1775 – Since colonial times, American merchant ships have plied the oceans and navigable waters conveying goods and passengers. A Merchant Marine had existed in the American colonies before the United States Marine Corps in 1784, the United States Coast Guard in 1790, and the United States Navy in 1798 came into being. During the Revolutionary War, the Continental Navy could not have hoped to offer any challenge to the mighty Royal Navy without the aid of 70,000 American Merchant Mariners who manned American privateers (ships) throughout the war. Altogether, American privateers captured nearly 3,400 British vessels between 1775 and 1783, and by their actions, these bold American seamen helped loosen Great Britain’s stranglehold on the colonies and win the Revolutionary War.
1776 – As a result, the United States won its freedom and independence from the British Empire. The Merchant Marine participated in every conflict during peace and war, from 1775 through 1812, the Civil War in 1861, and beyond.
July 28, 1914 – World War I, The Great War, was a global war, centered in Europe, which began July 28, 1914, and ended November 11, 1918, with two opposing alliances based on the triple entity of the United Kingdom, France, and the Russian Empire opposing the alliances of the triple entity of Germany, Austria, and Hungary. These alliances were organized and expanded as more nations entered the war. Before 1917, America was a neutral nation; merchant ships bound for Europe in the war zones sailed at their own risk and were sunk by German warships.
May 7, 1915 – The British passenger liner H.M.S. Lusitania bound from New York to Liverpool, England, 12 miles off the coast of Ireland, was torpedoed and sunk in the German war zone submarine U20, losing 1,192 lives in 18 minutes. Germany in 1917 adopted a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare, realizing that America would eventually enter the war. Germany broke the Neutrality Act with the United States.
April 6, 1917 – America entered the war on the side of England and France and declared war on Germany and its allies. Merchant ships transported troops and war supplies to the allies, and United States Naval Forces combatted the enemy and protected convoys to Europe. U-boats’ German mines and torpedo attacks took a terrible toll on American oil tankers and freighters operating in the Atlantic Ocean with severe losses of ships, cargos, and men.
November 11, 1918 – World War I ended. Peace treaties, including the armistice, were signed by all nations. More than 9 million combatants and 7 million civilians died due to the war, a casualty rate exacerbated by the belligerence. At the end of the war, more than 5,000 allied ships were sunk by German U-boats at the cost of 199 enemy submarines.
1920 – Shortly after the war ended, Congress passed the Merchant Marine Act of 1920. This act sought to ensure that the United States shall have a Merchant Marine of the best equipped and most suitable vessels sufficient to carry the greater portion of its commerce and serve as a naval or military auxiliary in time of war or national emergency.
1933 – War clouds were imminent in Western Europe
1936 – With the war beginning to brew in Europe, President Franklin D. Roosevelt realized that a strong Merchant Marine would be vital if America became involved in another conflict. For this reason, he made the revitalization of the Merchant Marine, which he referred to as the nation’s fourth arm of defense, a priority. Towards this end, President Roosevelt urged Congress to pass the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, a long-range program designed to build vessels for peacetime commerce that could be used during war times. This act also paved the way for creating the United States Merchant Marine Cadet Corps, which would ultimately be trained at the United States Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, NY, in 1938.
The ranks, grades, and ratings shall be the same for the U.S. Coast Guard personnel. 1938- 1954 – The U.S. Maritime service was established for the education and training of citizens for the safe and efficient operation of the U.S.’s MM at all times. The U.S. Maritime service operated four primary training bases for seamanship and weapons training, officer candidate schools, specialized training, and ten training vessels to train over 200,000 men recruited at 75 offices across the country. Many young men were sent to U.S. maritime service by Navy and Coast Guard recruiters with the phrase “That’s where your service is needed.”
September 1, 1939 – World War II began, Germany invaded Poland
September 3, 1939 – Great Britain and France declared war on Germany in accordance with their pre-war pledges to Poland.
In their radio broadcast, attacks also reached 50 million Americans to “Mr. and Mrs. America and all the ships at sea.” 1940 – The Merchant Marine service was blasted in the press, particularly by Hearst Newspaper columnist Walter Winchell and Westbrook Pegler. In a June 1940 program, Winchell accused the National Maritime Union, representing merchant seamen on the east coast, of sabotaging American ships, asserting that seamen in the union were communist sympathizers who were putting mercury and emery dust into the ships’ engines. In response, the union filed a million-dollar lawsuit against the fiery columnist and received money for damages, but only a few thousand dollars. Undeterred, Winchell asserted that the merchant seamen were overpaid. While unfounded, his claims were in the tradition of the yellow journalism and Hearsteria of the Hearst press machine and inflamed American citizens’ minds and military and political leaders. This assertion would prove damaging to American Merchant Seamen during the war and more than 73 years afterward. It was one of the many nails in the coffin of the United States Merchant Marine Veterans of World War II.
December 7, 1941 – Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor bombed the Pacific Fleet while at anchor early Sunday morning. Armed forces, airfields, planes, combat ships, and civilian personnel suffered heavy losses and casualties.
December 8, 1941 – United States declared war on Japan.
December 11, 1941 – Germany and Italy declared war on the United States the same day the United States declared war on Germany and Italy. The war in Europe was already in progress since 1939. Axis submarines torpedoed merchant ships in the Atlantic and the Pacific.
February 7, 1942 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order establishing War Shipping Administration to bring all United States merchant shipping control and operations under a single head.
February 9, 1942 – Rear Admiral Emory S. Lang, Chairman of Maritime Commission, was appointed director.
1941-1945 – The number of ships and crews had to be dramatically increased. Eighteen coastal shipyards in the Eastern, Western, and Southern states were built and made an all-out effort to produce the needed ships in volume. Large prefabricated parts mass-produced Liberty ships and T-2 tanker ships. A record time from laying a keel of a liberty ship to its final launch was 111 hours. These ships were built, loaded, manned by merchant seamen, and on their way in seven days. Over 5,550 of all types were built between 1941 and 1945. Of these, 2,708 were liberty ships. Thousands of men left their schools, farms, and offices to become trained merchant seamen. They made valiant sacrifices to secure freedom for humankind during one of the darkest times in United States history. Their brave efforts helped turn the lights back on around the world. These courageous men must never be forgotten. The War Department and the War Shipping Administration actively recruited crews and officers to man the new ships’ swelling ranks. They were trained in boot camps and officer schools such as the United States Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, NY. Radio officers were trained at Hoffman Island, NY, and Gallops Island, MD, similar to the Navy. The bulk of the crew members trained at the Maritime Training Station at Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, NY, subsidized by the federal government, trained by the United States Coast Guard, in uniform, and classified as a civilian.
1942 – The United States fought the war on two fronts, in the Atlantic with Germany and Italy and in the Pacific with Japan. The Merchant Marine had a vital task. They bore the brunt of transporting troops and military supplies overseas to United States forces and allies to the Atlantic and the Pacific war zones with significant losses of ships, cargo, and men.
The United States Merchant Marine, while not a military service, fought a war on many fronts. Under maritime law, the private companies that owned and operated merchant ships as auxiliary naval vessels had enemies in every ocean and had enemies at home. The companies were strong enough to fight for their rights, but the merchant seamen were left to the protection of their unions. History showed that the unions did not have the political power to advance their membership interests adequately despite some short-term legal and contractual successes.
In the spring of 1942, the United States Navy attempted to take control of the Merchant Marine. To justify this move, they charged that there had been a failure by cargo-vessel crews and officers to obey Navy orders and the discipline of crews aloft and ashore as inadequate.
With the seamen unions’ assistance, the merchant shipping companies thwarted this attempt, thus protecting their lucrative government contacts. The unions representing seamen who wanted to keep the union contracts they had struggled so hard to obtain thought their interests and those of the companies were parallel. However, the unions were shortsighted, accepting increased wages for membership and gaining only a short-term advantage. This bargain would eventually exact a price higher than anyone ever imagined. It would cost American seamen dearly in terms of benefits, for they would not qualify for their education or home loan benefits of the GI Bill after the war and would not receive the medical coverage they so desperately needed. Even worse, the increased wages they thought they were receiving were not higher at all.
It was also a critical strategic mistake for the unions to draw the ire of armed forces leaders. This blunder would come back to haunt union membership after the war when military people would belittle merchant seamen’s contributions during the war and actively lobby against benefits for them.
Even after failing to incorporate the Merchant Marine into their ranks, the United States Navy, skilled at maneuvering through political waters, still managed to exert de-facto authority over the war’s merchant service. The Navy also gained control of the United States Coast Guard. The United States Coast Guard became responsible for inspecting merchant ships’ seaworthiness and for the examinations, licensing, and certification of Merchant Marine personnel.
The Navy also controlled merchant shipping, convoys, and directed merchant ships’ placement, invasion forces, and other dangerous operations. Stormy and political waters swirled around the Merchant Marine before, during, and after World War II. Emory S. Lang, a retired U.S. Navy Rear Admiral, chairman of the War Shipping Administration, and his management staff defended the merchant seamen against political attacks.
During the war, the Merchant Mariners received no treatment at the V.A. hospitals, no burial in a V.A. cemetery, or a flag draped over our casket. We were not given the honor of being called a veteran because of our status. What went so terribly wrong during and after the war? How could this possibly occur in a nation that prides itself on justice? The answer lies in a complicated cesspool of American politics and bitter relationships within the armed forces, authorities, and the national maritime union officials.
Mariners struggled for Veteran status in 1944 through 1987, but once the war was over in 1945, what the bureaucrats and politicians in Washington did to the Merchant Mariners was reprehensible. They treated them as second-class citizens and, worse, by powerful military lobbyists, Senators, and Congressmen. The bureaucrats are still at it today.
1943 – War Time Memo, United States Merchant Marine – An Armed Force:
President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, stated in correspondence between Emory S. Lang, Chairmen of the Maritime Commission and head of the War Shipping Administration, and Robert P. Patterson, Secretary of War, that the Merchant Marine was an armed force.
Note – Robert P. Patterson, acting Secretary of War, on March 4, 1943 memo questioned President Franklin D. Roosevelt:
“Is it your desire that to award decorations, the war department considers officers and members of the crews of ships, of the Merchant Marine, as members of the armed forces?” The President answered, “YES.”
June 6, 1944: Normandy Invasion
The Allied expeditionary force was under the supreme command of Dwight D. Eisenhower. The U.S. invaded Western Europe in operations OVERLORD. Landings were made on Normandy’s beaches, France following pre-invasion, mine sweeping and bombardment by allied warships, and undercover of allied aircraft and naval gunfire. The invasion fleet of thousands of warships, merchant ships, and landing craft was under Sir Bertrand Ramsay, Royal Navy, with significant losses of landing craft, men, and supplies by enemy shore batteries. During the invasion, allied forces made headway on Normandy’s beaches and fought inland, with severe losses and casualties.
The War in the Atlantic was raging, the United States and Allies Forces against Germany on land and sea. The United States and Allied forces in the Pacific combated Japanese forces on the captured islands. Merchant Mariners transported thousands of troops and supplies to all corners of the Atlantic and Pacific war zones.
June 22, 1944 – Franklin D. Roosevelt during the signing of the GI Bill of Rights
“I trust Congress will soon provide similar opportunities to members of the Merchant Marine who have risked their lives time and time again during the war for the welfare of their country.” On June 12, 1945, before he died of a stroke the following year, he asked Congress to draft a Seamen’s Bill Of Rights to provide education, employment assistance, and medical coverage for wartime injuries. In comparison to the GI Bill, it was a much more limited program. His dream of winning the war was never fulfilled. Vice President Harry S. Truman succeeded in the presidency.
Military authorities actively opposed it and told a congressional committee that the Merchant Marine had refused to merge with the United States Navy and were paid high wages during the war. Without President Roosevelt as the primary sponsor, the bill died in committee in 1947.
Loss of a Champion and the Post War Era
Without former President Franklin D. Roosevelt at the helm, the Merchant Marine lost its staunchest advocate. Military staff members were now in control of operations with personal ambitions, grievances, and animosity for different reasons.
May 7, 1945 – Germany surrendered unconditionally to the United States. The War in Europe was over. Merchant ships transported millions of troops and war material back to the states for the homecoming parades.
Maritime Day, Washington D.C. May 22, 1945 – A grateful country heaped praise on the American Merchant Marine for their critical role during World War II. On May 22, 1945, political and military leaders spoke out about their heroic contributions on Maritime Day.
War Time Memos: Washington D.C. Congressional Hearings on the U.S. Merchant Marine
Seamen’s Bill of Rights – proposed legislation (H.R. 2346) 79th Congress House of Representatives Committee Hearing on the Merchant Marine Report of the Veterans Administration
October 12, 1945
“The bill defines maritime war service as civilian service. Members of the Merchant Marine are paid according to a relatively high standard compared to other civilian workers. The Veterans Administration is unable to recommend favorable considerations to Merchant Mariners.”
Omar Bradley, General United States Army Administrator
Report on the Navy Department October 17, 1945
“The extent to which such benefits may be initially provided is relatively unimportant in comparison with the question of whether civilian war service should be recognized as an equivalent of military service. The Navy Department recommends against enactment of the proposed bills.”
James Forrestall, Secretary of the Navy
Report on the War Department
October 17, 1945 – Recommending that the proposed legislation be not favorably considered. The war department is, of course, aware that the contribution of the Merchant Marine in the present war was immeasurable. The civilian status of the Merchant Marine has been preserved during the present war.
Armed Forces authorities reminded Congress of its early negotiations with the Merchant Marine in 1942. The Merchant Seamen’s War Service Act was introduced in Congress in 1946. This legislation never passed.
Hearing on H.R. 476 Seaman’s Bill of Rights Legislation – Tuesday, February 18, 1947
The proposed legislation is similar to H.R. 2346 79th Congress upon which the War Department RENDERED a report.
Robert P. Patterson Secretary of War, Acting Secretary of War 1943
Robert P. Patterson, Secretary of War, James Forrestall, Secretary of the Navy, General Omar Bradley, who was under General Eisenhower’s command, and the Congress either did not remember, forgot, ignored, or did not know of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s statement and intention that the Merchant Marine was an Armed Forces when they testified before Congress on the Seamen’s Bill of Rights legislation in 1945, 46, and 47.
Approximately seven months later, after the unfortunate death of former President Franklin D. Roosevelt, military staff members and the Congress who held close positions to the former President voted against the Seaman’s Bill of Rights legislation H.R. 2346 at a hearing in Washington. A shameful wrong. No comprehension between right from wrong and no conscience.
The U.S. Navy had powerful allies of the other branches of the armed forces. The Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion, and in this particular confrontation, all played the political game better than the representatives of the Merchant Marine. It was a war with severe casualties, civilian seamen torpedoed by powerful military lobbyists, who influenced Congress and senators to either vote against Merchant Marine bills or let them die in committee.
During the early part of World War II, Merchant Mariners were denied access to the Red Cross and U.S.O. Centers because of our status. During the war, some influential people and a considerable donation set up a service organization for seamen, which became the United Seamen’s Service. A total of eight United Seamen’s Service Centers in various parts of the world have replaced the Red Cross and U.S.O. and welcomed members of the armed forces and the merchant seamen for whom they originally founded. The United Seaman’s Service continues to serve international mariners worldwide along with our armed forces.
Control and operations of the War Shipping Administration. The wartime Merchant Marine was an auxiliary Navy unit. It was separate and distinct in the armed forces under orders of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Commander in Chief of the armed forces under the U.S. Department of Transportation (Maritime Administration). Its mission was defined by and under orders of the War Department. It was separate to a point where the officers and crew members were classified as civilians, rather than a structural unit as the U.S. Army, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard, and Air Force.
Respectfully, officers and crew members of the United States Navy Armed Guard combined with officers and crew members of the Merchant Marine in dungarees. They all fought and died in combat during the war for the exact cause regardless of classification.
The U.S. Navy Armed Guard was a service branch of the Navy responsible for defending U.S. and Allied merchant ships from attack by enemy aircraft, submarines, and surface ships during World War II.
Disbanded following the end of the war, the armed guard today is little known or remembered by the public, or even within the Navy, but, without the courage and sacrifice of the men of the armed guard, victory in World War II would have been much more difficult and taken much longer.
The United States Merchant Marine is collectively those non-naval ships that carry cargo or passengers or provide maritime service and the civilian crew and officers who sailed those ships. During World War II, the ships and men of the Merchant Marine transported across the oceans of the world the vast quantities of war material, supplies, equipment, and troops needed to fight and win that war.
The men of the Merchant Marine were civilian volunteers who nevertheless died proportionately in numbers that rivaled or exceeded any branch of the uniformed military. Like the Armed Guard with whom they sailed, the men of the Merchant Marine made possible the Allied victory in World War II. The Armed Guard and the Merchant Marine were uniquely dependent upon one another. They were literally in the same boat. One cannot tell the story of one without telling the story of the other.
About General Omar Bradley’s report October 12, 1945, of the Veteran’s Administration
On the subject of pay, much of the confusion about the Merchant Marine centered around the assumed pay differentials between the armed services and the Merchant Mariners. Some items were measured in dollars; others were not. Merchant seamen were subjected to income tax, clothing, and family living expenses. Pay periods were only while actively employed on a ship. They were not paid between ship assignments or after their ship was sunk, time in a hospital, or as prisoners of war. The areas of war zone bonuses became smaller as the war progressed compared with the benefits offered to armed service veterans. Service in the Merchant Marine was a financial loss. Rear Admiral Telfair Knight, United States Merchant Marine, worked out a comparison and showed the mariners did not have a pay advantage.
During WWII, President Frankin D. Roosevelt promised mariners veteran’s status and the GI Bill. His promises died with him. Mariners came home from Normandy, Anzio, Guadal Canal, or P.O.W. camps to face three main misconceptions about their service: High pay, draft dodging, and refusal to unload ships. Burned and wounded Mariners paid for their plastic surgery and, for those declared dead, had to return the insurance or the $1 per day received by their families. Mariners finally got limited veteran status in 1988 after a lengthy court battle.
Veteran status for the Merchant Marine came about because in 1977, Senator Barry Goldwater, an Airforce Reserve General, wanted veteran status for the women air-service pilots (Wasps) who ferried military aircraft in the U.S. and Canada. In May 1944, Congress called an attempt to militarize the Wasps as unnecessary, and they were deactivated in December 1944. Time Magazine, 1944
Congress demanded a procedure for any group to apply for Veteran status. This was set up under public law 95-202. Jurisdiction was given to the Secretary of Defense, who in turn, appointed the Secretary of the Air force as administrator.
As its’ first action, the so-called Civilian-Military Service Review Board (DOD C-MSRB) granted the Wasps veteran status. Those who failed training were also granted veteran status. The airforce set the Wasps as the criteria for veteran status. They were followed by 12 other groups, which included telephone operators, field clerks, and dieticians.
Mariners were constantly turned down until those who served in the Normandy invasion were the 14th group granted status. (It wasn’t until 1988, under orders of federal court, Merchant Mariners of WWII were the 15th group. Stanley Willner, a P.O.W. at River Kwai, was one of the plaintiffs in the action. Read their plight, below…)
Merchant Mariners Seek Justice
The mariners took their case to Federal Court in Schumacher, Willner, et al., V [Aldridge Secretary of the Air Force Edward C. Aldridge, Jr.] 665f. supp. 41 (DDC. 1987)
Excerpts from federal judge Louis Oberdorfer of the United States District Court, District of Columbia in his summary judgement: plaintiffs sought recognition to (1) American Merchant Seamen who rendered service to United States Armed Forces while in ocean-going service from December 7, 1941 to December 31, 1946 [emphasis added]. Judge Oberdorfer ORDERED that plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgement should be and hereby is GRANTED.
Washington D.C. – The federal court held that Secretary of the Air Force abused its discretion in denying active military service recognition to American Merchant Seamen who participated in World War II, and the decision of Secretary that the Merchant Seamen who rendered services to the armed forces while on ocean-going service applied unstated and vague criteria and did not adequately support conclusion. Secretary frustrated purpose of implementing regulations and denied plaintiffs fair opportunity to present their case.
The Secretary of the Air Force abused its discretion denying application, however, the record contains unrefuted evidence that the merchant seamen were trained in weaponry and wartime navigation techniques.
After the trial, Secretary of the Air Force, Edward C. Aldridge Jr. set August 15, 1945 as the end date of WWII. The Secretary has a squadron
of colonels who had set themselves up as “experts” on the U.S. Merchant Marine. This squadron had spend much time and “research” trying to justify this improper date. The August 15, 1945 date had nothing to do with the fact of law!
This date was contrary to President Truman’s Proclamation (2714) ending hostilities, not the war, on December 31, 1946, and contrary to Congress which placed the December 31, 1946 date officially into law.
As specified into law, the U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs recognizes WWII as December 7, 1941 – December 31, 1946.
The Secretary of the Airforce discriminated against a few thousand mariners who put their lives on the line by sailing in hazardous waters between August 15, 1945 and December 31, 1946. Seven mariners were killed and 30 wounded between these dates.
The so-called review board controlled by the Secretary of the Airforce, approved 2 more air-related groups early in 1998, bringing the total of air-related groups approved to 13 out of 34 groups that had received veteran’s status. The Secretary of the Review Board refused to divulge the membership of the Board and stated their meetings are closed to the public. The so-called Board has done a masterful job in confusing, complicating and prolonging the issue of the end date of WWII for mariners.
Note – For the Record: United States Air Force Secretary Edward C. Aldridge Jr. was born in 1938, was an 8-year-old boy in 1945 during the end of the war, now 81 years of age. How can he possibly have fathomed what the Merchant Mariners experienced during World War II?
The Merchant Marine was founded in 1775 during the Revolutionary War with Great Britain, 244 years ago. The U.S. Air Force was founded in 1947 and 72 years later.
Secretary of the U.S. Air Force Edward C. Aldridge Jr. was the least qualified to know about the maritime service, about our ships, our peace and wartime service since 1775, our skills, or about our training courses in gunnery with the United States Coast Guard in World War II. During some point in time, the Air Force secretary referred to the Merchant Marine as draft dodgers. Also, in a letter to a Senator, one even referred to the Merchant Marine as a subculture.
Why the Air Force? Why not the Coast Guard? They inspected our ships, issued our licenses, and were present at every sailing to sign the ships articles to man the vessels.
Our shipmates died in combat carrying thousands of planes and fuel for them, on the backs of tankers and freighters, through submarine infested waters with great losses of ships, cargos, and men.
When World War II ended, Merchant Mariners were not entitled as the other 16 million veterans to receive the World War II Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944 (GI Bill of Rights). The bill provided a college education, housing loans, job preference, and things which would have meant a more secure future.
Merchant Mariners failed to receive these benefits when it really counted. Instead, they were shunned and ridiculed. They were called draft dodgers, slackers, bums, and a long list of other uncomplimentary names. Above all, unfounded rumors that spread like wildfire as to degrade us mariners until the realization of war was experienced by all. Many former seamen became derelicts without homes. After the war, left to wander the cold streets of America like stray unwanted animals. Some of them committed suicide.
1987 – After more than forty years of court battles, the Defense Department finally granted veteran status to Merchant Mariners who served between December 7, 1941 and August 14, 1945. Unfortunately, this recognition came too late for roughly 125,000 Merchant Mariners who had died during the previous forty years. It also did not help those mariners who had served between August 15, 1945 and December 31, 1946, the official end of hostilities. Even eligible surviving mariners noted of the time that they were too old to enjoy most veteran’s benefits with the exception of burial sites.
With little hope, we veterans seem to be living in the past with memories and experiences and no just compensation to make our lives a little better and perhaps a little longer.
1988 – President Ronald Reagan during his administration signed into law the Seamen’s Bill of Rights Legislation Bill H.R. 1235, declaring the Merchant Marine of World War II Veteran Status, forty-four years after the fact and a watered-down version of the GI Bill of Rights that included a flag, a burial site, and medical assistance from the Veterans’ Administration.
Merchant Mariners manned the ships controlled by the War Shipping Administration (W.S.A.), transported over 7 million troops, planes, landing craft, tanks, trucks, jeeps, locomotives, food, oil, gas, munitions, medical supplies, and so forth, in addition to people in all walks of life for the war effort to Europe and Asia. A chain of supplies that was maintained throughout the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, and Arctic Oceans that was never broken, but with ship losses and casualties.
The Merchant Marine carried out its mission as a team effort, with the United States Navy Armed Guard with great comradery. The Navy Armed Guard crew manned the guns with backup as needed by gunnery-trained merchant crews. The Navy men not only manned the guns, they served as vitally needed lookouts throughout every voyage. The Navy Armed Guard crews suffered a higher casualty rate than the overall Navy. When the war was over, the U.S. Navy Armed Guard received G.I. benefits, but the Merchant Mariners did not under the same wartime conditions.
German, Italian, and Japanese enemy submarines torpedoed merchant ships in the Atlantic, Pacific, Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, Mediterranean, Indian, and Arctic Oceans with great losses of ships, cargos, and men. The transatlantic convoys were done in ports along the east coast, such as Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Norfolk, Virginia, and Halifax, Nova Scotia. Troops, cargo of war supplies were transported to the European, North African, and North Atlantic war zones. The transpacific convoys were done in ports along the west coast such as Seattle, Tacoma, Oakland, San Francisco, San Diego, and Portland, Oregon. Millions of troops, cargo of war supplies were transported to the islands in the Pacific and for the invasion of the Philippines with heavy losses of cargos and men. In addition, refueling combat ships at sea doubling the fighting range of our fleets, especially in the Pacific.
ATLANTIC
In July 1942, Convoy PQ17, with 35 merchant vessels en route to Murmansk, U.S.S.R. was abandoned by British and American escort warships fearing attack by superior warships. 24 ships were lost, and 153 mariners met an icy death. The survivors pay stopped when their ship was sunk.
The Port of New York, alone, saw 21,459 convoy ship clearances and 1,462 convoy departures. On the peak day in 1943, during the buildup for the Normandy Invasion, there were a total of 543 merchant ships at anchor waiting for assembly into convoys.
The allied convoys to North Russia were among the most dangerous of the entire war. 98 merchant ships, 1 naval tanker, and 1 rescue ship were lost on the perilous route to Murmansk and Archangel. Submarines, aircraft surface raiders, the frigid weather, howling seas, also took a toll.
Ships blown sky-high, that were carrying explosives, including the crews, disappeared from site from bombs and torpedoes by Luftwafar dive bombers of the German Air Force.
Bomb, machine gun, shell, and torpedo was the menu for the enemy. Merchant ships were not to reach the port of Murmansk to supply the Russian allies.
Men frozen to death in lifeboats, life rafts, and in the icy waters of the Arctic.
Men in life jackets in the water burned alive from the burning oil and gas from torpedo tankers like French fries.
Men torn apart by shark-infested waters in the Atlantic and the Pacific.
The merchant seamen were not on a pleasure cruise during the war.
Despite continued losses, the convoys continued to supply Russia, in their hour of darkest need. The volume was staggering, the figures give an indication of the scope and quantities of materials supplied. 14,795 aircraft, 7,537 tanks, 1,503 jeeps, 35,170 motorcycles, 8,701 tractors, 375,833 trucks, 345,735 tons of explosives, 1,981 locomotives, 11,155 railcars, 540,000 tons of rails, 2,670,000 tons of petroleum products, and 1,312,000,000 worth of food. The total value of all cargos delivered was 11,260,343,603.
PACIFIC
In the Pacific, the sneak attack by Japanese air forces bombed Pearl Harbor on Sunday Morning December 7, 1941, with heavy destruction of the United States Pacific Fleet while at anchor including airfields, planes, U.S. Armed forces, and civilian personnel, with great destruction, losses, and casualties. The United States managed to mobilize in record time retaliating against Japanese forces that controlled the captured islands in the Pacific. The war was raging between the United States and Japanese forces. Merchant Mariners transported men and supplies to every war zone with severe losses of ships, cargos, and men, inflicted by Japanese kamikaze planes and submarines. The United States forces and allies combatted the enemy, invaded the Philippine Islands, and liberated its people.
On August 6, 1945, the United States Army Air Force dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima and on August 9, the second on Nagasaki. On August 14, 1945, Japan surrendered unconditionally to the United States. The war in the Pacific was over.
Over 1,500 merchant vessels were sunk in the Atlantic and the Pacific. Approximately 833 were between 5-12,000 gross tons. Merchant Mariners transported over 7 million servicemen overseas to the war fronts in the Atlantic and the Pacific. Together with the United States Navy Armed Guard, they paid the ultimate sacrifice taken as prisoners of war in German and Japanese slave labor prison camps. First to go, last to return. Mariners remained in the war zones long after the fighting troops came home to enjoy the benefits of the G.I. bill. They suffered many casualties as 54 ships struck mines after V.E. and V.J. Day. No Mariners’ grave to pay your final respects to, but wide-open oceans.
Following the war, Merchant Mariners continued to serve by transporting troops, supplies, and prisoners of war, from Europe and Asia, back to the states. When they finally returned home, they made the journey without traveling expenses or mustering out pay. Although they were an official uniformed armed service, as designated by the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, they were not accorded Veteran Status until 1988. There were no promises of pension, no disability benefits for their war wounds, no home loans, and no education subsidies or job preference.
Many books have been published and were documented by actions, battles, and heroisms for each of the armed services, but the role played by the Merchant Marine has by-and-large for security purposes become the silent war. No photographers, reporters, public relations departments, or historians to record our activities during or after the war period. As a result, very little was known about our mission successes, losses, and casualty rate. Hopefully, it will be known what the Merchant Mariners dealt with during World War II.
Less than 2,500 Merchant Mariners are left to tell their stories. The average age of us veterans range in the mid and upper 90s with some medical health problems and hopefully are still hanging in there. Many years have gone by and still no just compensation for us veterans as though we never existed. Hard to believe, but true.
For those mariners who are still with us, and for the families of those who perished during and after the war, the government of the United States and the people of this great nation need to redress a terrible wrong. Time is running out for us old guys. This is America’s last chance to honor the courage and sacrifice of the United States Merchant Marine Veterans of World War II. This summary tells a story of the forgotten heroes and hopefully will serve as a plea for justice.
Today we honor all the men and women of the armed forces, past and present, who served in the Army, Navy, Coast Guard, Navy Armed Guard, Marines, and Air Force, and we honor those of us that served in the United States Merchant Marine, the often unrecognized service branch of the armed forces that suffered the highest rate of casualties of any service branch of the armed forces, 1 in 26. The service that President Franklin D. Roosevelt called “our nation’s fourth arm of defense.”
Once a month, a small number of us veterans hold our meeting at the Seaman’s Church Institute (S.C.I.) at Port Newark, NJ, while we still exist. Our chapter is called Dennis A. Rolland, named after a ship’s officer who was a prisoner of war at a Japanese prison camp in the Pacific. We start our meeting with the pledge of allegiance to our flag, a memorial for the ships that were sunk, ringing of the ships bell in honor of our shipmates who lost their lives, reports, business matters, and so forth. Oh yes! Coffee, donuts, and some sea stories.
During the many years that have gone by, seeking justice for us remaining veterans from 2005-2018 a total of fourteen years of waiting, to receive proper recognition and benefits for which we deserve and endured in World War II. There are three Congressional Gold Medal acts and seven belated notes of thanks for Merchant Marine acts for their service in World War II on record. A total of ten Merchant Marine bills that never passed legislation.
Non-citizen Filipino scouts of World War II were recognized with cash payments in 2009 and gold medals in the 114th Congress. Meanwhile, our American citizen Merchant Marine veterans, unsung heroes, still wait.
According to the War Shipping Administration, more than 250,000 men served in the United States Merchant Marine including men of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, NY that produced a total of more than 6,600 officers. Merchant Mariners volunteered 100% and were not drafted. Thousands of young men and old-timers who have been sailing for years enlisted in the service during the war. There was no racial discrimination amongst us. We were all in the same boat and for the same cause. Congress through legislation in 1936 empowered the Merchant Marine to serve as an auxiliary Navy unit in wartime. The Merchant Marine were gunnery trained merchant crew members in uniform, were solemnly sworn in, were trained by the United States Coast guard, and were in the Armed Forces by orders of the War Department, and by orders of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces. Recognition as Veterans in 1944 would have made us the sixth structured unit of the Armed Forces, but there were factions in our government, including the Congress, because of civilian status, plus powerful military lobbyists in Washington that have the power to oppose us, mariners, all these years.
True Facts
Hardly anyone realizes that the merchant seamen formed the first Navy of the United States in 1775 during colonial times. In fact, more seamen died in the Revolutionary War than did soldiers in General George Washington’s Continental Army, then known as Privateers.
Few Americans know that civilian seamen were among the greatest heroes of World War II and were the first casualties of the war in the Pacific. A Japanese submarine torpedoed the transport ship S.S. Cynthia Olsen seventeen minutes before the attack on Pearl Harbor. All 33 civilian seamen and 2 U.S. Army passengers aboard the vessel perished.
Because of a pressing need for the crews to man cargo ships during the war, the Merchant Marine sent a number of cadets directly into action instead of requiring that they graduate first. None of the armed forces did this to their undergraduates: not West Point, nor Annapolis, nor any of the other academies, and 142 Merchant Marine cadets were eventually killed in action. So many boys were sent into the heat of battle where they became men. There was no surprise then that the motto of the Merchant Marine Academy is Acta Non Verba, which means Deeds, Not Words.
The losses were so high and the deaths those men suffered so horrible, that casualty rates were kept secret during the war to avoid creating a shortage of volunteers, and to prevent the enemy from knowing how successful their attacks had been in both the Atlantic and the Pacific.
Even though the United States Merchant Marine was on the winning side in World War II, forming a vital part of the Allied war effort, it was also one of the big losers in the conflict. Inexplicitly, the military losers in the war, particularly Germany and Japan, were treated better by the American government than the men of the Merchant Marine were. The vanquished foes received billions of dollars and reconstruction aid. The Merchant Marine got little more than cardboard medals which they requested by mail.
It is one of the greatest calamities of American history that these seamen who were so vital to our victory against Axis forces have never received the recognition of the benefits they deserved. Surviving mariners of World War II are in their upper 90s now, they are dying every day, reducing their number. In years since the war, more than approximately 248,500 have died, apparently known as the “greatest generation“.
WORLD WAR II QUOTES ABOUT THE AMERICAN MERCHANT MARINE BY THE PRESIDENT, MILITARY LEADERS, NATIONAL FIGURES, AND OTHERS
One of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s last public statements on the Merchant Marine – September 19, 1944:
“The operators in this war have written one of the most brilliant chapters. They have delivered the goods when and where needed in every theater of operations and across every ocean in the biggest, the most difficult, and dangerous transportation job ever undertaken. As time goes on, there will be greater public understanding of our merchant fleets record during this war.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower, General of the Army:
“When final victory is ours, there is no organization that will share its credit more deservedly than the Merchant Marine.”
Douglas Macarthur, General of the Army:
“They have contributed tremendously to our successes. I hold no branch in higher esteem than the Merchant Marine.”
George C. Marshall, General, United States Army Chief of Staff
War Shipping Administration Press Release – May 18, 1945:
“America’s Merchant Marine has carried out its war mission with great distinction and has designated its ability to meet the challenge.”
Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, United States Navy Chief of Naval Operations:
“Not one of us who fought in the late war can forget, nor should any citizen be allowed to forget, that the national resource which enabled us to carry the war to the enemy and fight in his territory and not our own as our Merchant Marine. The fighting fleets and Marines of our Navy, the ground forces of our Army, and the aircraft of both, would have been helpless to pound the enemy into defeat-overseas had it not been for the steady stream of personnel, equipment, and supplies of every character brought into the rear of the combat areas, and often directly into these areas, by the ships of our own Merchant Marine, and those of our allies. It is well to remember that a professional Army and Navy are merely nuclei of the armed forces needed to wage war. There is a natural tendency to forget the vital relationship which the Merchant Marine bears to our individual and collective welfare, in peace as well as war.”
Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King, Commander in Chief, United States Navy:
“The Navy has been dependent on the Merchant Marine to supply our far-flung fleet and bases. Without this support, the Navy could not have accomplished its mission.”
Admiral Harold R. Stark, Commander of the United States Navy Forces in Europe:
“Yours was the first front on every ocean and without you, no Army and Navy can survive.”
Rear Admiral Howard L. Vickery, Vice Chairman of the Maritime Commission and Deputy Administrator of the War Shipping Administration:
“There is no more heroic saga in the annals of man than the story of the courage and stamina of our merchant seamen, without whom we could not have hoped to be victorious.”
Colonel Paul W. Tibbets, pilot of the Enola Gay:
“You guys put your ass on the line every day! Those of us old-timers know and appreciate what you did.”
Lieutenant General Alexander A. Vandergrift, U.S. Marine Corps Commandant:
“The men and ships of the Merchant Marine have participated in every landing operation by the United States Marine Corps from Guadal Canal to Iwo Jima.”
Admiral TC Kinkaid, U.S. Navy Commander Eastern Sea Frontier:
“We have had ample demonstration in the recent war of the fact that a large and efficient Merchant Marine is not only a great asset in the effective conduct of war, but it is a vital necessity.”
Winston S. Churchill, “Closing the Ring”:
“Many gallant actions and incredible feats of endurance are recorded, but the deeds of these who perished will never be known. Our British and American Merchant Seamen displayed their highest qualities, and the brotherhood of the sea was never more strikingly shown than in their determination to defeat the U-Boat.
Ernie Pyle, War Correspondent:
“Pyle many times honored the men of the United States Merchant Marine for the vital and often heroic part they have taken in the war effort. Millions of Pyle’s G.I.’s have crossed the oceans to the fighting fronts on ships manned by his friends in the Merchant Marine. After helping to successfully establish initial landings, the merchant seamen have continued to bring in the supplies and men that made our advancements against the enemy possible.”
The name of Ernie Pyle was assigned to C-4 military-type cargo ship, the United States Maritime Commission announced on Friday, April 27, 1945.
QUOTES ABOUT THE AMERICAN MERCHANT MARINE FROM THE
NEW YORK TIMES
London, June 9, 1944. “D-Day would not have been possible without the Merchant Marine. Now that the long-awaited day is history and great Allied Forces have been landed in France. It is permitted to indicate the part played by these intrepid civilians whose deeds, for the most part have gone unsung. It is not generally realized that the Merchant Marine has the largest ratio of casualties of any branch of the services, and many of the names on the list are not classified “wounded” or “missing”. There were those men whose grave was the sea.
Working side by side with the British Merchant Navy and the Allied fleets, the American Merchant Marine has reached a new peak of glory. This latest venture has brought all the hard-earned experience of such historic episodes, as the African landings and the bitterly fought Arctic runs to Russia.”
It is in incumbent on the Senate and the House of Representatives of the United States to finally acknowledge the United States Merchant Marine Veterans of World War II and extend a hand of gratitude before they all fade away into the final pages of the twentieth century because never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.
The U.S. Merchant Marine today endures and remains the same as it has always been since 1775 in peace and war. One of the vital arms of defense of the nation and its daring men and women of today’s U.S. Merchant Marine carry on a proud tradition of service that has grown up with the country, and will help see it safely into the future.
On A Personal Note
To all officers and men of the United States Merchant Marine Veterans of World War II, I wish to convey my respects and admiration personally to all my shipmates living and deceased. We seem to be losing the battle, never received the proper recognition and benefits that we deserved for what we endured and accomplished during World War II. Time waits for no one, we may not be around much longer, but judgment day eventually will come, and somehow the scale of justice will prevail in time.
In conclusion, I state my all due respect and admiration to all the men and women of the Armed Forces and its allies, and to the efforts of the United States Army Air Force that dropped two atomic bombs on Japan, thus shortening the war, and saved thousands of American lives. The combined forces of the Merchant Marine and the United States Navy Armed Guard, with great comradery, determination, and dedication, transported millions of troops and war supplies to the war zones in the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, and Arctic oceans, while under combat with the enemy, suffered great losses of ships, cargo, and men. This was a tremendous task! Without their support, it would have been impossible for us all. I thank God, the armed forces, and allies that we won.
Above Essay Information Compiled by Sal C. Macedonia: United States Merchant Marine Veteran World War II
Based on Fact Sheet – American Merchant Marine after World War II:
United States Merchant Marine seamen: over 250,000
Ships Operational: approx. 6,000
Mariners lost at sea: approx. 8,500
Wounded: over 12,000
Prisoners of War: 604
POW died in camp: 61
Overall Casualty Rate: 1 in 26
Combat Ribbons Issued: 114,145
United States Merchant Marine ships sunk: over 1,500
United States Merchant ships damaged by war actions: 130
United States ships captured by Japanese: 2
United States Merchant Ships scuttled to form artificial harbor at Normandy, France: 32
United States Merchant Ships Marine Casualties: 82
United States Merchant Ships in the Normandy invasion: 646
Famous Quotes by Historical Figures about the American Merchant Marine
Source for Quotes: American Merchant Marine at War
Figures will change as more time passes.
SOURCES
War Time Memos
United States Merchant Marine: An Armed Force
Nancy K. Williams
Merchant Marine Fairness Committee
Elks Magazine, May 2017
Brian Herbert
The Forgotten Heroes
Uniform Service Journal: November/December 2009
Robert J. Cressman
The Official Chronology of the Navy World War II
Donna Roberts Mitchell
Treasure Coast Newspapers – U.S.A. Today Network – Florida
Monday the 19th, November 2018
Treasure Coast Newspapers pg. R15
Respectfully,
Sal C. Macedonia
United States Merchant Marine Veteran WWll
My Experience as a Radio Operator During WWII and Peacetime
S.S. (Steam Ship) Relief
The First U.S.S. Relief (ID-2170) was a salvage ship that served in the U.S. Navy from 1918-1919. The S.S. Relief was a steel-hulled wrecking ship built during 1907 by Harlen and Hollingworth at Wilmington, DE. The U.S. Navy acquired her on August 8, 1918, from Merritt Chapman Derick and Wrecking Company of N.Y., for WWI service. The Navy gave her ID# 2170 and commissioned her on August 19, 1918. Relief operated as a salvage and wrecking ship in the N.Y. area while assigned to the third naval district into 1919.
Relief was sold to her former owner on May 14, 1919, and remained in commercial service between two world wars. During WWII, Relief, although remaining civilian, supported the U.S. Navy under the direction of the bureau of ships beginning on January 14, 1942, while acquiring a status (N.R.T.S. – Navy Rescue Transport Service). Relief operated in the north Atlantic when and where needed, when possible:
she salvaged ships that were torpedoed or had hit mines that were still afloat, ships that were abandoned – or needed break-down assistance, and towed them to the nearest port of call during the war.
I served aboard the S.S. Relief (1/1/42-10/1/45) as a commercial Radio Operator in direct charge of all radio equipment in the radio shack itself; responsible for the receipt and transmissions of all radio messages; and took care of all radio equipment – including the radio direction-finder in the wheelhouse (bridge). During WWII, I attended convoy conferences in Halifax, Nova Scotia, with the captain, at the U.S. and Canadian naval base for instructions before sailing and convoy.
The S.S. Relief home port was in Staten Island, N.Y. though stationed in Norfolk, VA at the fifth naval district and Morehead City, NC, the U.S. coastguard base. The S.S. Relief returned to mercantile service until placed out of service in 1955.
During peacetime service (1945-1948), I also served as a radio operator on the following three ships: I was aboard the U.S.A.T. (Army transport) – the Earnest Hinds, transporting native peoples from the port of embarkation in Fort Lauderdale, FL, to return to Kingston, Jamaica, and Barbados in the British West Indies after the war. They were originally brought here to work on the states’ farms during a farmworker shortage.
I then served on The SS Kettle Creek (T-2 type oil tanker), transporting oil cargo from Aruba and Los Pedras, Venezuela, to the states’ refineries (coastal and foreign).
On The S.S. Crown Trader, (T-2 type oil tanker) transporting oil cargo from Texas oil ports to refineries in the states.
I was married on November 15, 1947.