New London - On Feb. 3, 1943, a German U-boat torpedoed the U.S. Army transport ship USS Dorchester off the coast of Greenland, and the Coast Guard cutter Comanche was ordered to the scene.Charles Walter David Jr. was one of the few Comanche crew members who volunteered to dive overboard to help rescue the nearly 100 survivors. In the process, he saved the cutter's executive officer, who also dived in but could not pull himself out.David died a few days later from pneumonia he contracted that day.Cmdr. Scott Rogerson, commanding officer of the International Ice Patrol, recounted David's heroic acts Monday as the unit, the Coast Guard Academy and the Coast Guard Foundation paid tribute to all who served in the Greenland Patrol during World War II."This ceremony and wreath-laying is the least we can do to honor and respect those who were so devoted to keeping Greenland out of enemy hands during World War II," Rogerson said during the brief ceremony, held at the academy.Greenland, then a Danish colony, took on significant strategic value after Nazi Germany began its occupation of Denmark in 1940. Greenland was a source of raw materials to make aluminum for airplanes, and it could be used as a fueling point for trans-Atlantic crossings.The Ice Patrol, formed after the sinking of the R.M.S. Titanic, at that time had almost three decades of experience operating in the North Atlantic, so the cutters and the Coast Guardsmen of the pre-war Ice Patrol, Rogerson said, "formed the nucleus of the forces that would later defend this largely ice-covered, isolated island in the North Atlantic."Patrick Chamberlain, a second-class cadet at the academy, walked forward with a wreath, which was dedicated to those who served in the Greenland Patrol. An Ice Patrol crew member will cast the wreath into the North Atlantic Ocean during an upcoming iceberg reconnaissance patrol.Rear Adm. J. Scott Burhoe, academy superintendent, said ceremonies like these are an opportunity to connect cadets like Chamberlain with the "rich heritage that they'll have an opportunity to be a part of after they graduate."j.grogan@theday.com