WWII Coast Guard veteran Bill Cothron, 87, sits in the kitchen of his St. Augustine home January 3, 2008. In 1940, at the age of 20, Cothron joined the military because he was "partying too much. He soon found himself thrust into five intense years of monitoring the waters off of the U.S. coast for enemy submarines. "About 200 (U.S) ships sank off the Florida coast," said Cothron. "The Germans even came to shore in St. Augustine to get supplies, like clothing." In 1945, Cothron was honorably discharged from the military in 1945 after suffering a back injury.