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| By MICHAEL R. McKAY | |
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As we celebrate National Maritime Day (May 22), I ask everyone in our union--AMO members at sea, elected and appointed officials and representatives and AMO employees--to show their support of U.S. merchant marine veterans of World War II by calling, writing or visiting their Congressional representatives and Senators and asking them to sign on to H.R. 23/S. 1272.
California Democrat Bob Filner filed H.R. 23 in the House of Representatives in January 2005. Nebraska Democrat Ben Nelson introduced S. 1272 in the Senate eight months later. The identical measures have attracted many co-sponsors--247 Republicans and Democrats in the House at last count, and 37 Republicans and Democrats in the Senate. But more lawmakers' signatures are needed if the legislation is to advance in the current Congressional session. H.R. 23/S.1272 would provide a lifetime benefit of $1,000 a month (tax-free) to each remaining World War II merchant mariner. Upon the mariner's death, the benefit would be payable to the mariner's surviving spouse. To qualify for the benefits, a merchant marine veteran of World War II must have a certificate of honorable discharge (DD-214), which was issued to each World War II merchant mariner by the United States Coast Guard. The mariners must have service records proving they sailed "in harm's way" during the war. Rep. Filner and Sen. Nelson have argued wisely that $1,000 a month is modest compensation for the courageous and critical wartime services our merchant marine veterans provided at real and relentless risk and with little or no public acknowledgment--American merchant mariners who served in the U.S.-flagged fleet during World War II were not recognized officially as veterans until 1988, and there were few if any tangible benefits to go along with the designation (most qualified only for American flags on their coffins). When he introduced H.R. 23, Rep. Filner said $1,000 a month would not make up for "over 40 years of unpaid benefits." But he noted that many of the surviving seafaring veterans had "outlived their savings," and he said the additional income resulting from the legislation would help offset "nearly a lifetime of ineligibility for the GI Bill," which was enacted in 1945. Rep. Filner said of our merchant marine veterans of World War II: "They delivered troops, tanks, food, airplanes, fuel and other needed supplies to every theater of war. Compared to the large number of men and women serving in World War II, the numbers of merchant mariners were small, but their chance of dying during service was extremely high--enemy forces sank over 800 ships between 1941 and 1944 alone. The merchant marine became the forgotten service. The fact that merchant seamen had borne arms during wartime in defense of their country did not seem to matter." Sen. Nelson explained: "Merchant mariners transported troops, ammunition, food, gas and other supplies that were necessary to win the war, in open waters aboard slow-moving cargo ships. They were targets of enemy forces, which sank more than 800 of these ships. More than 9,000 merchant mariners were lost at sea. The casualty rate amounted to one out of every 26, yet they have been denied fair treatment all these years because they were civilians." Our friend Jose "Joe" Colon, southeast regional vice president of the American Merchant Marine Veterans in Fort Lauderdale, made the case for H.R. 23/S.1272 in letters to Florida Senators Mel Martinez and Bill Nelson. "As a lad of 16, I was asked by the U.S. Maritime Service recruiters to enlist and be trained to serve on merchant ships," Colon wrote to Senators Martinez and Nelson. "They came into our schools and appealed to our patriotism to serve our country as merchant seamen--and I and thousands like me went because we were told we were needed. "When the war was over, we were promptly forgotten," Colon continued. "We received no benefits from the GI Bill. And sir, I am asking you to please sign on and help get this bill passed so an injustice can finally be rectified. It took 43 years for us to be recognized as bona fide veterans of WWII, and now you have the power to help us right a wrong that was done to the merchant seamen." Colon also wrote to Idaho Republican Sen. Larry Craig, chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs. Sen. Craig is opposed to H.R. 23/S.1272 because of the potential cost and the possibility that the legislation would encourage other civilians who provided defense services during World War II--like the Women's Air Service Pilots, or WASPs, who tested aircraft--to seek compensation. "I find it extremely difficult understanding your position toward merchant marine veterans," Colon wrote to Sen. Craig. "While you acknowledge our service and sacrifices, you still say you cannot support S.1272. I don't think you fully understand what the merchant marine endured during World War II." Colon said that, during the war, he and others of his generation were patriots eager to serve but were too young to enlist in the armed forces. The merchant marine "would be the best way to serve, and so we went by the thousands," he explained. WASPS and other civilian service providers "did not have the casualties that we sustained," Colon added. By 1946, more than 800 U.S. merchant ships had been lost to enemy fire and hundreds more had been lost to "mines and other hazards which were caused by the war." And, in addition to a casualty count approaching 10,000, the merchant marine saw some 600 of its own held prisoner overseas. Colon added: "You refer to this $1,000 (as) in addition to other (Veterans' Administration) benefits that we are receiving. Please explain to me and the thousands of other merchant seamen what benefits you are referring to. When we were young men, we did not have the opportunity to receive the benefits from the GI Bill, such as higher education, purchasing a home, etc." Like all American citizens, we in American Maritime Officers owe much to U.S. merchant marine veterans of World War II. But we also have something else to consider: many of these seafaring veterans founded our union, which was chartered by the Seafarers International Union of North America as the Brotherhood of Marine Engineers in May 1949. In its first five years, the BME won the first-ever medical, pension and training benefits for merchant marine officers--benefits we enjoy today. If H.R.23/S.1272 is not enacted by the end of the current Congressional session, the effort will have to begin from scratch in the next Congress, which opens in January 2007. There is not a lot of time, so we have to do what we can politically as individuals and as a union. AMO's Washington staff addresses the issue at every opportunity, but your letters and phone calls to members of the House of Representatives and to Senators would have additional meaningful impact. |
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