THE MEN WHO "SHIPPED OUT" IN THE MERCHANT
MARINE...
The men who sailed
as merchant seamen during W.W.II were not then considered members of
the Armed Forces, neither Army, Navy, Marine Corps, nor Air Force,
so when the war ended, they simply went about their business as
merchant seamen, or returned home to civilian life once again, and
in spite of being on every action front, they were not given the
status or designation of Veterans of World WarII.
The men in the Merchant Marine were seamen, every single one of
them. They had to go to sea, and they had no
civilians or state-side duty. It was all sea-duty and once you
left port, you were in enemy waters. No one was called a Merchant
Seaman who was not signing on and shipping out and working
aboard one type of vessel or another. The men and women who worked
in the company offices or on the docks were not seamen, and did not
earn a Discharge from a shipo; only those who actually sailed and
worked aboard the merchant ships were seamen.
Only the seamen who worked the ships and the U.S. Naval Armed
Guard were 100% active and in the war zones from the minute the ship
left port until it returned home. The Army, the Air Force, the Navy
and the Marine Corps had a large percentage of their men and women
continuously in the United States or in support teams well behind
the enemy lines abroad. This is not in criticism of those who served
to suipport the troops on the front line, a ration of about seven
men and women to support each man in action. This is a fact
too often overlooked by people today.
The merchant ships, as long as they were at sea, were in danger
24 hours a day in every ocean in the world. While some World's seas
were relatively free of enemy activity, none could be considered
100% safe.
No seaman or member of the Armed Guard went to sleep in his bunk
at night without being aware of the danger of a torpedo crashing
through the bulkheads and sinking his ship. I can truthfully say
that I never knew a man aboard who seemed overly concerned about
such fears, and I personally never gave it more than a passing
thought to it at any time in any war zone; it is something that one
just gets accustomed to, accepts, and it becomes part of the job.
Yes, we talked about it on occassion, or discussed the German battle
cruiser known to be in a Norwegian fjord, but again, we were alert
to this danger, but not spoooked by it.
Today, in retrospect, I cannot believe that we were that naieve,
or possibly just that innocent or perhaps just plain dumb. Ahhh, the
innocense of youth! Yet, the Captain, Chief Mate and Chief Engineer
were at least men in their thirties to sixties, so they had more
since than us younger fellows.
Even the men who had been on ships that had been hit and sunk by
torpedoes seemed as carefree as us younger guys. Hell, most of us
were between 18 and 23, except for DeLuca, a member of the Armed
Guard, whom I believe was only 17. We were serious while at work; we
were carefree in our off hours. There were no complaints, no signs
of fear, no lost appetites (even directly after action), and no
bravado either. We even had a cook aboard, a skinny little guy from
Belguim, who was 70. Imagine, going into a war zone at that age when
you don't have to do so! Our Captain was 56, other officers, like
Johnny Olson, 67, if I remember right.
We were the only major service without color bars, and we had men
of every hue and nationality among our crews. While the U.S.N. Armed
Guard was exclusively white, they sailed aboard ships with negroes,
as they were known then. Northerner and southerner alike worked with
and accepted it. I heard men from the deep south express pretty
strong feelings against negroes, but we never had a racial incident,
that I can remember. (It was not until after the war that one black
man, from Philadelphia, showed hatred towards me and other white
crew members.)
My reason for these statements concerns the on-going attitude of
the VFW towards admitting the Merchant Marine into their sacred
organization, as if in some manner we will besmirch it. Millions of
overseas veterans in the Armed Forces never saw action, never were
in danger from the enemy, yet they're accepted as members. Merchant
seamen risked their lives every single day they were at sea. Every
day. I had one shipmate, who signed aboard the S.S. U.S.O. without a
second thought, even though he knew full well (as most of us did)
that we were heading across the North Atlantic for Scotland And then
for Murmansk, USSR, known as the toughest run of them all. On his
previous trip to Murmansk his ship had been torpedoed and he was
rescued from the water, and the rescue ship was sunk on the
return voyage.
AN ACT OF CONGRESS IN 1985 ACKNOWLEDGED THE MEN OF THE MERCHANT
MARINE AS MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES DURING THE WAR. MY U.S. COAST
GUARD HONORABLE DISCHARGE STATES THAT IN THOSE WORDS.
I THINK THAT THE V.F.W. HAS AN ATTITUDE PROBLEM.
During
wartime, most new seamen were formally trained by the U.S.
Government at U.S. Maritime schools and academies, and we were paid
by the U.S. treasury. The Maritime Service issued their own combat
bars, but some few exceptions were made and some merchant seamen who
were wounded or killed in action, receive the Purple Heart. If some
received this medal, then all wounded, MIA or KIA should have been
entitled to the same honor!
We were later (1985) granted official U.S. Coast Guard discharges
and granted Veteran's status. That should entitle us to wear the
same combat ribbons as other Veterans.
Not only this, but after the Merchant ships were armed,
technically they were warships and able to fight back. One lone man
on one merchant ship, manning the big gun aft, hit a German raider
amidships and it exploded and sank. He was a Cadet from the U.S.
Maritime Academy from King's Point, New York. I would argue that we
served aboard Auxillary Warships, and we were trained and able to
assist the U.S. Armed Guard at their battle stations, and we often
did. Merchant Seamen replaced wounded or killed U.S. Navy Armed
Guard at their battle stations, fully taking part in fighting off
enemy ships, subs, torpedo boats and planes.
Now, tell me, tell me why men who served in Scotland or other
places out of harms way are welcome and men who were veterans of
many actions are not? Give me an answer? Just once, give me an
answer? If there is something in your Articles that stands between
us and membership, then it can be changed in the same manner that
Congress voted and granted us the status of VETERANS! All it takes
is a little understanding and a bit of work.
The sole reason for a lot of animosity used to be the difference
in compensation, the claim that the merchant seamen earned a lot
more for taking the same risks as the U.S. Navy Armed Guard. The
history of this and I know full well, the reasoning behind it I am
familiar with, perhaps one of those still alive who does. The man
who stirred up the most trouble over it I met in the early sixties,
Westbrook Pegler, a Hearst columnist who hated Joe Curran, president
of the National Maritime (Seaman's) Union. He was a great writer and
had three hates, Joe Curran, Eleanor Roosevelt and Harry Bridges. He
wrote some scathing columns about our earnings versus the men in the
military, the differential, and it was at a boiling point during the
war.
First of all, U.S. merchant ships were at risk and being attacked
and sunk before Pearl Harbor. At the outset of the war, merchant
ships were as yet unarmed, often too aged and slow, and unable to
defend themselves even if attacked by a sub on the surface using
only their deck gun. Every newspaper in the country referred to them
as sitting ducks when they went to sea, even the faster
Liberty ships when they joined the war effort. The old, slow
freighters from WWI were still being used at first, but they were
most vunerable and one by one, fell victim to the subs and German
raider ships. U.S. Navy destroyers sat in harbors up and down the
coast while merchant ships sailed out to sea alone and were sunk
directly out of the mouth of New York harbor, along the coast, and
off-shore near Florida and in sight of tourists in their hotel rooms
in Miami. To encourage more men to sign on the new Liberty
ships rapidly being launched on both east and west coasts by the
Kaiser Shipyards, the U.S. government offered bonuses. In fact, Joe
Curran fought for them because of the huge risks his seamen were
taking, while Admiral King did nothing in those early days to
protect them. Again, Merchant ships at the time were running alone,
without escorts and without armor and without guns! In fact, my
friends were telling me, "Howard, pick the Navy. You'll have guns,
armor and speed. Those Liberty ships are sitting ducks. But
by the time I was old enough to return to sea (yes, I had sailed at
16, during the previous summer vacation) we had a convoy system and
escort vessels. But, the bonus system, once in place, was allowed to
continue in order to keep the flow of young men into the Maritime
schools uninterrupted. It also served to keep the older, more
experienced seamen aboard ships when they could have retired. They
were not drafting men over 34 years of age, if I recall correctly,
but seamen had no limitations. Two children could earn you a pass on
doing time in the service, but seamen with five and six kids were
signing on merchant ships and keeping up the flow of supplies to the
men overseas.
If the pay differential is another reason for the intransignance
of the V.F.W. to make changes, then that's total bull-crap (pardon
an old sailor's language) and they know it. If they went overseas,
then, they'll understand that language a bit easier and quicker.
TO THE BIGOTED MEMBERS OF THE V.F.W. I SAY...
Open the
doors, while there are still a few merchant seamen around who earned
those Coast Guard discharges and bring them into your ranks. You're
not that much a Sacred Cow that we're going to soil your
ranks or reputation. Our men earned it just as much as you did. Our
men took you there, brought all your equipment there, fought to get
it there, and then carried you home again. Most of the guys I knew
are gone now, but they were proud of the job they did during WWII,
and if for no other reason, this is written in their memory and
dedicated to them. The few pictures I have, in spite of cameras
being forbidden aboard ship, bring back memories of thosE days and
those men I sailed with. They look the same to me as the pictures of
your buddies and comrades do to you, young guys who risked the most
important thing they had to bring you and your buddies those
supplies so that you could move forward and win your battles, they
risked their lives every day they were at sea. WE WERE YOUR
COMRADES ALL THE WAY, FROM START TO FINISH. YOU'VE IGNORED OUR HELP
AND OUR SACRIFICES FOR TOO LONG. WE DESERVE THE SAME RIGHTS, THE
SAME PRIVILEGES, AND THE SAME GLORY...AS YOU!!!
WHAT GENERAL PAUL TIBBETS SAYS:
I have an email in my
files, to me, personally, from General Paul Tibbets, and he says,
"The Merchant Marine were the unsung heroes of WWII." Well, I truly
believe that he's right and that they were.
Even the Russians, to this day, honor those of us who brought
cargos to them via Murmansk. They honored us with a medal in 1985.
Then, they issued a Fifty Year medal honoring the English, Norwegian
and American merchant seamen who made the Murmansk Run. Now, tell
me that the V.F.W. cannot see the light in view of what the Russian
government has done? DISCHARGED FROM THE ARMED FORCES: I know
this, that my Discharge says that during WWII, I was a Member of the
Armed Forces. I know this too, that as a Member of the Armed
Forces, I am entitled to wear the Campaign Ribbons the same as any
other man or woman who served during WWII. I am going to buy a set
and wear them on every holiday dedicated to the Armed Forces. I will
dare anyone to say I am not permitted to do so, or to order me
arrested for doing so. It is not that I am not proud of the
Ribbons awarded by the U.S. Maritime Service. It is simply that I
will no longer be denied full credit for serving in WWII, proudly,
with my shipmates. While many men in the VFW never were in a combat
zone, merely serving overseas, every seaman was in such a war zone
the moment we cleared port ande dropped off the pilot. Wear your
floppy caps cocked over your right eye with the VFW emblem, boys,
but without the men of the Merchant Marine to bring you the bombs
and ammunition, the gas and oil, and the rations, there would have
been no Victory! In most cases, we took you there and we brought you
home, as well as the supplies we carried. There wasn't a place in
the World that the Merchant Marine did not go, if our men were
there. Howard E. Morseburg |