D-Day 70, 2014 WWII Mechant Marine Service Act
During the 70th observance of D-Day, 10,000 surviving World War II American merchant marines, the International Organization of Masters, Mates and Pilots and U.S. Representative G.K. Butterfield will be pressing the Senate to pass legislation giving these veterans benefits they were promised but have been denied for decades. According to MM&P, a few weeks before the D-Day anniversary, on May 22, 2014, the U.S. House of Representatives approved H.R. 4435 – the Defense Authorization Act.
The Forgotten Merchant Mariners of WWII
Don Horton of North Carolina started his career on barges during World War II at the age of 10. His father, mother, sister and brothers all worked on U.S. merchant marine coastwise tugs and barges during the war. In 1942 his eldest brother, William Lee Horton, Jr., was killed when a German U-boat attacked his tug, nine miles of the coast of Virginia. The Merchant Mariners Act of 1988 granted veterans status to merchant mariners who served during WWII. However, the small group of merchant mariners who served on tugs and barges…