UPDATED: Incoming, outgoing MSU Morgan City commanders have roots here

Friday’s ceremony at Nico Bella transferred command of the Coast Guard’s Marine Safety Unit Morgan City. More than that, it reinforced the ties between the Coast Guard and local communities.
Coast Guard Cmdr. Mary A. Gilday turned over leadership of the 66-member unit to Cmdr. Joshua J. Weidman. Both had served in Morgan City before being placed in command.
Gilday called the event a “full circle moment.”
There were jokes from the lectern about the close ties between the Coast Guard and this region. Weidman said it was sad that Gilday, whose new assignment is in Virginia, isn’t going “up the bayou, or down the bayou, but out the bayou.”
When it came time for the white-uniformed officers to march away from the lectern, members of the Berwick High School band played a second-line tune for Gilday.
Weidman assumes command of a unit with responsibilities for vessel inspections, maintaining safe navigation, directing vessel traffic, investigating accidents and more.
Weidman comes back to Morgan City from his post as executive assistant to the director of the Coast’s Guard’s Office of Inspections and Compliance.
Weidman, a Pennsylvania native, had served as a marine inspector at MSU Morgan City as well as chief of the Marine Inspection Division at MSU Houma. Other tours included a stint as executive officer of MSU Huntington.
He has degrees in marine safety and environmental protection from the Massachusetts Maritime Academy and a master’s in environmental management and policy from American Military University.
He and wife Ashley have three children.
“As I assume command,” Weidman said, “I assure you I am committed to serving the people of Morgan City with the same dedication, integrity and professionalism that have always defined Marine Safety Unit Morgan City.”
“The crew of Marine Safety Unit Morgan City is full of pride,” said MSU Houma commander Capt. Jason S. Franz, “and not in a boastful manner. Rather, in a quiet, self-assured way as a Coastie goes about performing their duty.”
Franz also paid tribute to Gilday’s work as commander. He and Weidman noted that since she assumed command in 2023, the unit has dealt with an 850-gallon oil spill, two “in situ” or in place burnings of pollutants, Hurricane Francine, a stubborn high-water event that Weidman will inherit and, as Gilday noted, a blizzard.
She coordinated an emergency $40 million dredging project to help keep local waterways open after Francine.
Franz praised her for obtaining a critical housing designation that helped members of the unit find homes here.
“This is what commanding officers do,” Franz said. “They lead, and they lean into challenges.”
Before being placed in command two years ago, Gilday had served as assistant chief of inspections at MSU Morgan City and senior investigating officer at MSU Houma.
Gilday is a Coast Guard Academy graduate with a degree in government and is working on a master’s degree in homeland security from Columbia Southern University.
Her next assignment is with Maritime Sealift Command in Norfolk, Virginia, where she will be reunited with husband Jeffery Milota, a Navy officer who commands a maritime security squadron.
Gilday was born in Taiwan into a military family. Her father is an Air Force veteran.
“After 13 years in Louisiana,” Gilday said, “this place has become much more than just a Coast Guard assignment. As many of you know, it’s been home.”
Gilday was presented with a citation for meritorious service for her work in Morgan City.