When Coast Guard Petty Officer 1st Class Steven Strohmaier mails out the birth announcements for his son, Ethan, he’ll also be telling his friends, “By the way, the stamp in the corner is mine,” he said.
A photo Strohmaier took on Feb. 29, 2024, while stationed aboard the USCGC Bertholf is one of two photos chosen by the U.S. Postal Service for its design of a Forever stamp commemorating the 150th anniversary of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy.
The stamp features photos of the Legend-class national security cutter Bertholf, as well as the U.S. Coast Guard Barque Eagle, the academy’s primary training vessel since 1946. Petty Officer 2nd Class Matthew Thieme took the photo of the Eagle that’s featured on the stamp.
The U.S. Postal Service has printed 12 million of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy stamps. Strohmaier has already placed his first order. In addition to the birth announcements, he plans to use them for Christmas cards and other mailings, “maybe for the next decade,” he told Military Times.
Antonio Alcalá, an art director for the U.S. Postal Service, designed the stamp. Before it was printed and issued, it was reviewed by the Postal Service, the Citizens stamp Advisory Committee and, finally, the Postmaster General before being printed and issued.
Alcala said their research group worked with the Coast Guard Academy to find imagery deemed to be appropriate for a stamp design.
“From those, in consultation with USPS, we narrowed it down to the two images shown on the stamp,” Alcalá told Military Times.
USPS uses photos taken by individuals in the design of stamps when it’s determined to be the best solution, he said.
“The stamp highlights, by featuring the two Coast Guard vessels … the tradition of training academy cadets on both traditional sailing ships as well as the latest in contemporary ship design and technology,” he said.
Strohmaier, 40, said that when he first saw a picture of the stamp, “I thought it was just a fantastic opportunity to highlight the Coast Guard, especially the juxtaposition of our oldest cutter and one of our newest ones.”
The design process began in March 2025, and the special issue stamp continues the Postal Service’s tradition of honoring the nation’s military academies.
The stamps will be released during a first-day-of-issue unveiling ceremony at 10 a.m. Eastern Standard Time on Saturday, Sept. 12, at the Connecticut Maritime Heritage Festival, which takes place at Custom House Pier at Waterfront Park in New London, Connecticut. The ceremony is free and open to the public.
The stamps can be pre-ordered at usps.com.
When Strohmaier took the photo, he was deployed for two months aboard the Bertholf, located off the coast of Singapore.
He had no idea Postal Service officials were considering his photo for the stamp, he said, until one of his public affairs colleagues sent him an email early this summer and said he was “pretty sure” the photo on the stamp was one of Strohmaier’s. He didn’t think about it much at the time because his mind was elsewhere; his wife was just a couple of days from delivering their son, he said.
Since word of the stamp got out recently, he’s received texts from colleagues around the country congratulating him.
“They were glad we were getting this unique opportunity,” he said. “The fact that they chose one of my pictures is quite an honor and a humbling experience for sure.”
Karen has covered military families, quality of life and consumer issues for Military Times for more than 30 years, and is co-author of a chapter on media coverage of military families in the book “A Battle Plan for Supporting Military Families.” She previously worked for newspapers in Guam, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Fla., and Athens, Ga.
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