Footage of the dedication of White Alder Memorial Park at the Coast Guard base in New Orleans. Silent footage of a coast guard ceremony is followed by a speech from an unidentified officer, who states that the crew had an average age of 25 and that they came from states all around the country. The officer continues that the surviving shipmates want the families of the victims to know that they will never forget, which is why the park is being dedicated. Silent footage of families laying wreaths on the memorial. The Coast Guard Cutter White Alder and the freighter Helena collided in the Mississippi River near White Castle, Louisiana on 7 December 1968. The ship sank, and seventeen of the twenty crew members perished.