried, 93, was born in Kenton, Ohio, in 1928, his family moved to Lorain when he was a young child. He has remained there, living in the same house for 66 years. On Friday, Siegfried and his family visited the lighthouse to donate the uniform. His eyes roamed around the building, as he remarked on how different things are since he was stationed there. The Lorain Lighthouse was built in 1917 and served as the headquarters for U.S. Coast Guard in Lorain. It faced demolition in the 1960s when it was decommissioned, but residents advocated for it to remain. The Lorain County Historical Society acquired the lighthouse in 1977 and it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. Renovation work has continued over the decades to save the structure. The interior has been restored to look as it had during the last years the Coast Guard staffed the lighthouse. For Siegfried, that meant a lot of changes. However, some things hadn't changed. The narrow stairs leading to the top of the lighthouse remain. Siegfried used to run up those stairs, he said. Now, he couldn't crawl up them, he joked. Siegfried received his own tour of the building, asking many questions and telling stories of his days. His wife, Esther, used to swim out to the lighthouse and make dinner. Siegfried recalled that the boss didn't like her there past dark. She was almost caught there at one time, but she hid in a 700-gallon water tank. Siegfried was even manning the lighthouse when a Canadian boat hit it. He said he remembered seeing it and thinking it was too close before it hit, cutting off the lighthouse's electricity. It was also his job to rotate the light with a pulley system. If the light hit the board on the floor, an alarm would sound. It was hard to stay awake during shifts at the lighthouse, Siegfried said. At that time, they didn't have a TV in the building or anything else to entertain them. If the light hit the board, Siegfried recalled making a dash for the stairs to adjust it. Siegfried was honorably discharged from the Coast Guard after his son was born, and he wanted to be with his family. He and his wife, who died in 2001, had six children together. "Everything has changed," Siegfried said, looking around the outside of the building. "I'm glad I got to see it one last time. I spent a lot of hours on this place." Contact Laina Yost at (440) 329-7121 or lyost@chroniclet.com.