Rentz served in Alaska, Pacific Northwest
Became an engineer/mechanic in the Coast Guard
-Submitted photo <BR> Wayne Rentz, of Moorland, is shown in his Coast Guard uniform.
-Messenger photo by Mike Devine <BR> Wayne Rentz sits in his office at Moorland Small Engine Repair while talking about his service in the U.S. Coast Guard.
-Submitted photo <BR> Wayne Rentz, of Moorland, is shown in his Coast Guard uniform.
-Messenger photo by Mike Devine <BR> Wayne Rentz sits in his office at Moorland Small Engine Repair while talking about his service in the U.S. Coast Guard.
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It takes a lot of people serving in hundreds of different specialities to protect American shores.
Wayne Rentz, a former mayor of Moorland, was one of them. He served in the United States Coast Guard.
Restless after high school, he enlisted in the Coast Guard in January 1973 at age 19. His father served on PT boats during World War II, but Rentz thought the Coast Guard was a better fit for him.
Rentz was sent to Alameda, California, for basic training. He scored well on military tests and became an engineer/mechanic. Sailors in that specialty were known as a Black Gang, a reference to when ships were powered by coal and the engine room crew ended up covered in black dust. He took care of the ship's engines.
Rentz's first assignment was on the USCGC Ingham, a 327-foot cutter now a floating maritime museum in Key West, Florida. He was only on the Ingham three months before it was sent to one of the last ocean stations whose mission it was to help if a plane went down or a boat was in trouble. Those stations are no longer used.
He then trained at an engineman school for a year to learn diesel. Then he was stationed in Alaska, where he served on a 95-foot search-and-rescue ship, and later, a buoy tender. Buoys are markers in the water that warn ship captains of hazards like sand bars.
Then he was transferred to Oregon. There he served on a 44-foot motor life boat and also maintained the Heceta Head Lighthouse.
Returning to Iowa, he married and moved to Moorland. He initially worked a six-county area repairing copy machines. He started Moorland Small Engine Repair and still works there. He has two sons, Jesse and Russ.