Fight's Not Over for WWII Merchant Marine
About 4,000 former seafarers continue their battle
to be recognized as wartime veteransBy Dawn Fallik ASSOCIATED PRESS Contra Costa Times, September 10, 1997
OMAHA, Neb. - For two years, Burt Young braved mine-infested waters again and again, eight times in all, to deliver supplies and troops to their destinations.
It was dangerous, it was hard work, but it was his duty. In the shadow of Hitler, in the wake of Pearl Harbor, he was serving his country.
But 53 years after Young first stepped on deck, his heart is broken.
He did not receive GI benefits. He cannot be treated in a VA hospital. He cannot put "World War II veteran" on his tombstone.
All because of a loophole that affects Young and as many as 4,000 other men who served as merchant marines. Because they were not aboard ships by Aug. 15, 1945 - the day news of Japan's surrender arrived - the government denied them wartime veteran's status.
Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott has enlisted in the battle to give these aging former seafarers the credit they've wanted for so long.
"I want to tell my grandchildren that I am a World War II veteran," said the 70-year-old Young, staring at his coffee cup and trying, unsuccessfully, not to cry. "I want to have it on my tombstone. It's just the right thing to do. That's why I've fought so long."
No one argues that the merchant marines had it easy during World War II. More than 6,830 mariners died and 733 of their ships sank - a casualty rate second only to the Marine Corps.
In 1944, when Congress passed the GI Bill that gave school and housing aid to enlisted men, the merchant marines were excluded.
The feeling at the time was that the merchant marine was a private, commercial operation. But under federal law, it served as a military auxiliary during a time of war; the ships were armed, merchant seamen were trained in gunnery. and they transported troops and materiel.
Franklin Roosevelt was dismayed by the failure to include the merchant marine in the GI Bill: "I trust Congress will soon provide similar opportunities to members of the merchant marine who have risked their lives time and time again during war for the welfare of their country," he said, at the bill's signing.
That request would not be granted for more than 40 years, leaving more than 250,000 merchant marines without recognition while cafeteria workers and telephone operators were given veteran status.
In 1986, three former seamen successfully sued the Secretary of the Air Force, who had long had jurisdiction in the dispute. Finally, the merchant marines were given veteran status - but only if they were aboard ships by Aug. 15, 1945.
The other armed forces had been granted veteran status through Dec. 31, 1946, the date President Truman declared as the war's official end. And in fact, 23 U.S. merchant vessels sank on or after Aug. 15, killing four men and wounding 28 others.
"It wasn't like the war was called off when Japan surrendered," said Young, of Lincoln, Nebraska. "Men died. Ships got sunk. The mines in the water didn't go away."
The excluded seamen have applied three times for veteran status since 1987. The most recent application is under review by the Civilian/Military Service Review Board based in Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland. A determination is expected by the end of the year.