Rear Adm. Michael Day, who presided over a historic maritime mass evacuation during Sept. 11, 2001, assumed command of the U.S. Coast Guard 14th District on Friday following a change-of-command ceremony at Coast Guard Base Honolulu.

Day last served as military adviser to the secretary of homeland security where he provided counsel to the secretary and deputy secretary regarding policies, plans and other affairs between the Homeland Security and Defense departments.

Day said in a statement, “I look forward to reinvigorating our alliances with like-minded Pacific Island Countries and Territories throughout Oceania. The Coast Guard will continue to exercise our unique authorities through persistent presence and cooperation in this region to improve maritime security.”

The 14th District covers more than 12.2 million square miles of land and sea, with units on Oahu, Maui, Kauai and the Big Island, and in American Samoa, Saipan, Guam, Singapore and Japan. The district commander oversees operational units ashore and afloat throughout the Pacific, which regularly perform missions in maritime safety, protection of natural resources, maritime security, homeland security and national defense.

Day, a Brockton, Mass., native, is a 1991 graduate of the Coast Guard Officer Candidate School in Yorktown, Va. He has served in the Strategy and Policy Directorate (J5) for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and as commanding officer of the Pacific Strike Team and commander of Coast Guard Sector New York.

He has been recognized for the role that he played in a mass evacuation following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Day served as the Coast Guard on-scene commander for the evacuation of Lower Manhattan, coordinating the evacuation of over 500,000 people aboard over 100 civilian vessels, resulting in the largest maritime evacuation in history.

Day replaces Rear Adm. Matthew Sibley, who had served as commander of the Coast Guard 14th District since June 2020. Sibley continues his Coast Guard career as deputy commander of the U.S. Coast Guard Pacific Area in Alameda, Calif.