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In reply to the discussion: Check in if your dad was in The Big One! [View all]Harry Monroe
(2,935 posts)And had a German U-Boat sink his ship. He spent 9 days in a lifeboat before being rescued.
A year after the war, the government reported that 5,638 merchant seamen and officers were dead or missing and 581 were taken prisoner. In fact, the Merchant Marine death rate was 1 in 26, the highest rate among the services in World War II, according to USMM.org, the Merchant Marine history and advocacy site.
These veterans still living, my Dad among them, are still fighting for official veteran status and a few of the benefits from the government. I doubt that many men my Dad's age, (86) would use the GI Bill or buy a house with a low interest loan, but a $1,000/month stipend they are currently fighting for would surely supplement their incomes. My Dad is retired and on a fixed income, the extra money would surely help. Thank God his mortgage has long been paid off.
The Department of Veterans Affairs has estimated that there are between 8,000 and 10,000 merchant mariners still living and World War II veterans are dying at a rate of between 800 and 1,100 a day. Without these brave men manning the merchant ships delivering the essential cargoes to keep the war effort going in the European and Pacific Theaters and continually putting themselves in harm's way and the constant threat of being torpedoed and sunk by German U-Boats or Japanese submarines, the war would have had a far different outcome.