Grandfather, What Did You Do In The War?
by Charla Wasel Evening Independent, [St. Petersburg, FL] September 5, 1979
There's a joke going around among former U.S. Maritime Service men: A child asks, "Granddaddy, what did you do in the war?"
Though the grandfather served 11 years in the U.S. Maritime Service - even in an active war zone his answer is, "Nothing, at least according to the federal government."
It's not really a very funny joke. It's not meant to be. Rather, it is a bitter reflection on the fate of U.S. Maritime Service (USMS) personnel almost four decades after the war.
But, thanks to the undying effort of a group of dedicated men, the last laugh may not be on the USMS after all.
In 1938, when a second world war seemed imminent, thousands of active and retired Merchant Mariners and Coast Guardsmen were pressed into civilian duty for their country. Some active members of military branches, most notably the U.S. Navy, left their branches of service to help train soldiers through the USMS, first placed under the Coast Guard and then, later, the War Shipping Administration.
"Uncle Sam realized that winning the war would take special ships (to carry war supplies) and built the Liberty ships," says Hans Kuether, one of the volunteers. "But after they had the ships, they needed men to operate them and men to train the operators."
Quickly, USMS training bases were built across the nation: Catalina, Calif.; Sheepshead Bay, N.Y.; Fort Trumbull, Conn.; Gallups Island in Boston Harbor, an officer training school; and Alameda, Calif. In St. Petersburg, Bayboro Harbor was turned into a USMS base and, as well, the USMS took over the Soreno, Vinoy, Concorde and Colonial hotels.
Men came forward to serve in the fledgling U.S. Maritime Service, caught up in the patriotic fervor of the time. Even those who gave up secure futures thought less about those futures than the future of their country. War threatened, they were needed, and that was enough for them.
"We did it willingly and for the safety and the glory of the country. To us, patriotism was not a dirty word as it seems to be now," says L. J. Fournier, a former USMS man now living in Colorado.
The USMS did its part for the war effort by taking raw recruits and turning them into soldiers, teaching the operation of anti-aircraft weapons, teaching sailors to pilot and navigate the Liberty ships, teaching deck operations and even going to sea.
"Of course, we were not armed," grants Fournier in a letter to St. Petersburg area ex-USMS servicemen. "We were not the shooters... we were the shootees, even more so than any other service. During World War II, 100 per cent of those of us who served at sea were in an active battle zone and subject to enemy fire. No other service of any kind can make that statement truthfully. We had no land-based reserves."
Kuether, a St. Petersburg retiree, adds that many of the 6,000 USMS men were "blown to death, some burned, some drowned, some froze, some starved, some were taken prisoner in the fulfillment of their oath." These sea men, he says, served "actual sea duty on American merchant ships carrying war materials to combat areas."
The USMS was disbanded in 1950, the service volunteers sent home with a simple release from duty to be all but forgotten by the country they willingly served. No U.S. Maritimer including those who switched over from military branches has ever received a veteran's pension (although a few USMS men are receiving benefits from other branches of the military from which they retired before entering the USMS).
"Though we served, we receive no benefits, although many of the men we trained are getting benefits today," says Don Saxer, who is now assistant traffic engineer for the city of St. Petersburg. "We don't have a thing to show for our years in the Maritime Service. "
Why not? To receive such benefits, one must be a veteran; to be a veteran, one must have a military honorable discharge.
The USMS men have no such discharges.
But even worse, they say, is that federal agencies act as if the branch never even existed.
"I'm having a terrible time with something concerning your city," Fournier wrote to the Evening Independent Action Line last February. "I came to St. Petersburg in August 1941 as an apprentice seaman in the U.S. Maritime School. I stayed seven months, including a few weeks on the Joseph Conrad and four months on the U.S.S. American Seaman. Would you believe that all the government agencies (which) either my senator or I have contacted assure us the U.S. Maritime Service never existed?
Mention war to most all of the agencies in Washington today. . .and they think 'war' means Vietnam. Anything that happened before 1960 has no relevance to today's lifestyle and is probably only some fairy tale, just the distorted memories of some old fogie. Am I just a little bit bitter? You bet!"
"You would be surprised at the many letters I have written to Washington (requesting information on the former branch of the para-military)," says Fournier. "A few have been answered, but most have not. "What is not a surprise is the lack of belief that we existed. We are dealing with people too young to have known about us. Even right after World War II, during the flurry in Congress to make (other, merchant marine divisions) veterans, the USMS was not even mentioned. So it is today.
Fournier, and others, may have good reason to be bitter. Over the years, they have watched their comrades become seriously disabled as a result of injuries sustained during service. They have seen their shipmates, stripped of benefits when they left an established military branch, living in poverty.
Several years ago, Saxer -- seeing one of his former shipmates "almost destitute" and dying because he could not afford the medical treatment he needed -- "desperately wrote everywhere to see if he could get some military aid." The ailing man died without help.
For years, the former servicemen thought there was nothing they could do about it. But now, a group of Suncoast former USMS men believe they may be able to effect some changes.
And they plan to fight again this time, for what they believe is fair compensation for their service: a military honorable discharge and papers to prove they served their country during World War II.
During the last Memorial Day meeting in May, this group of Suncoast USMS men met and, in addition to honoring their dead, began discussing the progress made by other civilian groups seeking veteran status.
Recently, the WASPs (Women's Airforce Service Pilots) won the fight for veteran status. "Now another group of women (World War I telephone operators) has petitioned the Congress (and won) recognition as veterans," says Keuther.
Keuther believes that Congress has discriminated in naming the U.S. Coast Guard, telephone operators and WASPs as veterans, but not the U.S. Maritime Service. And he has a large group of Suncoasters behind him.
After the Bayboro Harbor USMS base was disbanded in 1950, a large number of U.S. Maritime servicemen settled on the Suncoast, and about 300 of them still reside here. Nationwide, however, it is difficult to know the exact numbers of Maritime servicemen still living, since the service branch did not have a veteran's organization through which to keep in touch.
For years, the local Maritime claim to fame was the care and keeping of a cenotaph to the Unknown Merchant Marine they erected at the Bayboro Harbor base (now the Bay Campus of the University of Florida) several years ago. But now these men are winning anew their reputation for fighting spirit.
Through long and hard efforts, they are beginning to see results their fight to be recognized as veterans. U.S. Rep. W. Bill Young, R-Treasure Island, has vowed his support and has been working to clear channels for the Suncoast group for the last several months. And, according to a letter from Capt. Mary C. Pruitt of the Secretary of the Air Force, the Defense Department is in the process of establishing a Civilian/Military Service Review Board to receive, assess and make recommendations for veteran's status groups for civilian service groups who apply.
The Suncoast Maritime servicemen have sent an application for honorable discharges in behalf of all USMS members to be reviewed by this board. As well, the group is planning to petition two other groups lobbying for benefits, hoping to add their cause to similar causes.
One of those organizations is the AFL-CIO, which is currently preparing an application for group eligibility for benefits for all merchant seaman (USMS has been overlooked in this). The other is the Kings Point (Long Island) Merchant Marine Academy which is applying for civil service retirement credit for those persons who spent time training at that school during the war (once again, the USMS has been overlooked).
"We will let these groups know that we are willing to work with them, and I feel sure that we will have their support," says Kuether.
"It's not as if many of our men (U.S. Maritime Service men) will need benefits. Some will, of course, but many of us are older now and set up for life. Many of our men, by the nature of their dedication, have become established business and community leaders.
"What do we want, then? A piece of paper, you might say. An honorable discharge which, to this date, we have never received for our duty."
And, adds Kuether, something to show when the grandchildren ask, "Grandfather, what did you do in the war?"