Surviving Hell Tuskegee Airman recalls horrors o f World War II See Local News, page 3 ‘City 0/Roses’ Number 44 UO Ronoring Fr Veterans h te rrie r 4 3 »»rvyy.^vnuai i u u u j l i vti.wm www.portlandobserver.com Wednesday • November 13, 2013 F c t a L I ichp»rl in in 1970 1070 Established Committed to Cultural Diversity s _ ; ^ C ^ it of •'community service servi R. V aughn Former Portland resident Michelle Watson talks with her U.S. Coast Guard Reserve security team during rehersals for President Obama’s second inauguration last January. One o f the first African American women to graduate from the Coast Guard Academy, she ju s t finished a year in which she m et the President and First Lady and was pro moted as the first African-American woman to take command o f a Coast Guard security unit in Ft. Eustis, Va. photo by S taff S gt . O pal Michelle Watson excels as career military leader M ichael L eighton T he P ortland O bserver by It’s been a long and rewarding journey from Harriet Tubman School in Portland to a distinguished career in the U.S. Coast Guard for Michelle Watson. The former Portland and Vancouver area resident has just finished a year in which she met President Obama and the First Lady; was promoted as the first African-American woman commander of a Coast Guard security unit in Virginia; and served as a deputy commander in security for the president’s second inauguration in Washington, D.C., last January. Watson, 40, made Coast Guard history last month when she was put in charge o f the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve Port Security Unit 305 at Ft. Eustis, Va. As commander, she is the first African-American woman to oversee the 172-member expeditionary unit which provides waterside protection to key assets and supports military and humanitarian opera tions worldwide. She credited the mentorship and support she has received of her Coast Guard colleagues, along with the support of family and friends for her long record of success in the continued on page 8