Captain Ernie Blanchard died on March14, 1995, at age 46, while serving as chief of the Public Affairs Office at Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington, D.C.
A 1970 graduate of the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut, Captain Blanchard earned a master’s degree in political science at Brown University in Rhode Island. He was a graduate of the National Defense University at the National War College in Washington, D.C.
Captain Blanchard had a distinguished afloat career. He served as commanding officer and plank owner of the Coast Guard Cutter Legare, a 270-foot medium endurance cutter; commanding officer of the Sweetbrier, a 180-foot buoy tender; executive officer of the Hornbeam, a 180-foot buoy tender; training officer on the Coast Guard barque Eagle and aboard the Edisto, a 269-foot icebreaker.
His shore assignments included professor of political science at the Coast Guard Academy, operations officer at Group Southwest Harbor, Maine, and chief of Enlisted Personnel at Coast Guard Headquarters.
Captain Blanchard, a superlative sailor, was known for the vision, energy and leadership he brought to the Coast Guard’s publicaffairs community, and to other assignments throughout his career.