.

And by a prudent flight and cunning save A life which valour could not, from the grave. A better buckler I can soon regain, But who can get another life again? Archilochus

Sunday, March 15, 2020

Doing right by forgotten American heroes of the Merchant Marines

from the NY Post
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, providing equipment, fuel, food, assorted commodities and raw materials to every corner of the globe and every theater of war.

Statistics alone don’t capture the sufferings of our merchant mariners, who struggled to survive in crowded lifeboats or on flimsy rafts among flotsam in thick oil slicks. During the war, more than 800 vessels were sunk.

Nor do mere numbers capture the parched lips and swollen tongues from lack of fresh water in the burning tropical sun or the frozen limbs of those adrift in the North Atlantic and Barents Sea.

While the brutality of Nazi Germany’s U-boat attacks left many abandoned at sea to their gloomy and lonely fates, these doomed mariners may have been lucky compared to those trapped in the engine rooms of their sinking ships. In the chaos and fog of war, men faced scalding steam from ruptured boilers and steam lines as damaged hulls raced to inevitable crashes with the seabed.

These brutalities on the high seas claimed not just seasoned mariners but also our very youngest. Over the course of the war, 142 United States Merchant Marine Academy students were lost at sea while training aboard ships, giving it the sobering distinction among the nation’s five service academies as the only one to have a battle standard.
One of those lost was young engineer cadet Edwin O’Hara. On Sept. 27, 1942, O’Hara’s ship, the SS Stephen Hopkins, came under attack from two German commerce raiders. Despite being massively outgunned, the United States Merchant Mariners chose to fight these surface vessels. A vicious bombardment left the Hopkins dead in the water and aflame, with the crew manning its lone 4-inch gun dead.

To help save lives, O’Hara rushed to man the gun alone, fired its remaining five shells, and scored hits on both German vessels. As his crewmembers escaped on life rafts, O’Hara went down with the ship.

For his bravery, he was posthumously awarded the Merchant Marine Distinguished Service Medal, the highest award for Merchant Marine personnel, while his name also adorns the United States Merchant Marine Academy’s main athletic building.

The awarding of the Congressional Gold Medal, so richly deserved and so long overdue, must not just celebrate the heroism of a branch of service too often lost in the shadows of the Army, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard and Air Force.

This Gold Medal should also serve the greater purpose of bringing attention to a branch of service that continues to be largely neglected.

Today, as the United States military continues to rely on its merchant-marine fleet to move its supplies around the world, fewer than 200 of the world’s 40,000-plus large, oceangoing commercial vessels fly the American flag. A declining number of US commercial vessels means fewer US-flagged ships and possibly fewer US-credentialed mariners available for sealift in times of emergencies.
Foreign competitors know full well that one way to impair the US armed forces is to attrit in contested waters the number of US-flagged merchant ships and crews.

Let this Congressional Gold Medal not only celebrate some of the most unsung heroes of World War II; let it also reawaken our interest in promoting US-flagged ships and credentialed merchant seamen and strengthening our shipyards and broader defense industrial base.

Such a result would be a truly lasting tribute to those World War II merchant mariners who defended freedom then and a broad salute to our future merchant mariners who will defend us in the tomorrows to come.

8 comments:

Franco Aragosta said...

It may be a significant lesson in U.S. HISTORY, but what possible good could it do to honor group of men who've been DEAD fo seventy-odd years?

Isn't it a rather empty, merely Feelgood measure?

Franco Aragosta said...

PLEASE PAUSE FOR A MOMENT OF LUSCIUS LIGHT-HEATED MALICE WITH THIS ELEGANT MISOGYNISTIC PARODY SET TO THE TUNE OF JINGLE BELLS:

Dedicated to Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelousy, Maxine Waters, Rosa de Lauro, Zoe Lofgren, Betty Fredan, Bella Abzug, Molly Yard, and The Squad

_________ SLAYING SONG _________

HATRED! LOVE! HATRED! LOVE!
___ HATRED ALL THE WAY!

OH WHAT FUN IT IS TO HATE
___ DEMOWHORES YOU'D LOVE TO SLAY!


HATRED! LOVE! HATRED! LOVE!
___ HATRED WINS THE DAY!

OH WHAT FUN IT IS TO HATE
___ DEMOWHORES YOU 'D LOVE TO SLAY!



ONE DAY A YEAR AGO
___ JUST PROMPTED BY SHEER SPITE

I DROVE OUT IN THE SNOW
___ WITH OLD MISS FANNIE BRIGHT.

HER TEMPER SOON GOT FRAYED,
___ SHE OFFERED ME NO THANKS

PISSED OFF I DROVE THE GODDAM CAR
___ BEYOND THE RIVER BANKS!


OH! HATRED! LOVE! HATRED! LOVE!
___ HATRED WINS THE DAY!

OH WHAT FUN IT IS TO HATE
___ DEMOWHORES YOU’D LOVE TO SLAY!


HATRED! LOVE! HATRED! LOVE!
___ HATRED ALL THE WAY.!

OH WHAT FUN IT IS TO HATE
___ DEMOWHORES YOU'D LOVE TO SLAY!



WE LANDED IN THE DRINK,
___ AND GOT ALL COLD AND WET

THAT WAS A YEAR AGO,
___ SHE WON'T FORGIVE ME YET.

THAT BITCH CAN NURSE A GRUDGE
___ HER ANGER WOULDN’T BUDGE

SHE SENT TO ME A FRAGRANT PAN
___ OF STINKING ANAL FUDGE!


BUT I GOT BACK MY OWN
___ AND DUMPED IT ON HER HEAD

AND ALL GODDAM BITCH CAN DO
___ IS SCREAM AND WISH ME DEAD!



OH! HATRED! LOVE! HATRED! LOVE!
___ HATRED ALL THE WAY!

OH WHAT FUN It IS TO HATE
___ DEMOWHORES yOU'D LOVE TO SLAY!


HATRED! LOVE! HATRED! LOVE!
___HATRED WINS THE DAY.!

OH WHAT FUN IT IS TO HATE
___ DEMOWHORES YOU'D LOVE TO SLAY!


~ Traditional, revised, edited, and updated by UNOHOO


Joe Conservative said...

Perhaps it may seem an "empty gesture", but I believe it is still relevant in that war today is even more "commercialized" than it was then. The members of the merchant marine at the time received no "veterans" benefits because they were "paid" a few more dollars a month than GI's and conscripts. And if one were to look at the "American green zones" around the world today, you would find that 90% of the people are from the private sector supporting military operations there. In some cases, like "Blackwater Security", they're doing much of the fighting and providing most of the dangerous logistical supply transportation services that enable the troops to do what they do, but will receive no veterans services if they are shot or injured.

It's time to stop treating members of the private sector as second class citizens relative to public sector employees. The CIA or military operative abroad and his private sector support team face the dangers in equal proportion. They should receive the benefits derived through service to their country in equal proportions as well.

Joe Conservative said...

btw - I hate to say this, but many of my friends who served in the military truly believe that THEY are the "special ones" who won our wars all by themselves and that supporting actors like the merchant mariners can go f*ck themselves.

Joe Conservative said...

There are many perks to military service, early retirements and generous healthcare benefits that former military members and veterans guard jealously and are unwilling to either share (in fear that they'll get less) or admit may be "excessive" as their vote has many times been purchased by politicians, much as Roman emperors paid off the praetorian guards.

Franco Aragosta said...

TIME OUT TO EAL WITH PRESENT REALITY:

Remember the H1N1 Pandemic? I Don’t Either

American Thinkerby Brian C.Joondeph & M.D.

Although the racist-sounding “Wuhan virus” is now labeled as a pandemic by the World Health Organization, in America the real pandemic, more accurately described as pandemonium, is at the local supermarkets where store shelves resemble those in Venezuela.

America is in the grips of a panic the likes of which we haven’t seen before. What exactly is a pandemic, other than a scary sounding word from science fiction movies? According to WHO, “Pandemic refers to an epidemic that has spread over several countries or continents, usually affecting a large number of people.” . . .

WE DON'T REMEMBER THIS, BECAUSE O_B_A_M_A WAS PRESIDENT.

IT'S PAINFULLY OBVIOUS THIS "CRISIS" IS BEING U___S___E___D BY THE L__E__F__T TO HARM PRESIDENT TRUMP.

-FJ the Dangerous and Extreme MAGA Jew said...

I disagree. It's being used by government's world-wide to exert control over private enterprises.

-FJ the Dangerous and Extreme MAGA Jew said...

In other words, you can ONLY work when WE say you can work.