On June 7, the Great Lakes will have a new guardian.

That morning, a formal ceremony will mark the passing of the baton at Coast Guard Air Station Traverse City from Joseph Buzzella to Sean Cross, who will become the station’s 39th commanding officer.

The event is one steeped in military history and, with a salute, accountability for safety of the 140-person crew and all of Lake Michigan (including Chicago), Lake Superior, northern Lake Huron, and the Red River in North Dakota. Cross will serve a two-year term.

The job is a big one.

“I felt a burden of command that moment I took over,” recalls Buzzella, “and Sean Cross will feel that weight on his shoulders the day he takes command, I assure you.”

It’s also a great honor. Twenty-six air stations exist, and only 11 are led by officers at Buzzella’s and Cross’ rank. The selection process is highly competitive; Buzella says he and Cross “beat the odds” by being chosen above many other qualified candidates.

“It sounds dramatic, but it’s true,” Buzzella adds about the honor. “Mothers and fathers have trusted us with their most treasured resource and to bring them home safe. That’s the huge responsibility and honor.”

The Ticker chatted with both U.S. Coast Guard Academy graduates last week. The two have known each other since those college days, have been stationed together elsewhere, and their families have grown close.

Buzzella and his family are off to the Washington DC area, where he will study at the National War College and pursue a career in national security strategy.

He says his time in TC was the highlight of his career.

“It’s been something I term ‘out of a storybook.’ I’ve never seen anywhere else like it, and I’ve lived all over,” he reflects, noting that three things really stood out about Traverse City’s people: “the pride the community has, its patriotism, and the level charity and generosity.”

For his part, Cross is ready to take charge. He now serves as the “number two” in Elizabeth City, N.C., and has a distinguished career already with stops in San Diego and Cape Cod, and plenty of hours logged aboard an H-60 helicopter.

When he arrives in Traverse City late next week it will be his first time here.

“I’ve talked to a number of people and I can’t find a single person -- active duty, retired, man or woman – who didn’t love Traverse City. You always have five or ten percent who don’t like where they’re stationed, but to a man they’ve said, ‘if you ask my kids where they’ve lived and want to go back to, they say TC.’

Buzzella says his friend is too humble to do so, so he relays a story about Cross’ valor in action while serving in San Diego.

A man aboard a container ship hundreds of miles off the California coast had fallen down a flight of stairs and opened a bad wound on his head.; the Coast Guard was summoned for a rescue, though the distance was far out of a helicopter’s range. It was 1am, and Cross was called to find a solution. He reached out to the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln and asked them to position the carrier at a point 300 miles off the coast. Cross and his crew flew to the carrier, landed for refueling, flew another 300 miles into the night, evacuated the injured civilian, and flew back to the carrier. The event earned him a rare “air medal.”

“Traverse City needs to know it’s receiving a very experienced commander with demonstrated performance,” says Buzzella.

Cross is more matter-of-fact about the event.

“A former admiral used to say that the intersection of competence and opportunity equals success. I think that’s what happened.”

Anything about the move to Traverse City making Cross anxious?

“Not really, though I did marry a southern California girl, so she and my kids [son, 11 and daughter, 8] are a little apprehensive about the snow!”

Want to attend the change of command ceremony? It’s at 10am on Friday, June 7 at Air Station Traverse City, near the former Cherry Capital Airport off Airport Access Road.