Flight Pundit

“Acta, non verba” is the motto for the United States Merchant Marines. It means: Act, Don’t Talk.

For many years these men and women have served without proper recognition. Recently President Bush visited the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy on Long Island. This was the very first time a sitting President visited this acedemy.

All told, more than 20,000 academy graduates have served the maritime industry and the armed forces at sea and ashore. In peacetime as in war, it is the Merchant Marines who keep us afloat.

It is to be noted that the Merchant Marine Academy is the first federal service to enroll women students – two years ahead of the Army, Navy, Air Force, or Coast Guard. Twenty-eight women are part of this year’s class, bringing the total number of academy female graduates to 552.

The academy, operated by the Maritime Administration of the U.S. Department of Transportation, was dedicated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1943, and its college-level four-year program is fully accredited.

Many people don’t know these things about the Merchant Marines.

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Did you know this?

Despite the fact that our U.S. Merchant Marines are subject to the military code of conduct and could be court-martialed, and despite the fact that 7,000 gallant mariners were killed at sea on more than 800 American ships that were sunk, the merchant seamen of World War II got a raw deal when peace returned.

For 43 years, our government denied surviving heroes benefits, ranging from housing to health care to education under the G.I. Bill. Congress awarded them veteran status only in 1988 – too late for the 125,000 mariners who had already passed away (roughly half of those who had served).

The politics of those times prevented the MM from getting the credit they so deserved.

It was General Dwight D. Eisenhower who said, “When final victory is ours, there is no organization to share its credit more deservedly than the Merchant Marines.”

Our Merchant Marines have a proud and bloodied history. By the end of World War II, the Merchant Marine Academy had graduated 6,634 officers, many of whom never made it home. The academy accelerated graduating classes during the Korean and Vietnam conflicts.

During the Persian Gulf War and prior to the conflict, academy graduates and midshipmen played key roles in a massive sealift of military supplies to the war zone. They also participated in the sealift to Somalia. More recently, they were vital in the transportation of supplies to the Iraq war and have served supporting naval roles in ports in Iraq and Kuwait.

These brave young men and women risk their lives on a day-to-day basis aboard ships loaded with high-test fuel and munitions on which our fighting troops depend.

Check out the US Merchant Marines web site; and think of them next Memorial Day and on Veterans Day.

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