Mr. Beefy posthumously promoted to Chief Beefy
After a decade of service, U.S. Coast Guard Station Indian River Inlet mascot Mr. Beefy has been posthumously promoted to Chief Beefy.
By way of the Delaware SPCA in Georgetown, Mr. Beefy, a pit bull mix, joined the 30-person crew at Station Indian River 10 years ago at the age of 4.
Chief Petty Officer Andrew Knox, officer in charge, took command of the station mid-June. One of his first acts was going to be a ceremonial advancement of Mr. Beefy to chief in late July. However, a few days before the ceremony, Mr. Beefy was accidentally hit by a vehicle in the station parking lot.
“Someone was backing up, and [Mr. Beefy] stopped just long enough,” said Knox, prior to the burial ceremony Aug. 11. “It’s been a traumatic experience for everyone here.”
In his short time in charge, Knox said it was clear Mr. Beefy was a station favorite.
“He had a salty swagger about him,” he said.
The station’s previous officer in charge, Chief Warrant Officer Nicholas Muskalla, made the trip back to Delaware for the ceremony. Muskalla, now stationed at the National Strike Force Center of Expertise in Elizabeth City, N.C., was stationed in Indian River twice, and Mr. Beefy was there both times.
Muskalla had prepared a eulogy. He estimated Mr. Beefy had at least 100 different owners over the years. He was timid at first, but quickly acclimated himself.
“He wanted to do everything but swim. He also hated being on the dock, but he would walk as close to the sea wall as possible,” said Muskalla. “He had a big family, and he’s a big part of our family.”
The ceremony was brief. All the members in attendance stood at attention and were respectfully quiet. One scoop at a time, about half of the officers participated in shoveling the dirt that now covers his urn.
Afterward, a few of the officers stood around reminiscing about Mr. Beefy’s loud farting, his loud but harmless barking – usually aimed at an unsuspecting person with food, his loud snoring, the dream running he did while sleeping in his dog bed, and his celebrity status among the people who frequent that area of the inlet.
“We’d walk outside in the morning and there would be Chewy boxes for him outside the gate,” said Boatswain's Mate 2nd Class George Freeman, who is now stationed in Atlantic City.
Freeman was one of Mr. Beefy’s primary caregivers for five years. There are other people who wanted to be at the ceremony that day, but couldn’t make it, he said.
“He was a good friend. He’s on the minds of a lot of people in the Coast Guard today,” said Freeman. “On our worst [search and rescue missions], he was always there waiting for us when we got back.”
Boatswain's Mate 2nd Class Hannah Carlson had taken over care duties for Mr. Beefy, and she had bought him his last dog bed. Mr. Beefy was like the station shrink, and he was never up before reveille, or morning wake-up call, she said.
“He liked to sleep in,” said Carlson, smiling. “He was a nice dog who loved to jump on everybody.”
Carlson has prepared a memorial video that’s available on YouTube by searching for “In Memory of Mr. Beefy.”
Chris Flood has been working for the Cape Gazette since early 2014. He currently covers Rehoboth Beach and Henlopen Acres, but has also covered Dewey Beach and the state government. He covers environmental stories, business stories and random stories on subjects he finds interesting, and he also writes a column called Choppin’ Wood that runs every other week. Additionally, Flood moonlights as the company’s circulation manager, which primarily means fixing boxes that are jammed with coins during daylight hours, but sometimes means delivering papers in the middle of the night. He’s a graduate of the University of Maine and the Landing School of Boat Building & Design.
