MARAD Leads National Maritime Day Observance
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) is expanding its traditional National Maritime Day ceremony in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, May 22, to honor living maritime heroes as well as merchant mariners who lost their lives in service to the nation. Since 1971, MARAD has held an annual U.S. Merchant Marine Memorial Service to honor American seafarers who have lost their lives in wartime service. During World War II alone, 733 American vessels were sunk, and nearly 6,000 merchant seamen and officers died as a result of enemy action and war-related causes. Their sacrifices often are overlooked during Memorial Day ceremonies.
Maritime Administrator Schubert Gives Thanks to U.S. Army
Maritime Administrator Captain William G. Schubert thanked the U.S. Department of the Army for its recent decision to allow military funeral honors at Arlington National Cemetery for U.S. merchant marine veterans of World War II. “The decision of your agency to allow merchant mariners to be inurned at Arlington is a salute to these patriotic seafarers for their heroic contributions to this country,” Schubert said in a letter to Reginald J. brown, assistant secretary of the Army for Manpower and Reserve Affairs. Schubert pointed out that each year, on or around National Maritime Day, May 22, the Maritime Administration sponsors a Merchant Marine Memorial Service, which honors American seafarers who lost their lives in service to their country.
