For new Coast Guard commanding officer, Morgan City is like home

When Mary A. Gilday submitted her list of preferred Coast Guard assignments in 2012, Morgan City wasn't on it. She didn't know anything about the place.

But Morgan City it was. She served as assistant chief of inspections for Marine Safety Unit Morgan City before moving on.

This year, it was again time to list her preferred assignments. And Morgan City "was No. 1 on my list this time," Gilday said.

On Thursday at Muncipal Auditorium, Cmdr Gilday officially became the 13th commanding officer of Marine Safety Unit Morgan City, with its 65 personnel and responsibilities for vessel and facility inspectons, accident and pollution response, and safety on the commercially important waterways where the Atchafalaya meets the Intracoastal Waterway.

Gilday succeeds Cmdr. Ben Russell, who commanded the unit for three years marked by hurricanes, the COVID pandemic and a series of navigational challenges on the Atchafalaya.

Russell, who was commissioned in 2003 after serving three years as an enlisted man, is assigned to Coast Guard headquarters in Washngton as chief of enlisted personnel management. He leaves with the Coast Guard Meritorious Service Medal, which was presented Thursday by Capt. Loan T. O'Brien, commander of Marine Safety Unit Houma.

"It's been my singular privilege to be here," Russell said after the ceremony. "Morgan City has an exceptional sevice attitude. They just dove in with it."

At the lectern, Russell spoke about the reverance for the American flag here, and the way public meetings begin with the Pledge of Allegiance. He said Patterson has been a good place to live for wife Jennifer and their six children.

"There's something here," Russell said. "There's something unique."

Also at the lectern, Gilday joked about being able to take part in the Louisiana Shrimp and Petroleum Festival.

"It feels great to be home again ...," Gilday said. "The lessons I learned here transcend professional development."

After the ceremony, she said Russell leaves her "a well-oiled machine. "My job is to keep it a well-oiled machine."

Gilday, daugther of an Air Force veteran and a Taiwanese-American mother, was born on Okinawa and raised in Florida. Her sister Melissa Alma and brother-in-law Victor Alma are also in the Coast Guard
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Gilday graduated from the Coast Guard Academy in 2007 and has a bachelor's degree in government. Her assignments have included senior investigating officer at Houma and tours aboard the cutters Forward and Gallatin.

Marine Safety Unit Morgan City covers 1,500 square miles of transportation system, including 58 miles of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway and a portion of the Gulf of Mexico.

The unit performs over 1,500 vessel and facility inspections, 200 marine casualty investigations and enforcement actions, and 100 pollution reports each year.