President Roosevelt signed a bill establishing a Coast Guard Reserve. It technically replaced the Coast Guard Auxiliary, a civilian force that had been in existence for two years.
This is frankly a little confusing, as the military status of the Coast Guard is confusing. What it did at the time was to add a military reservist component to what had been a civilian auxiliary that supported the Coast Guard. While not a perfect analogy by any means, the earlier auxiliary might be loosely compared to the the Civil Air Patrol's relationship to the United States Army Air Corps at the time. The Coast Guard continued to have an auxiliary, but the new military component was added.
When the war came, those entering the Coast Guard were all classified as reservists, following a pattern that's common for the U.S. military but particularly strong in the Navy. Therefore, almost all World War Two Coast Guardsmen were reservists. The auxiliary component, however, continued to exist with volunteers fulfilling non military roles on a part time basis without pay.
214,000 men and women served in the Coast Guard during the war.
The Coast Guard Reserve continued to exist today and now has a more conventional reserve type function. The New York Naval Militia, by agreement with the Federal Government, is associated with the Coast Guard Reserve in a unique arrangement which allows individuals to be members of both organizations should they wish.
On the same day, British and German patrols made contact with each other for the first time in Libya. See:
Today in World War II History—February 20, 1941
Day 539 February 20, 1941
The Germans also extended an offer to Greece and Italy to mediate the armed dispute between them. Failing to appreciate the "offer you can't refuse" nature of the German suggestion, the Greeks turned it down.
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