My Dad served in the Merchant Marines during WW2. He sailed all around the world, supplying fuel, bombs, and ammunition to the soldiers and sailors, and he had three ships sunk out from under him. He survived the war, came home, married, and had Six children. He passed away about ten years ago, and I still miss him.
My father was a WW II Merchant Mariner and damn proud of it. He didn’t share much in the intervening years of my growing up, but finally opened up in his final years; and I’m glad I was there to hear the history! Against his parents’ wishes and without their knowledge he signed up at 16. The authorities knew he presented forged documents, but they needed warm bodies as they were losing far too many to the Wolf Pack. As is with war, he quickly ran through the ranks to Lt jg. He plied the waters between the Atlantic coast and supported all the African & European campaigns. Although he returned to civilian life unscathed, he returned a man who had seen hell. He knew that it was only through God’s grace that this came to be and lived his life as such. The fact that the US government did not award benefits or acknowledge the Merchant Mariner, he remained ever proud and patriotic. We have nothing to compare to this portion of the Greatest Generation.
My dad sailed the Murmansk Run, the North Atlantic, sailed the Med., and the South Pacific delivering the goods. Sunk twice. So happy he received veteran's status before he passed. Loved watching Victory at Sea with him. Miss you dad...RIP. The Lost Convoy is a good book, and love watching Action in the North Atlantic. Still have pop's ring he got while in Murmansk. I also have his MM ID Logbook and some sailing records. He was in the CCC before WWII. Loved to hear his stories.
My grandpa was in the naval armed guard on the Murmansk run. He was a part of the naval personal that were placed on merchant ships to help protect them. He helped operate the machine guns mounted on the merchant ships.
My uncle was 4F and couldn't enlist in the military. He joined the merchant marine instead. He had two tankers torpedoed out from under him. Both were in sight of the US coast. Once near New Jersey and the second while leaving Galveston, Texas. Both happened in 1942. Uncle Tommy often remarked it was a bad year.
Sadly, around 600 merchantmen were lost off the US east coast in the early months of 1942, largely as a result of Admiral Ernie King's anglophobia, which allowed him to disregard Royal Navy advice about instituting a convoy system, and the failure to ensure that coastal lights were extinguished. Reports from U-boats commanders, during what they called their second 'Happy Time' recorded their astonishment that the ships were clearly silhouetted against these lights.
My grandfather was a career merchant mariner and Chief Engineer. During WW2, two of the ships he served on were sunk by Uboats and was very lucky to survive.
I am glad you shed some light on the brave men who didn't get any reconization for what they went thr.If their ship was sunk,they had to pay their own way back home.Thanks hidden history.😊
Worse that that. Until March, 1941, in the British Merchant Navy, their pay ceased on the day their ship was sunk. Time in a lifeboat or aboard a rescue ship was classed as 'unpaid leave.'
When WW2 started my father was a Merchant Marine sailor whose ship sailed out of Pearl Harbor during a voyage from Manila to Seattle two days before it was bombed. He said the crew painted out the windows and portholes and ran dark for what I am sure was a very long and frightful voyage. When the ship was finally tied up he joined the army cavalry first since he was a horse trainer since childhood. When the horse cavalry was disbanded early in the war he then became a paratrooper assigned to the 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment. He parachuted into Normandy on D-Day with the 82 Airborne and made the last combat jump of the war into Germany with the 17th Airborne Division. He is considered to be both a World War Two Merchant Marine and US Army veteran.
My wifes uncle Richard Hughes, ships carpenter, lost his life in the battle of the Atlantic when the SS Egyptian, a small tramp steamer, was torpedoed & sunk. Ironically, he survived that sinking but died when the destroyer that picked them up was also sunk. He was in his early twenties and the survivors visited his parents to tell them what had happened to him.
In many ways the Merchant mariners are like truck drivers in the army. Essential parts of a warfighting machine and just as important as the shooters. I can vaguely recall a legend about Patton when asked who was the bravest soldier he had met. His reply was a signals guy he saw 30ft off the ground fixing telegraph wire while being shot at.
Congress only recognized merchant mariners as veterans in 1988. I interviewed a merchant sailor who served in the Pacific. He died three weeks after my story ran in the local newspaper. I was very glad to have relayed his story for readers.
These unsung heroes. My father's uncle was one of more than 5,000 Danish sailors who sailed for the Allies. They were not officially recognized, although they are probably the ones who contributed the most to Denmark being recognized as an ally. Only a few years ago they got a commemorative plaque. They were not there at home at the liberation. Came home scattered over a few years after the war and not gathered; but drop by drop, destroyed in body and soul (PTSD). Honored be their memory.
My dad's first ship was the Danish freighter, Sally Maersk, in 1940. The ship was interned by the Vichy French in Dakar and Dad spent 9 months in Kouricoulo camp in present day Mali. He subsequently spent the rest of the war as a Radio Officer in the Canadian Merchant Navy and came ashore in 1949.
Few people realize how hazardous being a merchant marine in a convoy was. Thanks for reminding us. I remember a merchant marine telling me a story when I was a young man. He said that he remembered passing an old man sitting on a life raft calmly smoking a pipe knowing that he would not be rescued. The convoys kept going and it was almost certain doom to go down in the Atlantic. Raymond Bailey, the actor who played Mr. Drysdale in The Beverly Hillbillies was a merchant marine before the war, and because he was too old to serve in the Navy signed up again as a merchant marine. Gutsy!
My late father was a WWII Merchant Marine. He was going to sea before, during and after WWII. The first time he got shot at was in Aug. 1941. Months before Pearl Harbor. He was wounded a few times. He was sunk in May 1942. He was an Ordinary Seaman at the start of the war. By the end of the war, he was a 24 year old Captain. One of the youngest. They finally gave them their due in the late 1980's. They were promised the moon and the stars to keep going back out. Then at the end, the Army pulled all those promises away. When they were awarded those much deserved benefits from their war time actions, all of them said, "I don't need them now. I needed them forty years ago." If you can, read the Merchant Marine vet who testified in front of the US Senate. It'll tear your heart up. On my father's headstone, it reads, "COMBAT MERCHANT MARINE." My father wasn't on a ship with a gun until 1943,
Again, like others, My Dad, served aboard the USS Escanaba Victory from launch to the end of the war, survived the Battle of Leyte Gulf and always paid heed and respect to Taffy 3. They saved his life.
I’m in the process of joining the merchant marines. I was medically rejected from joining the Navy and saw the Merchant Marines as a great alternative. I always praise unsung heroes and believe they deserve a lot more recognition and respect.
DoD standards are so stupid. So while you don’t qualify to work on a ship, you’re apparently allowed to do the exact same job on another type of ship? Medical disqualifications from the military are genuinely ridiculous.
Mr. Murphy down the street was a captain of an oiler for years during WWII. The fact he survived was amazing. But, he died in four years after coming home from alcohol. What nightmares did he have? So sad!
Glad you have recognized the service the merchant mariner. I have always thought that should have been allowed to march in the parades. Takes some sort of courage to sail time and time again, dodging U boats and death.
Two of my uncles were stokers one survived and the other was killed by U-510 February 23rd 1945. In 1967 my grandmother and uncle cut the ribbon at the cairn for merchant sailors at Point Pleasant Halifax. My Uncle’s ship had been named after the park.
This part of the war is extremely overlooked!! If it weren’t for the merchantmen Britain would’ve been starved into submission!! Much respect to them and their many sacrifices!!
In truth these Merchant sailors were the most heroic of all wartime mariners. The free world owes them such a debt especially in the early war years. Only 9 knots of speed and sitting on an explosive cargo! Who these days would take the job?
It’s important to remind Americans, even in our divisive state, that there were many unsung heroes in the form of Merchant Marines that facilitated the outcome of WWII. You know, the second war to end all wars. Unless a family member was in service of the MM, many of these men remained unrecognized for their contribution to the Allied effort to contain fascism. Your piece here is a good reminder and there have been a number of documentary shorts, but until a well-funded filmmaker, like Ken Burns, tackles the subject, the important sacrifices of these men will remain in the backwater of American History. I hope that changes.
My grandfather was a merchant marine. He served almost the entire war. I don’t think he was ever torpedoed all though he never said anything. What he always said was that he was upset when the merchant marines were the 1st called for Korea because no ww2 veteran had to go if they didn’t want to. He said those men were so battered during the war losing limbs and life, while never getting the recognition they deserved. Luckily he spent all of Korea on a navy ship as a clerk. He has my mother 3 years after the Korean War ended.
Brave unsung heroes, indeed. A friend of mine, from Yoncalla, Or, lost his hand while serving as a Merchant Marines on a Naval vessel. His job was to defuse explosive devices on board. I was astonished he was not eligible for the Purple Heart as he was not in the USN.! US House representative Peter DeFazio eventually got Congress to approve his award in the 1980's. Love ya, Ed Gropp
You are being remiss in not pointing out the number of sunk ships and dead seamen of the East Coast was directly attributable to Admiral KIng who was in charge of the defenses and never imposed dark out policies on the coast. This was recommended by the British who had learned the hard way. Nor did he assent to using convoys until more than a year into the war, again costing ships and seamen. He knew it all as Chief of Staff of the Navy and no one could tell him anything. So many of the losses were directly attributable to his hubris. Lessons that should have been heeded were ignored and those that should have been amply evident after the first few weeks of the war took years to learn by King. Most of those of star rank who have grown fat with benefits before the war were of little use and much harm during the war. Others paid the price for the benefits given unearned to the 'stars'. It was inexcusable as these lessons should have been quickly learned by any competent professional during the massive shipments to Europe for 'Lend Lease' before the war. Nothing could pervade their overpowering sense of privilege that allowed them to expend and waste lives in payment for their personal unearned advancement.
When my father's ship got sunk, his pay stopped. Later on in the war, that changed. On the North Atlantic run, my father watched ships sink and those men who "hit the water" died in less than 20 minutes due to exposure. He also knew a man who was a First Mate whose ship was sunk about three days out of Hawaii. He broke Captain Bligh's record for being in an open boat by about three days.
My Dad served on the U.S.Liberty ships and with the Norwegian Hogue lines. He lied about his age as he was 14 at the time. He was,however, 6 foot 3 and they believed him. It was a tough life for a young teen but he survived WW 2. It took my Dad YEARS of dealing with Canada’s Veterans Affairs to even be recognized as a veteran to receive any benefits. Most of his time was spent in the engine room complete with asbestos that was prevalent in those times. He came out of the war with his Diesel Engineers ticket and joined the BC.Provincial Police in their Marine Section. My Dad was subsequently absorbed by the RCMP. My Dad left home at 14 with a Grade 8 education and he was the smartest man I’ve ever known. I miss him terribly. 🙏🏻❤️
When I served at sea in the merchant navy, Lady Astor wanted all seamen to wear yellow armbands ,a good way to protect your daughters, such appreciation for the biggest loss of life per capita
It's sort of funny looking back on it now. My mom had four brothers in the US Navy, two of which saw combat, one being badly wounded, so bad that it affected his everyday life until he passed away. Then there was my Uncle Dan, so afraid that he'd miss out on the "fun". He turned 17 in 1945, my mom up until her death, would tell funny stories such as the time at the dinner table he grabbed a butter knife and made threats to his mom, my Nana if she would not sign and my mom told him to shut up and just eat his dinner. Finally, after one of these episodes my mom told nana, just to sign the papers and be done with it. I understand my Nana's reluctance to sign considering that four of her sons were already in the service, and her husband, my grandad, had been a professional soldier from age 16 in 1904, and he had succumbed to a service-related injury in 1936. Finally, my Nana signed the papers, and my uncle went into the Merchant Marine and got over to Japan just in time to see the Japanese delegation sign the papers of surrender on the battleship Missouri.
Thank you to all of them for their service, they are heroes! Thanks for sharing this lovely information as well! Appreciate you watching and have a great rest of your week :)
Nice 1, knew a bit about these blokes, but they wern't all Americans, the Aussies, Brits, New Zealanders an alot of others. PQ17 lost a hell of lot on the way there and quite a few on the way back. Yet, not alot of people thanked them for their service.
I laughed through this. Being a Merchant Marine has not changed much on the social ladder. My Father who was a highly decorated Navy officer, never forgave me for getting out of the Navy and joining the Merchant Marines. After 40+ years with no intention of the idea of retirement, it was the right choice. The job is like a scam because it's a great job. Who wants to be a retired Sea Captain? Sounds like Death. I will add I personally did not feel he Merchant Marines should have gotten VA benefits. Those guys lived better and got paid a whole lot more than the fellas serving in the armed forces. They got bonus money for being in war zones and were able to pick and choose when they went back to sea {When they were broke}..... You lean life isn't fair as a Mariner or when you are in the military. They got paid.
Lets hope they were treated better afther the war than what the norwegian merchant fleet sailors were. Afther the war they were denied pay by the goverment, because they thought the sailors were just going to drink it away.
Damn right! I knew a couple of British Merchant Mariners, Atlantic Convoys, Salt of the earth types, unassuming, generally unarmed, underpaid, No medals for them. God bless em' all. "Who will listen to your proposal? The share of the one who went into battle, will match the share of the one who stayed with the supplies. They will share alike!" 1 Samuel 30:24
Yeah ... Getting fucked over is pretty much part of being in the military - but - at least we get Veterans Benefits - those guys didn't. Convoys and even ships were taking a risk stopping to pick up survivors from a torpedoed ship - so often - they didn't. Lifeboats took some time to launch and the attitude of the ship sometimes prevented getting them away successfully. Given the rapidity with which ships might sink - often times those who survived the destruction of the ship simply ended up in the water. People in the North Atlantic - especially in the winter - would die of exposure if they were in the water for long. Life boats though, had had some thought put into them - they were stocked with food and water and some of them had Sails and a Rudder - so you could sail the lifeboat instead of just rowing it. In _The Cruel Sea_ there's this incident where they're escorting a convoy and up ahead, sailing towards them - they see a lifeboat under sail, headed right down one of the Convoy Lanes. As it got closer they could see the men aboard huddled in the center under blankets and one man at the rudder. As it passed they saw that the man at the rudder was a skeleton, sitting upright, holding onto the tiller, frozen forever in the posture in which he had died. The Lifeboat sailed on through the Convoy and disappeared behind them carrying it's "survivors" off to eternity. .
This is my father Eugenio figurio Hernandez 38 years on a ship and travel the seven seas ,served 8 years in Navy, served 7 years coast guard 52 years of service I'm his daughter joy lewis maiden name joy Hernandez
Being a Limey I can sympathise with those lost UNECESSARILY! Heeding advice from acrooss the Pond to IMMEDSIATELY instigate Convoys should be seen as Criminal, and leaving Navigational BeaCOns alight, Stupidity.The supposewd distance of War was brought home to the AMRICAN East coast and EVENTUALLY shoreside lights were darkened, neon extinguished. The 2nd Happy Time amazed U Boat Commanders at how naive the USA was at that time-howevever, things would improve. plse excuse Typos- tippex (backspace) f*cked!
I seem to be in gpod company in this comment section. My grandfather was a signalman in the british merchant marine. He was in the North Atlantic as well as on thr supply runs to the USSR.
And if you were aboard a tanker full of high octane fuel, it didn't matter what you did after a torpedo strike. None of the tankers in which my dad sailed was struck fortunately. Too bad they got their veteran's status and benefits awarded posthumously. The US Merchant Marine had highest casualty rate of any uniformed service.
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My Dad served in the Merchant Marines during WW2. He sailed all around the world, supplying fuel, bombs,
and ammunition to the soldiers and sailors, and he had three ships sunk out from under him.
He survived the war, came home, married, and had Six children.
He passed away about ten years ago, and I still miss him.
Thanks for your father's service. Without the merchant seamen, many battles would have been lost
Thank you to him for his service, he is a hero! Appreciate you watching and have a great week :)
thanks from Korea.
My father was a WW II Merchant Mariner and damn proud of it. He didn’t share much in the intervening years of my growing up, but finally opened up in his final years; and I’m glad I was there to hear the history!
Against his parents’ wishes and without their knowledge he signed up at 16. The authorities knew he presented forged documents, but they needed warm bodies as they were losing far too many to the Wolf Pack.
As is with war, he quickly ran through the ranks to Lt jg. He plied the waters between the Atlantic coast and supported all the African & European campaigns.
Although he returned to civilian life unscathed, he returned a man who had seen hell. He knew that it was only through God’s grace that this came to be and lived his life as such.
The fact that the US government did not award benefits or acknowledge the Merchant Mariner, he remained ever proud and patriotic.
We have nothing to compare to this portion of the Greatest Generation.
@@JohnWHoff-gt2uf Amen, Brother!
phenomenal
My dad sailed the Murmansk Run, the North Atlantic, sailed the Med., and the South Pacific delivering the goods. Sunk twice. So happy he received veteran's status before he passed. Loved watching Victory at Sea with him. Miss you dad...RIP. The Lost Convoy is a good book, and love watching Action in the North Atlantic. Still have pop's ring he got while in Murmansk. I also have his MM ID Logbook and some sailing records. He was in the CCC before WWII. Loved to hear his stories.
Thank you to him for his service, he was a hero! Appreciate you watching and have a great rest of your week :)
My grandpa was in the naval armed guard on the Murmansk run. He was a part of the naval personal that were placed on merchant ships to help protect them. He helped operate the machine guns mounted on the merchant ships.
My uncle was 4F and couldn't enlist in the military. He joined the merchant marine instead. He had two tankers torpedoed out from under him. Both were in sight of the US coast. Once near New Jersey and the second while leaving Galveston, Texas. Both happened in 1942. Uncle Tommy often remarked it was a bad year.
Thank you to him for his service, he is a hero! Great info as well! Appreciate you watching and have a great week :)
Sadly, around 600 merchantmen were lost off the US east coast in the early months of 1942, largely as a result of Admiral Ernie King's anglophobia, which allowed him to disregard Royal Navy advice about instituting a convoy system, and the failure to ensure that coastal lights were extinguished.
Reports from U-boats commanders, during what they called their second 'Happy Time' recorded their astonishment that the ships were clearly silhouetted against these lights.
@@dovetonsturdee7033 ain't that a kick in the stern
My grandfather was a career merchant mariner and Chief Engineer. During WW2, two of the ships he served on were sunk by Uboats and was very lucky to survive.
Thank you to him for his service, he is a hero! Incredibly lucky guy it sounds like! Appreciate you watching and have a great rest of your week :)
I am glad you shed some light on the brave men who didn't get any reconization for what they went thr.If their ship was sunk,they had to pay their own way back home.Thanks hidden history.😊
Also pay stopped when ship was sunk
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching and have a great week :)
Worse that that. Until March, 1941, in the British Merchant Navy, their pay ceased on the day their ship was sunk. Time in a lifeboat or aboard a rescue ship was classed as 'unpaid leave.'
When WW2 started my father was a Merchant Marine sailor whose ship sailed out of Pearl Harbor during a voyage from Manila to Seattle two days before it was bombed. He said the crew painted out the windows and portholes and ran dark for what I am sure was a very long and frightful voyage. When the ship was finally tied up he joined the army cavalry first since he was a horse trainer since childhood. When the horse cavalry was disbanded early in the war he then became a paratrooper assigned to the 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment. He parachuted into Normandy on D-Day with the 82 Airborne and made the last combat jump of the war into Germany with the 17th Airborne Division. He is considered to be both a World War Two Merchant Marine and US Army veteran.
Thank you to him for his service, he’s a hero! Thanks for watching and have a great week :)
Legend bruh. Legend. Thank you for sharing
My wifes uncle Richard Hughes, ships carpenter, lost his life in the battle of the Atlantic when the SS Egyptian, a small tramp steamer, was torpedoed & sunk. Ironically, he survived that sinking but died when the destroyer that picked them up was also sunk. He was in his early twenties and the survivors visited his parents to tell them what had happened to him.
Thank you to him for his service and sacrifice, he is a hero! Incredible info as well! Appreciate you watching and have a great week :)
Thank you for sharing your story !!
In many ways the Merchant mariners are like truck drivers in the army. Essential parts of a warfighting machine and just as important as the shooters. I can vaguely recall a legend about Patton when asked who was the bravest soldier he had met. His reply was a signals guy he saw 30ft off the ground fixing telegraph wire while being shot at.
Great comparison! Thanks for watching and have a great rest of your week :)
Maybe like civilian truck drivers for the army, but not in the army, like pilots for FEDEX cargo planes. Dangerous civilian jobs.
Congress only recognized merchant mariners as veterans in 1988.
I interviewed a merchant sailor who served in the Pacific. He died three weeks after my story ran in the local newspaper.
I was very glad to have relayed his story for readers.
Lucky you! Appreciate you watching and have a great week :)
No WW2 heros in my family but, my favorite WW2 movie since childhood is "Action in the North Atlantic".
I’ll have to check that out! Appreciate you watching and have a great rest of your week :)
These unsung heroes. My father's uncle was one of more than 5,000 Danish sailors who sailed for the Allies. They were not officially recognized, although they are probably the ones who contributed the most to Denmark being recognized as an ally. Only a few years ago they got a commemorative plaque. They were not there at home at the liberation. Came home scattered over a few years after the war and not gathered; but drop by drop, destroyed in body and soul (PTSD). Honored be their memory.
Thank you to him for his service, he is a hero! Great info as well! Appreciate you watching and have a great week :)
My dad's first ship was the Danish freighter, Sally Maersk, in 1940. The ship was interned by the Vichy French in Dakar and Dad spent 9 months in Kouricoulo camp in present day Mali. He subsequently spent the rest of the war as a Radio Officer in the Canadian Merchant Navy and came ashore in 1949.
Im glad your shining the light on these people
Appreciate you watching and have a great week :)
Few people realize how hazardous being a merchant marine in a convoy was. Thanks for reminding us. I remember a merchant marine telling me a story when I was a young man. He said that he remembered passing an old man sitting on a life raft calmly smoking a pipe knowing that he would not be rescued. The convoys kept going and it was almost certain doom to go down in the Atlantic. Raymond Bailey, the actor who played Mr. Drysdale in The Beverly Hillbillies was a merchant marine before the war, and because he was too old to serve in the Navy signed up again as a merchant marine. Gutsy!
Completely agree, and great story! Appreciate you watching and have a fantastic week :)
My late father was a WWII Merchant Marine. He was going to sea before, during and after WWII.
The first time he got shot at was in Aug. 1941. Months before Pearl Harbor.
He was wounded a few times.
He was sunk in May 1942.
He was an Ordinary Seaman at the start of the war.
By the end of the war, he was a 24 year old Captain.
One of the youngest.
They finally gave them their due in the late 1980's.
They were promised the moon and the stars to keep going back out.
Then at the end, the Army pulled all those promises away.
When they were awarded those much deserved benefits from their war time actions, all of them said, "I don't need them now. I needed them forty years ago."
If you can, read the Merchant Marine vet who testified in front of the US Senate.
It'll tear your heart up.
On my father's headstone, it reads, "COMBAT MERCHANT MARINE."
My father wasn't on a ship with a gun until 1943,
Thank you to him for his service, a true hero! Appreciate you watching & have a great week :)
Again, like others, My Dad, served aboard the USS Escanaba Victory from launch to the end of the war, survived the Battle of Leyte Gulf and always paid heed and respect to Taffy 3. They saved his life.
Thank you to him for his service, he is a hero! Great info as well! Appreciate you watching and have a great week :)
I’m in the process of joining the merchant marines. I was medically rejected from joining the Navy and saw the Merchant Marines as a great alternative. I always praise unsung heroes and believe they deserve a lot more recognition and respect.
Best of luck and thank you for wanting to serve our country!
DoD standards are so stupid. So while you don’t qualify to work on a ship, you’re apparently allowed to do the exact same job on another type of ship? Medical disqualifications from the military are genuinely ridiculous.
@@pressftopayrespects6325 its just a way for them to keep the numbers of people in service around what the government wants.
@@HiddenHistoryYT Merchant Marine is civilian. Jobs are with corporations, not the government. Good union jobs!
Mr. Murphy down the street was a captain of an oiler for years during WWII. The fact he survived was amazing. But, he died in four years after coming home from alcohol. What nightmares did he have? So sad!
Incredible! Appreciate you watching and have a great week :)
And never forget it. Thanks for this.
Appreciate you watching and have a great rest of your week :)
Glad you have recognized the service the merchant mariner. I have always thought that should have been allowed to march in the parades. Takes some sort of courage to sail time and time again, dodging U boats and death.
Appreciate you watching and have a great rest of your week :)
Two of my uncles were stokers one survived and the other was killed by U-510 February 23rd 1945.
In 1967 my grandmother and uncle cut the ribbon at the cairn for merchant sailors at Point Pleasant Halifax.
My Uncle’s ship had been named after the park.
Thank you to them for their service, they are heroes! Appreciate you watching and have a great rest of your week :)
my late uncle paul was a merchant sailor during the whole war valdvostok twice full island hoping pacific campaing god bless him thank you.
Thank you to him for his service, he is a hero! Great info as well! Appreciate you watching and have a great week :)
This part of the war is extremely overlooked!! If it weren’t for the merchantmen Britain would’ve been starved into submission!! Much respect to them and their many sacrifices!!
I agree! Appreciate you watching and have a great week :)
In truth these Merchant sailors were the most heroic of all wartime mariners. The free world owes them such a debt especially in the early war years. Only 9 knots of speed and sitting on an explosive cargo! Who these days would take the job?
I agree! Thanks for watching and have a great rest of your week :)
Beatle John Lennon's (1940-1980) father Fred was a merchant seaman during WWII. It was a horribly dangerous job.
Great info, didn’t know that actually! Appreciate you watching and have a great weekend :)
It’s important to remind Americans, even in our divisive state, that there were many unsung heroes in the form of Merchant Marines that facilitated the outcome of WWII. You know, the second war to end all wars. Unless a family member was in service of the MM, many of these men remained unrecognized for their contribution to the Allied effort to contain fascism. Your piece here is a good reminder and there have been a number of documentary shorts, but until a well-funded filmmaker, like Ken Burns, tackles the subject, the important sacrifices of these men will remain in the backwater of American History. I hope that changes.
Appreciate you watching and have a great weekend :)
My grandfather was a merchant marine. He served almost the entire war. I don’t think he was ever torpedoed all though he never said anything. What he always said was that he was upset when the merchant marines were the 1st called for Korea because no ww2 veteran had to go if they didn’t want to. He said those men were so battered during the war losing limbs and life, while never getting the recognition they deserved. Luckily he spent all of Korea on a navy ship as a clerk. He has my mother 3 years after the Korean War ended.
Thank you to him for his service, he is a hero! Great info as well! Appreciate you watching and have a fantastic rest of your week :)
@@HiddenHistoryYT thank you as well!
Brave unsung heroes, indeed. A friend of mine, from Yoncalla, Or, lost his hand while serving as a Merchant Marines on a Naval vessel. His job was to defuse explosive devices on board. I was astonished he was not eligible for the Purple Heart as he was not in the USN.! US House representative Peter DeFazio eventually got Congress to approve his award in the 1980's.
Love ya, Ed Gropp
Without the merchant marine d-day or the island hopping in the pacific would have been impossible
Appreciate you watching and have a great rest of your week :)
You are being remiss in not pointing out the number of sunk ships and dead seamen of the East Coast was directly attributable to Admiral KIng who was in charge of the defenses and never imposed dark out policies on the coast. This was recommended by the British who had learned the hard way. Nor did he assent to using convoys until more than a year into the war, again costing ships and seamen. He knew it all as Chief of Staff of the Navy and no one could tell him anything. So many of the losses were directly attributable to his hubris. Lessons that should have been heeded were ignored and those that should have been amply evident after the first few weeks of the war took years to learn by King. Most of those of star rank who have grown fat with benefits before the war were of little use and much harm during the war. Others paid the price for the benefits given unearned to the 'stars'. It was inexcusable as these lessons should have been quickly learned by any competent professional during the massive shipments to Europe for 'Lend Lease' before the war. Nothing could pervade their overpowering sense of privilege that allowed them to expend and waste lives in payment for their personal unearned advancement.
The war would have been lost if not for the merchant marine! 🇺🇸🇬🇧,,, Countless others
Completely agree! Thanks for watching John and have a great rest of your week :)
Btw I do still planning on doing a video on Cremer here soon!
When my father's ship got sunk, his pay stopped.
Later on in the war, that changed.
On the North Atlantic run, my father watched ships sink and those men who "hit the water" died in less than 20 minutes due to exposure.
He also knew a man who was a First Mate whose ship was sunk about three days out of Hawaii.
He broke Captain Bligh's record for being in an open boat by about three days.
Wow! Absolutely incredible
Brave men
My Dad was a Seaman told some stories too
Thank you to him for his service, he is a hero! Appreciate you watching and have a great rest of your week :)
My Dad served on the U.S.Liberty ships and with the Norwegian Hogue lines. He lied about his age as he was 14 at the time. He was,however, 6 foot 3 and they believed him. It was a tough life for a young teen but he survived WW 2. It took my Dad YEARS of dealing with Canada’s Veterans Affairs to even be recognized as a veteran to receive any benefits. Most of his time was spent in the engine room complete with asbestos that was prevalent in those times. He came out of the war with his Diesel Engineers ticket and joined the BC.Provincial Police in their Marine Section. My Dad was subsequently absorbed by the RCMP. My Dad left home at 14 with a Grade 8 education and he was the smartest man I’ve ever known. I miss him terribly. 🙏🏻❤️
Thank you to him for his service, he is a hero! Great info as well! Appreciate you watching and have a fantastic rest of your week :)
They were the real heroes with out them the services would have lost the war there should be monuments to them every where .😠
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I had a great uncle who was in the merchant marine in ww2
Thank you to him for his service, he is a hero! Great info as well! Appreciate you watching and have a great week :)
My great grandfather was a merchant mariner in WW2. He was from the Netherlands.
Thank you to him for his service! Appreciate you watching & have a great week :)
When I served at sea in the merchant navy, Lady Astor wanted all seamen to wear yellow armbands ,a good way to protect your daughters, such appreciation for the biggest loss of life per capita
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It's sort of funny looking back on it now. My mom had four brothers in the US Navy, two of which saw combat, one being badly wounded, so bad that it affected his everyday life until he passed away. Then there was my Uncle Dan, so afraid that he'd miss out on the "fun". He turned 17 in 1945, my mom up until her death, would tell funny stories such as the time at the dinner table he grabbed a butter knife and made threats to his mom, my Nana if she would not sign and my mom told him to shut up and just eat his dinner. Finally, after one of these episodes my mom told nana, just to sign the papers and be done with it. I understand my Nana's reluctance to sign considering that four of her sons were already in the service, and her husband, my grandad, had been a professional soldier from age 16 in 1904, and he had succumbed to a service-related injury in 1936. Finally, my Nana signed the papers, and my uncle went into the Merchant Marine and got over to Japan just in time to see the Japanese delegation sign the papers of surrender on the battleship Missouri.
Thank you to all of them for their service, they are heroes! Thanks for sharing this lovely information as well! Appreciate you watching and have a great rest of your week :)
My grandfather served in the merchant navy. Thinking of him
Thank you to him for his service, an American hero! Appreciate you watching and have a great week :)
Nice 1, knew a bit about these blokes, but they wern't all Americans, the Aussies, Brits, New Zealanders an alot of others. PQ17 lost a hell of lot on the way there and quite a few on the way back. Yet, not alot of people thanked them for their service.
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None were drafted to do it. They all volunteered.
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I laughed through this. Being a Merchant Marine has not changed much on the social ladder. My Father who was a highly decorated Navy officer, never forgave me for getting out of the Navy and joining the Merchant Marines. After 40+ years with no intention of the idea of retirement, it was the right choice. The job is like a scam because it's a great job. Who wants to be a retired Sea Captain? Sounds like Death.
I will add I personally did not feel he Merchant Marines should have gotten VA benefits. Those guys lived better and got paid a whole lot more than the fellas serving in the armed forces. They got bonus money for being in war zones and were able to pick and choose when they went back to sea {When they were broke}..... You lean life isn't fair as a Mariner or when you are in the military. They got paid.
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Lets hope they were treated better afther the war than what the norwegian merchant fleet sailors were. Afther the war they were denied pay by the goverment, because they thought the sailors were just going to drink it away.
Only slightly better than that unfortunately
Damn right! I knew a couple of British Merchant Mariners, Atlantic Convoys, Salt of the earth types, unassuming, generally unarmed, underpaid, No medals for them. God bless em' all.
"Who will listen to your proposal? The share of the one who went into battle, will match the share of the one who stayed with the supplies. They will share alike!" 1 Samuel 30:24
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Yeah ...
Getting fucked over is pretty much part of being in the military - but - at least we get Veterans Benefits - those guys didn't.
Convoys and even ships were taking a risk stopping to pick up survivors from a torpedoed ship - so often - they didn't.
Lifeboats took some time to launch and the attitude of the ship sometimes prevented getting them away successfully. Given the rapidity with which ships might sink - often times those who survived the destruction of the ship simply ended up in the water. People in the North Atlantic - especially in the winter - would die of exposure if they were in the water for long.
Life boats though, had had some thought put into them - they were stocked with food and water and some of them had Sails and a Rudder - so you could sail the lifeboat instead of just rowing it.
In _The Cruel Sea_ there's this incident where they're escorting a convoy and up ahead, sailing towards them - they see a lifeboat under sail, headed right down one of the Convoy Lanes. As it got closer they could see the men aboard huddled in the center under blankets and one man at the rudder.
As it passed they saw that the man at the rudder was a skeleton, sitting upright, holding onto the tiller, frozen forever in the posture in which he had died.
The Lifeboat sailed on through the Convoy and disappeared behind them carrying it's "survivors" off to eternity.
.
Completely agree! Thanks for watching and have a great rest of your week :)
None had as hard a task as those from Australia who had to travel the longest distances as well as dealing with the Japanese.
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Lets be brutally honest. Without these guys the war on the oceans would have been so much harder. Not impossible per say, but damn near it.
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This is my father Eugenio figurio Hernandez 38 years on a ship and travel the seven seas ,served 8 years in Navy, served 7 years coast guard 52 years of service I'm his daughter joy lewis maiden name joy Hernandez
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Its actually Merchant Marine. Its already plural like its Navy not Navys.
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Being a Limey I can sympathise with those lost UNECESSARILY! Heeding advice from acrooss the Pond to IMMEDSIATELY instigate Convoys should be seen as Criminal, and leaving Navigational BeaCOns alight, Stupidity.The supposewd distance of War was brought home to the AMRICAN East coast and EVENTUALLY shoreside lights were darkened, neon extinguished. The 2nd Happy Time amazed U Boat Commanders at how naive the USA was at that time-howevever, things would improve. plse excuse Typos- tippex (backspace) f*cked!
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Merchant sailors got payed a lot more than sailors on war ships.
But pay stopped when not on the ship, even if sunk! Thanks for watching and have a great rest of your week :)
My grandfather was an unsung hero. I hope my social welfare is still in place for his sake.
Thank you to him for his service, he’s a hero!
I seem to be in gpod company in this comment section. My grandfather was a signalman in the british merchant marine. He was in the North Atlantic as well as on thr supply runs to the USSR.
Thank you to him for his service, he is a hero! Great info as well! Appreciate you watching and have a great week :)
And if you were aboard a tanker full of high octane fuel, it didn't matter what you did after a torpedo strike. None of the tankers in which my dad sailed was struck fortunately. Too bad they got their veteran's status and benefits awarded posthumously. The US Merchant Marine had highest casualty rate of any uniformed service.
Indeed! Thanks for watching and have a great rest of your week :)