U.S. Coast Guard Cmdr. James Park Sutherland always wanted to be laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery, according to his wife Carolyn. During their 39-year marriage, he repeatedly told her, “I really want to go to Arlington.” His daughter, Ami Woods, also recalled him telling friends that being buried at Arlington would be his highest honor.
Sutherland’s wish was realized on March 26, 2025, when family and friends gathered at the cemetery to say their final goodbyes. A Coast Guard honor guard folded the flag that draped over the casket, a bugler sounded Taps, and a bagpiper played “Amazing Grace” and other songs.
U.S. Navy Chaplain (Lt.) Brent Wagner spoke about how, during the Vietnam War, Sutherland piloted Coast Guard patrol cutters along the southern region of Vietnam before going on to flight school and piloting Coast Guard aircraft. In the 1980s and 1990s, he served in the Caribbean amidst mass Haitian and Cuban migrations to the United States. “During this time,” Wagner explained, Sutherland most valued “forming friendships and building bridges between people and groups.” Wagner added that Sutherland was a compassionate, loving and caring man, “not just for the people of the United States but also the Haitians and the different people he came in contact with through his service.”
Wagner also read Irish poet William Reese’s poem “Here is Love,” which describes love as “vast as the ocean”—appropriate imagery for a man who spent his life on and above the water.
After the ceremony, Woods spoke about her father’s affinity for others. “He had a fondness for the people of Vietnam,” she said, “and later for the Haitians and Cubans.” She added that she recently found all her father’s Vietnam memorabilia, including audio recordings he sent to his parents. She will be donating the collection to the Coast Guard Historian’s Office.
Sutherland’s friend Charles Bazzy recalled that Sutherland rarely spoke about his time in Vietnam. According to Bazzy, when Sutherland left Vietnam, the Coast Guard asked him to list his top three preferences for his next assignment. He wrote “flight school” in all three spaces on the form. When the reviewer chased him down and told him he could not do that, Bazzy remembered, Sutherland told him if he could not go to flight school “I’m out!” He, of course, went to flight school - sparking a multi-decade career as an aircraft commander, flying both fixed-and rotary-wing aircraft.
As Sutherland’s wife Carolyn departed the service, she said he was proud of his career. “He loved the Coast Guard,” she said, “every minute of it, every inch of it.”
Learn More About Coast Guard History at Arlington National Cemetery:
► Coast Guard Walking Tour
► United States Coast Guard Memorial