On Oct. 24 at U.S. Coast Guard Base Seattle, the Guard commissioned the Florence Finch, the agency’s 57th Fast Response Cutter and the second of three planned FRCs expected to be homeported in Astoria, Ore. Florence Finch crew members are expected to operate mainly in the Pacific Ocean, Puget Sound, Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Columbia River. This FRC, made for various missions such as search and rescue, patrolling fisheries and other security activities, is named after Filipino-American Florence Ebersole Smith Finch, who was part of the World War II resistance. During the Japanese occupation of the Philippines, she…