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Watching the events of this past month, a 59-year-old itch returned that I have smothered so deep that until now it has never reoccurred. When I returned home in October of 1946 after 5-plus years in the Merchant Marines, the European War and the Pacific War had been over for more than a year, and most people had gotten on with their lives, had already heard all the war stories and had no patience to listen to a latecomer like myself.
So all my family ever heard was about the wild times I had on shore leave in various ports of the world, and for the most part I will just leave it that way. But keeping my mouth shut caused me to develop that itch.
During the Memorial Day and the D-Day celebrations, honors were bestowed deservedly on the soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen who gave the ultimate sacrifice to protect freedom for us and the world.
What I am about to say may sound like sour grapes but is really a plea for inclusion in these honors for the merchant seamen who also sacrificed their lives in these wars: More than 6,000 during World War ll, when more than 770 ships were sunk.
What few people know is that the Merchant Marine was in harm's way before the United States entered the war. They were not allowed guns aboard to defend themselves and were prime targets for the German U-boats who were brazenly lurking just off our coasts and even in the Caribbean. The Merchant Marines brought aid to Britain and supplies to Russia even though the United States was not at war.
We carried troops (granted, the accommodations were far from first class, and those voyages are not among the fondest memories of said troops) to the various theaters, and we kept them supplied with food, clothing and tools of war: guns, tanks, artillery, fuel and ammunition. And we managed the hospital ships that brought them home when wounded.
Who were these guys? Some like myself, who received a medical discharge from the Army two months before Pearl Harbor, were considered unfit to serve in the military. Some were conscientious objectors who would not bear arms but still desired to serve. Also we had a lot of retired military men who were too old for active service.
We wore no uniforms, paid for our own clothes, smokes and toiletries. Know, too, that when we got sick or wounded, we paid for our own treatment and hospitalization.
Until the Red Cross came up with the idea to give us all a nonofficial rank in the military, we were not covered by the Geneva conventions when captured by the enemy, and prior to the Red Cross Act, merchant seamen were shot as spies.
You won't find their names on crosses, these seamen who paid the price. Their cemeteries are the oceans and seas of the world, so maybe that is why it is so easy to forget their contribution, but please, for this old seaman's sake, and all those who served in the Merchant Marine, the next time you hear the words "We honor the soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen who gave their lives for their country," say out loud and clear "and don't forget the United States Merchant Marines."
Don Elliott is a Cupertino resident.
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