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The United States Merchant Marine [1] [2] is an organization composed of United States civilian mariners and U.S. civilian and federally owned merchant vessels.Both the civilian mariners and the merchant vessels are managed by a combination of the government and private sectors, and engage in commerce or transportation of goods and services in and out of the navigable waters of the United ...
Today there are shrine and memorial reminders of mariners' heroism such as The American Merchant Marine Veterans Memorial in San Pedro, California, and the American Merchant Mariners' Memorial at Battery Park in Lower Manhattan. The old Navy-Marine Memorial in Washington, D.C. honors those who died during World War I.
Congress did not include the merchant marine veterans in the original G.I. Bill, even though they were considered military personnel in times of war in accordance with the Merchant Marine Act of 1936. As President Roosevelt signed the G.I. Bill in June 1944 he said, "I trust Congress will soon provide similar opportunities to members of the ...
Flag of the United States Maritime Service. The United States Maritime Service (USMS) was established in 1938 under the provisions of the Merchant Marine Act of 1936 as voluntary training organization [3] to train individuals to become officers and crewmembers on merchant ships that form the United States Merchant Marine per 46 U.S.C. § 51701. [4]
While merchant mariners were usually not armed, armed Navy or Coast Guard crews were frequently embarked on Merchant Marine vessels. U-boats preying on allied shipping in the Atlantic made service as a merchant mariner extremely hazardous. In the 1980s, some Merchant Mariners who had sailed during World War II, were granted veteran benefits.
While there is a US Merchant Marine Academy, a merchant marine song, a merchant marine flag, a training cadre called the US Maritime Service, a Merchant Marine Reserve in the USN, and some merchant members can be considered veterans, there is no such organization as the US Merchant Marine.
The recruits came at a trot down the Boulevard de France at the storied Marine Corps boot camp at Parris Island, S.C., shouting cadence from their precise parade ranks. Parents gathered on the sidewalks pressed forward, brandishing cameras and flags, yelling the names of the sons and daughters they hadn’t seen in three months.
The Merchant Marine Distinguished Service Medal is the highest award which can be bestowed upon members of the United States Merchant Marine and is the service's equivalent of the Medal of Honor. Since mariners serving in the U.S. Merchant Marine are not directly employed by the Department of Defense, they are not eligible for the Medal of Honor.