The Merchant Marine Act of 1936 classified sailors on privately-owned ships as civilians. When the war ended they did not qualify for the education or mortgage benefits that members of the Armed Forces did.
Civilian ships were requisitioned and armed to carry war supplies making them prime targets of enemy attack.
Nearly 7,000 Merchant Marine sailors died on the more than 700 ships that were sunk.
Since 1988, veterans in the Atlantic and Pacific theaters have been eligible for treatment in VA hospitals and for casket flags, headstones and burial in national cemeteries.
--GreGen
The USS North Carolina (BB-55) My all-time favorite warship. As an elementary school student in North Carolina, I donated nickels and dimes to save this ship back in the early sixties.
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