Norman Palmer is correct regarding the song of the Merchant Marine not being played at the concert and the facts about the USMM’s role in WWII. They did have the highest casualty rate of any services per capita (1 in 26, while Marines 1-32). I volunteer for the American Merchant Marine Veteran organization (AMMV) and we are trying to correct this wrong. We need to educate the public about the role of the USMM in WWII.
Merchant mariners not considered as Military
After the letter was printed, comments were made that the U.S. Merchant Marine were not part of the military and that very few were even living. To date there are about 3,200 U.S. Merchant Mariners living in the United States per our estimate.
They were a part of the U.S. military. President Roosevelt took over the entire private shipping industry and they were all expected to work the United States military. They were given uniforms and trained by the Navy & Coast Guard to operate the gunnery on the ships. President Roosevelt asked they be created as a branch of service and given the GI Bill but as you know, he died before this was finalized. It was not until 1988 that the government awarded them Combat Veteran status and now they could go to the VA or collect disability for the first time ever.
Denied recognition
These mariners supplied 97 percent of all munitions to our allies. They ferried troops both for the Navy and the Army. Many were killed, froze to death, hit by kamikaze planes or torpedoed, captured and tortured in POW camps and even eaten by sharks because they went in ships many times that did not have guns or US Navy Armed Guards aboard. They were unescorted by military ships in many cases as well. German U-boats knew they were the suppliers and sat off the coast of North Carolina and blew them up one after the other.
Cape Hatteras divers can find over 80 merchant ships right off the coastline along with two German U-boats there with the sailors still entombed in them. According to NOAA this is the watery graves of many WWII U.S. Merchant Marine who have never been given the recognition they deserve.
Merchant Mariners followed every rule of the War Shipping Administration and have DD-214 (Honorable Discharges) from the U.S. Coast Guard. If they did not get on a ship, they were court martialed just like the military branches.
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Source: The Herald Journal
