USPS formally issues and dedicates U.S. Coast Guard Academy 150th-anniversary stamp

The U.S. Postal Service formally issued and dedicated its U.S. Coast Guard Academy 150th-anniversary stamp in New London, Connecticut, on 12 September 2026. The ceremony at Custom House Pier converts the previously announced commemorative programme into an issued stamp and supplies a new factual milestone for an item whose design and source photography had already been reported earlier in the week.

The Forever stamp combines photographs by two serving Coast Guard personnel. Petty Officer 2nd Class Matthew Thieme supplied the image of the Coast Guard Barque Eagle, while Petty Officer 1st Class Steven Strohmaier provided the photograph of the national security cutter USCGC Bertholf. USPS art director Antonio Alcalá combined the two images in a vertical design that links the academy’s long training tradition with the modern operational Coast Guard.

Marc McCrery, USPS customer experience vice president, served as the dedicating official. Rear Adm. Gregory C. Rothrock, superintendent of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, and Capt. Kristopher Ensley, commanding officer of the Eagle, also participated. USPS describes the academy as an institution preparing officers to lead across the service while marking its sesquicentennial year.

The issue is significant for military and maritime philately because its design documents both an iconic sail-training vessel and a modern cutter within a single commemorative. Its photographic provenance is also unusually well documented, allowing collectors to connect the finished stamp with the individual Coast Guard photographers whose images formed the artwork.

USPS had previously announced a print quantity of 12 million stamps in panes of 20. The new development on 12 September is the completed issuance and dedication itself, not merely the approach of the scheduled release date. That distinction makes the ceremony a substantive update to the existing record rather than a duplicate announcement.