Last Word: Wonder Woman and Me

Wonder Woman and Me

By LCDR Steve Carpenter, USCG (ret), ’77

Many young people today are enamored with Gal Gadot, the beautiful and talented Israeli actress and titular star of the 2017 film “Wonder Woman.” Release of the film’s much anticipated sequel, “Wonder Woman 1984,” has been repeatedly delayed, most recently by the COVID 19 pandemic. However, it is now slated to premiere on Christmas Day in the U.S.

In my younger days, I was a big fan of Lynda Carter, who starred in the Wonder Woman T.V. series in the late 1970s. I had the opportunity to meet her, and several other famous people, during my assignment as Executive Officer of the Coast Guard sail training ship EAGLE. Although primarily used to train cadets in leadership and seamanship, EAGLE is a great public relations tool for the C.G. and the nation. We often hosted receptions for the President and his cabinet.

During my two-year tour of duty, we sailed to Europe twice and participated in the 1989 Tall Ship parade commemorating the 200th anniversary of the French revolution, traversing the Seine River from Normandy to Rouen, France. During my tenure on EAGLE, I met many important people including then President and Mrs. George H. W. Bush. Legendary T.V. news anchor Walter Cronkite and his wife Betsy were passengers on board EAGLE for a week, traveling from London to St. Petersburg, then Leningrad. Cronkite, who died in 2009, was an avid sailing enthusiast and fan of EAGLE. At the time he was preparing a CBS special on the fastchanging relations between the US and the Soviet Union. A film crew met and worked alongside Cronkite in London and Leningrad.

However, my most memorable celebrity encounter occurred at a reception on board EAGLE in Washington, D.C, hosted by Samuel Skinner, then Secretary of Transportation under George H. W. Bush. Many of Washington’s elite were there including lawyer Robert Altman and his beautiful

Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman in 1976 from the television series of the same name. (Photo: ABC Television - Scan of publicity photograph)

wife, actress Lynda Carter, a.k.a. Wonder Woman. EAGLE’s Captain, David V. Wood, and I were entertaining the Secretary’s guests under awnings shading the ship’s teak deck, when Ms. Carter approached me with a questioning expression. I wondered, would she be curious about how we maneuvered such a large ship up the narrow Potomac River? Or maybe she was about to ask me if we had encountered any storms at sea during our journeys? I waited in anticipation as she approached. “Could you direct me to the rest room?” she asked. It wasn’t the question I had anticipated, but I gladly escorted her aft through the wardroom to the “head.” I’ll never forget the night I rescued my super-hero from her distress.

Steve and his wife, Chris, are retired and live in Harrisonburg, VA. Steve spent 20 years in the CG, with three tours of duty afloat. He then worked for 22 years in the Mennonite Church, first in a local congregation in D.C., then as a business manager for a regional group of 68 Mennonite Churches, and finally as the binational Director of Development and Church Relations for MennoMedia, the publishing arm of Mennonite Church USA and Mennonite Church Canada. They have one daughter and two granddaughters ages 5 and 3.