Please Help WWII U.S. Merchant Marines Gain Benefits

[senegal1]

I don`t post much so I hope this is the right place to post this.

Senate Bill 1272 and H.R. 23 `A Belated Thank You to the Merchant Mariners of World War II` is a bill supported by Barbara Boxer and 16 other Senators and around 217 Representatives which will finally recognize the official war time role of the Merchant Marines in WWII. It is due to be voted upon before Thanksgiving however the bill needs more supporters in the Senate. Please write or call your senator to support this bill.

In WWII the Merchant Marines carried the crucial supplies, weapons, and personnel to war theaters around the world. In WWII it took 15 tons of supplies to support one soldier for one year. The Merchant Marines were the first to go to war and the last to return and suffered a higher percentage of casualties per total personnel than any of the other official military services (1 in 26 killed vs the next highest group the Marine Corps which had 1 in 34 killed). Despite their brave work and despite the support of President Roosevelt at the time, Mariners have never received veterans benefits and are continually denied veterans status. This is true while even telephone operators and Women`s Air Service Pilots who washed out of training have been approved.

While this bill will not provide full veterans benefits, this bill will at least provide a monthly cash stipend for those WWII Mariners and will credit their Social Security record for wartime service.

Please ask your Senator to support this bill.

To learn more about the Merchant Marines please see <http://www.usmm.org/>

For a one page fact sheet about the bill please see <http://www.usmm.org/hr23info.pdf>

Thank you all very much -- while I too am very interested and concerned about the current situation in politics and I add my voice wherever I can about current issues, this is a very simple thing we can to to right a past wrong.

[DebJ]

1. Just curious..how many of these people are still alive?

Guess I had this thought because I've been doing research on ancestry.com.
If you were 20 in 1945, you would be 80 now.

[senegal1]

2. Good Question--My dad is still alive and he is 79 in Nov.

He was an engineer on Liberty Ships (a nasty dangerous job) and sailed in convoy to support Europe and other Campaigns in 1945 through 1946. His ships took fuel and personnel to the European theater then into the Red Sea and then to Okinowa (sp?) to support the Pacific campaign. He is happy he served and isn`t sitting around bemoaning the fact. He just went to a reunion of his graduating classmates and most of them are still alive. While its too late for them mostly to enjoy veterans benefits like education help, home loans or other things this bill will allow WWII Merchant Marines to recieve a $1000 stipden a month. More importantly to all of them though is the recognition from the US Government of the role they played and the hardship they faced in WWII. Thanks for the question.