Remember, Merchant Mariners still exist today, helping to keep the global economy PHYSICALLY moving. We go out for months at a time, long-hour days, occasional back-breaking work, and MOUNTAINS of now-corporate paperwork. Mariners were among some of the lesser-known victims of the fears of the recent pandemics, thousands and thousands of sailors, trapped aboard their vessels, WELL PAST relief dates because no foreign ports were allowing crew changes.

I was stuck on a ship from Nov 2020 to May 2021.

My father served in ww2. I remember him saying, he didn't think the Merchant Marines got the respect they deserved.

My father had a childhood friend who served in the merchant marine in WW2.

My dad was a little kid 10-14 years old during the war and one of the big boys from the street came home. He didn’t have any of his peers to talk to, they were either working long shifts or away at war and he confided in my dad he was running away. He had seven merchant ships shot out from underneath him and he couldn’t go back to sea. He gave my dad all of his possessions, The toys he was too old for and clothes. This was a big deal with rationing, nobody got anything new.

That was the last my dad ever heard of him… Mexico wasn’t in the war, that was the plan. He said he had done his part!

I hope he made it, seven ships shot out from under him.

Cargo-ships were easily sunk when found. The first year of WWII, the Germans called the east coast of the US the "happy hunting ground" when we were sending supplies to England.

Since Japan was an island empire, their ships were criss-crossing the south Pacific, and books about submarine list them sinking cargo-ship after cargo-ship...

Early in the war, it was often customary to stop the ship, and give the crew a chance to man the lifeboats. However too many submarines were then chased down by destroyers.

My uncle was in the merchant marine bringing oil up the East Coast from refineries in the Carribean. He told me they were easy targets for German U-boats.

US submarine service had about 20% , merchant marine had 4% according to this report. Guess they are comparing Navy, Airforce and Army. But roll the subs off into their own and its highest

My father was in the Merchant Marine. After the war, he went to college, and then got drafted. As it turned out, it didn’t count as military service, so you could get dragged right back in.

"civilian" should be in quotes to a greater or lesser degree

They are deployed, they have restrictions on movement, are under secrets acts, etc.

Interesting note: only US citizens can become US Coast Guard certified Captains (of inspected vessels; aka COI vessels) because just as all US flagged airplanes can be pressed into military service, so can all COI vessels and their Captains.

No joke, that Atlantic crossing is a graveyard, I don't think I could sail across it without thinking about all those lost souls.

Thanks for this!

Civil Service and Contractors have been among the earliest victims of most of this county's conflicts from the Civil War and Indian Wars to Afghanistan. "Civilians accompanying the force" were expected to take up arms to defend the force (or ship). Civilian sulters (commissary personnel) and scouts fought at the Little Big Horn and were awarded Medals of Honor. 40 years later, the government recinded them under pressure from the War Dept that wanted to reserve them for enlisted troops only. To this day, it is not uncommon to see a sizeable number of contractors on Navy ships or installations training and operating specialized systems.

The US has belittled civilian staff and contractors forever. They refuse to treat wounded contractors (beyond stabilizing them), and routinely deny benefits and awards that every other country recognizes as necessary. Dod knows they can't fill specialized positions so they supplement with civilian or contractors in those duties. In fact, it's so common that there are regulations going back to the 1800s regarding civilian "uniforms, messing, arming and even Geneva Convention requirements. Everything you need to soldier for the US except the protection and recognition of your sacrifice. The excuse of "well you're paid more" just highlights the government's inability to properly staff the force.

It was not uncommon to see a KPM employee on a gun truck escorting a convoy or armed civil service unescorted in the countryside setting up communications gear. In fact, those were early casualties in the GWOT. All they got was a ride to Dover. Then, the families had to arrange transportation. Legally, the only entitlement was for Workman Compensation.

Should we recognize that the Armed Forces can't fight alone? Damn straight.

True, but the German U-Boats crews that hunted them had an even higher casualty rate: 75%. The Merchant Marine rate was around 3.9%.

My late grandfather served in the Merchant Marines from 1943 until the early 50s. He was going to be drafted in 43', and as a private in the Army he would get paid $25 a month. Since he had steam experience from working for a railroad, the Merchant Marines were offering $50 a month.

He survived two years of the war and never got a scratch. Though he did see ships get torpedoed in the Atlantic, hit mines off the coat of Italy, and saw dogfights when the Germans would attack the convoy that he was in. I interviewed him in 2009 and was able to dig up the history of every ship that he had served on, including one that he spent several years with after the war. It brought tears to his eyes when he finally knew the full history and what happened of his beloved Liberty ships.

He lived to 91 and it has been 6 years since he passed. He was very proud of his service and loved to tell stories of his travels.

They weren’t even given veterans status until years after the war.

There was recently made a movie about merchant sailors during WW2 in Norway. War sailor is the english title, it does a good job in portraiting how rough it was.

They were true heroes. My oldest uncle was in the British Merchant Navy on the Murmansk run. They had nightly bets as to which ships would be sunk that night by the U Boats. Over 70% went down, average survival time was 3 minutes. He went as a young mid 20s man and returned white haired and looking 60! No one seems to remember their sacrifice.

“One Hand”

I also read the best seller “the greatest beer run ever”

As a consequence, the merchant marine have the most conceptually disturbing WWII memorials of them all.

Had they equipped the freighters with cannons and depth charges, the survival rates would have been higher. Instead they refused to cut shipping
tonnages & replacing that with armaments. So their greed killed the sailors. Pure and simple.

The movie Greyhound starring Tom Hanks showed the intensity of crossing the North Atlantic during WWII. Watched it twice.

It was like this for private military contractors during the years I was in AFG. I found one news article mention it back home.

I sat drinking at a bar on veteran's day years back and heard a couple of sf operators talking at the end. Ended up hanging out with them that night. They got a weird look from me when they drunkenly told me Happy Veteran's Day! at the end of the evening before cussing me out for not considering myself a veteran (I was a leo, not a serviceman). I've since heard this sentiment echoed a few times by other servicemen and servicewomen. Real recognizing real and all that. Makes one proud to serve their country, despite in what capacity.

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