Commodore Milton Rockwood Daniels, retired Coast Guard veteran of two World Wars, and former Commanding Officer of the Coast Guard Yard, Curtis Bay, MD., died of heart failure at the age of 87 on April 1, 1976. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery on April 5th.
COMO Daniels was born on February 25, 1889, at Washington, D.C., where he attended public schools, graduated from Emerson Institute, and attended George Washington University for one year.
Appointed a Cadet on June 6, 1910, when the U.S. Coast Guard was known as the Revenue Cutter Service, he received a commission of Ensign on January 18, 1911.
After completing cadet training on board the practice Cutter Itasca, he served eight years of continuous sea duty in various cutters. They included the Mohawk, Thetis, Seminole, Itasca again, and the Seneca, and during World War I he served as Executive Officer in the USS Cythera in European waters. For the latter he was awarded the Victory Medal.
After a temporary assignment at Coast Guard Headquarters, Washington, D.C., in 1919, he again served in the Cutter Seneca out of New York until May 1920. Returning to Headquarters, he served for two years as Superintendent of Construction and Repair. He next was stationed on board the Cutter Saukee in the Gulf of Mexico from September 1922 to July 1924. From then until the fall of 1925, he was assigned to the Destroyer Porter, which operated out of New London, Conn., in the war against rum runners.
During the following three years, he served as Superintendent of Engineering at the Coast Guard Academy, New London, Conn. From October 1928 to September 1931, he served as Engineer Officer in the Cutter Pontchartrain. During the summer of 1929 of that period he captained the Coast Guard Rifle Team at the National Rifle and Pistol Matches at Camp Perry, Ohio.
He next returned to the Academy for three more years to serve as Engineering Instructor and as Acting Superintendent of the Coast Guard Academy. In February 1934, he was placed in charge of construction of Coast Guard vessels at the Navy Yard in Philadelphia.
From March 1937 to June 1942, during World War II, he served as Engineer Officer and as Executive Officer at the Coast Guard Yard, Curtis Bay, Md. During the remainder of the war he was stationed at Boston, Mass., first as Engineer Officer of the First Naval District until October 1943 , and then as Asst. First District Coast Guard Officer until July 1945. He next served one year as Distrcit Coast Guard Officer in the 4th Naval District of Philadelphia.
Returning to the Coast Guard Yard at the end of August 1946, he remained there the rest of his military career, first serving as Industrial Manager and as Executive Officer until November 1949, and then as Commanding Officer of the Yard. He retired from that post with more than 40 years of service on March 1, 1951, with his war-time rank of Commodore.
Following is a resume of his appointments in rank: Ensign, January 18, 1911; Lieutenant (jg), October 11, 1915; Lieutenant, January 12, 1923; Lieut. Commander, April 21, 1924; Commander, April 23, 1930; Captain, June 1, 1941; Commodore, June 1, 1945; reverted to Captain, August 1946 following the war; retired with rank of Commodore on March 1, 1951.
COMO Daniels was a member of the American Society of Engineers.
COMO Daniels was married to the former Sally J. of Norfolk, Va., on January 10, 1921. Survivors of COMO Daniels include his wife Mrs. Daniels who live at their home in Baltimore, Nd.; and their two sons, Stuart J. Daniels, and Milton R. Daniels Jr., who was a Coast Guard Reserve Officer and is now employed as a civilian in the Merchant Marine Technical Division at Coast Guard Headquarters, Washington, D.C.