Doing right by forgotten American heroes
of the Merchant Marines
by
Peter Navarro
Original Article
Posted By: ladydawgfan,
3/14/2020 8:17:07 AM
United States Merchant Mariners suffered the highest rate of casualities of any service in World War II. According to one estimate, one of every 26 mariners died and as many as 8,000 perished in total — while more than 600 became prisoners of war without the protection of prisoner-of-war status.
In long overdue recognition, President Trump has now signed into law a bill to award the Congressional Gold Medal to those United States Merchant Mariners who served as the fourth arm of our national defense during World War II.
These valiant civilian mariners provided the unbroken pipelines that got America’s domestic production to its fighting forces and allies overseas,
That's nice...now, how about at least a certificate suitable for framing for these intrepid sailors or surviving families to commemorate this honor?
7 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
Uno_Thatguy 3/14/2020 9:08:21 AM (No. 345973)
These brave men and women were for the most part un-armed, and un-escorted as they supplied our troops in battered up tin cans often nothing more than fishing trawlers running on fumes. Their weapon of defense a pair of binoculars as a defensive apparatus to work their way to ports where supplies were needed.
This acknowledgement has come not too soon. Accolades for their service comes in boat loads from me!
22 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
3XALADY 3/14/2020 9:12:41 AM (No. 345976)
I never knew much about the Merchant Marines. One from my HS class of 1962 served with them. He has been deep in dementia or alzheimer's for several years. Wondering if it could be service related.
2 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
Namma 3/14/2020 9:41:45 AM (No. 346001)
my brother in law was a merchant marine. These brave men and women received a pittance from the government, if they got anything at all.
God bless all of them.
9 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
Wendybird 3/14/2020 9:43:02 AM (No. 346003)
Somebody or the Trump Team is/are doing a great job recognizing past and present events and people that other leaders have ignored or been too self centered to notice. I think it is quite remarkable that this administration continues to function at all, much less as well as it does, given the animosity disgustingly displayed by the media and democrats of this country .
21 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
bgarrett 3/14/2020 9:48:51 AM (No. 346009)
Isnt it too late? Arent they all dead?
0 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
Starlifter Nav 3/14/2020 10:19:12 AM (No. 346033)
I so wish they'd get this right. The name of the service is the U.S. Merchant MARINE- not 'Marines'. individuals are referred to as 'sailors' or 'merchant mariners'. Its like no one can correctly use 'lose' and people persist in 'loosing' things. Just keep dumbing it down, America - there's a bottom there somewhere.
8 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
DVC 3/14/2020 10:48:43 AM (No. 346058)
German U-boats sunk a bit under 3,000 ships in WW2. Most had a crew of at least 3 or 4 dozen men, often many more than that. The chances of survival in the North Atlantic after a sinking are very low. And yet, they still manned these slow, unarmed, or minimally armed ships. Brave men, even if they weren't considered "fighting men". The war couldn't have been won without them.
Bravo Zulu for the Merchant Marine.
12 people like this.
Thankful to have a commander in chief and an administration that honors our past and especially these brave sailors.
12 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
Vaquero45 3/14/2020 12:13:19 PM (No. 346153)
My 94-year old uncle, now in a nursing home, was a teenaged Merchant Marine sailor during WWII. When the Korean War started, he found out it didn’t count as military service - he got drafted! I guess they saw his previous service and gave him a break; instead of going to Korea, he was stationed in Germany.
3 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
JHHolliday 3/14/2020 2:03:22 PM (No. 346261)
A very good movie featuring the MM is "The Enemy Below" with Robert Mitchum and Curt Jurgens. It will give you a good idea of what they experienced.
3 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
lakerman1 3/14/2020 2:56:57 PM (No. 346290)
one of the most disgraceful things dollar Bill Clinton did was to appoint a dying man to an ambassadorship, and when the man died a few months later, dollar Bill approved the man's burial at Arlington National Cemetery.
The man had a fake resume, claiming service in the MM in WWII, plus acts of heroism. He did not, and was not.
The man's family had him dug up at Arlington, in the middle of the night, as I recall it.
but he had been a big contributor to dollar Bill's campaigns.
3 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
Hermit_Crab 3/14/2020 4:16:28 PM (No. 346353)
There is a lonely Merchant Marine Cemetery out in the middle of nowhere in the middle of New Mexico.
I always thought that was strange, more than a thousand miles away from any Merchant Marine activity, and fifteen miles away from the nearest little town.
Felt kind of sorry for them, buried way out there, mostly forgotten, and most of the few visitors there out of curiosity, not relatives or friends paying their respects. A few times I wandered through just to let their 'ghosts' know that they weren't completely forgotten.
Maybe they will have more company now that they are building a regular Veterans Cemetery at one end, that might even be staffed . At least there is now a building there, and a paved driveway.
2 people like this.
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