PortSide Veteran's Day update on forgotten merchant mariners of WWII

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Don Horton's mother on a barge during WWII

Don Horton's mother on a barge during WWII

Last Veteran's Day, we covered the subject of a class of largely-forgotten maritime veterans, the women, children, elderly and disabled mariners who served during WWII.

Below, we provide an update on the cause to finally get recognition for all of them, thanks to info provided by Don Horton who first brought this story, and cause, to our attention. Don Horton was one of those child mariners, serving on a barge with his mother, father and siblings.

Our post from Veteran's Day 2013

Our 9/15/14 interview with Don Horton during his visit to Red Hook, Brooklyn where we took him to various sites that were strongly stamped in his memory.

What you can do for this cause

You can write /call your respective US Senator and ask that they co-sponsor Senate Amendment Sa-3548.  This is the amendment that can provide the avenue to allow for alternative methods of recognition for WW II coastwise mariners.  It is a copy of S-1361, WW II Merchant Mariners Service Act.  Background and Alternative Methods of Recognition, July 2014

The following info is from Don Horton

The bills before Congress

Both the House of Representatives and the Senate offered bills in in support of these veterans, HR 1288 and S-1361, WW II Merchant Mariners Service Act.  HR 1288 was amended in to HR 4435, 2015 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and this bill cleared the House with the amendment intact and is awaiting Senate action for comparison with the Senate  NDAA S 2410.

S -1361 was introduced by Senator Chris Murphy, D-CT back in March, 2014.

In May of 2014, Chairman Senator Levin and Ranking Member Senator Inhofe of the the Senate Committee on Armed Forces selected a large block of amendments for possible inclusion in what is commonly referred to as a Manager’s package.  This package includes certain Bills and amendments that are generally favored by specific groups or members of the Senate. S 1361 was not included within that group. 

Shortly afterward in July, Senator Murphy introduced Senate Amendment Sa-3548. but after the offering of the ”Managers Package”. 

We are awaiting the Senatorial debate on the floor to see if they will consider any more amendments or not.  With this late bit of information, we immediately set about to reach out to all cosponsors of S 1361 (5) and request they come aboard Sa-3548 as cosponsors.  Next we asked each member of the Senate Committee of Armed Forces to become Cosponsors and finally we are asking the remainder of the Senate to become cosponsors to Senator Murphy’s Amendment.

It is our hope to obtain sufficient co-sponsors to bring attention to the exhaustive efforts to have these mariners be given their promised recognition, by court order and many congressional speeches, proclaiming full and unequivocal support for our veterans.

I received an email from the Fleet Reserves that states the Senate version S 2410 of the NDAA may be brought to the floor and may allow debate and issuance of additional amendments.  This is a departure from past Senate actions and good news for us.  Congress is scheduled for convening on 12 November. I attempted to have this confirmed by Senate contacts but was unable.  They neither confirmed nor denied.  

How many mariners are we talking about?

Don Horton at work on a barge during WWII.

Don Horton at work on a barge during WWII.

No one knows either how many served or how many were lost.  GAO asked the Coast Guard to identify how many served during WW II and they could only tell them how many credentials were issued during 1939 to 1946, about 840,000, but stated they had no idea how many served in enemy contested waters.  Historians settled on about 250,000 serving who may be entitled to veteran recognition.  To date about 91,000 have been recognized as veterans.  
 
No one can state how many were lost and presumed dead.  Numbers range from around 5200 to about 9500.  We have documentation that demonstrates that New York lost about 1300 of the numbers of 5200.  That is an eye opening figure for anyone to digest.  I have provided names of those from New York who were lost and the very few who have been recognized as veterans.

World-war-II-merchant-mariners-still-seek-recognition

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Request to Veterans affairs Committees of Senate and House regarding bills HR 2189 & S 1361

Women, children and disabled WWII merchant mariners

Friday, 10/18/13, out of the blue, PortSide received an email from Don Horton looking for help acknowledging the work of women, children, and elderly handicapped seamen who he says served on tugs and barges along the coast under threat of attacks by German U-boats. Don Horton, a retired Director of Occupational Safety & Health for the Department of Defense, is seeking urgent support for two bills before the US Congress which would recognize the service of these mariners. Recognition honors recipients and gives them the status of US veteran with benefits limited to medals and burial benefits.

The Senate is likely to vote on October 30th, and the House could vote at any time.

[see 10/29 and 10/30 updates about Congressional votes and 11/2/13 MoveOn.org petition at bottom]

He seeks letters of support to the congressmen on the Veterans Affairs Committees. Horton says the seamen, whose records were destroyed by government order, are another category seeking recognition. Able-bodied, adult, male seamen were recognized in 1988. The Senate is likely to vote on October 30th, and the House could vote at any time. The extraordinary story of these mariners also shines a light on the waterfront history of Red Hook, of Brooklyn and of the port of New York as a whole.

Horton was one of those children who served on tugs and barges along the coast under threat of attacks by German U-boats. Don Horton is originally from Pennsylvania and now lives in North Carolina.  He began working on a coastwise barge as a ten-year-old alongside his family in 1942; and his mother was one of those women.

Read Don Horton's vivid WWII memories of anchoring off Red Hook, Brooklyn and rowing into Erie Basin to shop on Van Brunt Street.

 Dear Fellow Mariners,

Once again I am reaching out to my fellow seafarers in hopes of finding some who may be interested in helping us find those few remaining mariners from WW II. Many of those mariners were women, some were schoolchildren that stood up for this country and also helped to lay the foundation for women seafarers around the world.
We now have a bill in both sides of congress.  It has taken over 5 years and three sessions of congress and this may be our last chance to bring recognition to these few remaining mariners.  The setup is rather complicated and far from me to truly understand.
 
If you recall we started out with a stand alone bill HR 1288 but during the process it was incorporated into another one 2086 headed up by Tina Titus of NV.  Within a week it was incorporated into still another HR 2189 that deals with problems within the VA.  This bill is headed up by Jeff Miller of FL who also is the Chair of the House Vets Committee and has cleared the subcommittee and is at the floor level waiting hearings. S-1361 is heading for hearing in the Committee late this month.  Both bills have few cosponsors and I have no idea if that is good or not.  I had 94 cosponsors on HR 1288 and was incorporated into 2086 that had only 12 and then into 2189 with only 4. I have added 4 more to 2189 but have hit a snag.  Seems that most of our leaders in congress may say they reach out across party lines but when it get down to doing it the lines grow silent.
 
In any case we are farther along than ever before but need some help.  As I recall in my email of last year I indicated we needed letters sent out to the various members of congress asking for their support either by cosponsoring these two bills or having the VSO write letters of support to the two committees saying the same.  We need similar help and I am again reaching out to you for help in helping those that came before you.  Will you help me? I have submitted some testimony to the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs that provides some light on how I see picture and asked it be submitted for the record.  They have acknowledged receipt and mention they will review.  I have attached it to share with you in hopes you can find enough info to assist in sending some good ole letters or make some calls.
 
Will you help us?  The time is very short as the Senate meeting is scheduled for the last of this month.  The House vote can be at any time.  Please let me know if you can help.  Thanking you in Advance.
 
Good luck at your meeting also at the end of the Month.
 
My very Best Regards,
 
Don...
 
J. Don Horton,
President WWII Coastwise Merchant Mariners
104 Riverview Ave, Camden, NC 27921
252 336 5553

Peterson. BELOW: The tug “Margaret Sheridan”, of the D.T Sheridan Co., hauls a company tow eastward through Cap Cod Canal in the late 1940’s. The barges are empty with tow lines shortened up for the tow through the canal. The lead barge was undoubtedly at onetime a schooner barge and probably had three masts.
Photo courtesy of Roy Eliassen

Horton's older brother Billy was working on the tugboat Menominee when it was shelled and sunk nine miles off the coast of Virginia on 31 March, 1942 by German U-boat 754. 

Letters of support: 

Association of the United States Navy 

Disabled American Veterans Department of North Carolina 

Italian American War Veterans of the U.S 

Military Officers Association of America 

U.S.N Armed Guard WWII Veterans Association 

U.S Department of Veterans Affairs 

11/2/13 MoveOn.org petition


0/30 update from Don Horton

RESULTS FROM US SENATE VETERANS AFFAIRS COMMITTEE HEARING ON 30 OCT. 2013 for S-1361 "WW II Merchant Mariners Service Act"

Military Officers of America Association: Supports S 1361

Disabled American Veterans: DAV does not have a resolution on this issue and takes no position on 1361. Note NC DAV approved a state resolution but National turned it down, essentially turning its back on WW I merchant mariners.

Department of Veterans Affairs: VA defers to the Views of the DHS regarding Section 3 of this bill.

Vietnam Veterans of America: VVA has favored such legislation conferring full veteran status on these individuals for almost thirty years, and now urges swift passage of this measure before all of them of dead and gone.

Veteran of Foreign Wars: Did not make a statement on S-1361.

NEXT STEP IS UNKNOWN. WILL ADVISE ALL WHEN APPRISED.

 

October 29 update from Don Horton

Dear F/B fans. Yesterday we were successful in having the US House vote and pass HR 2189. This bill had an amendment within, HR 1288 “WW II Merchant Mariners Service Act. It received an overwhelming majority vote of 404 to 1 in favor and the bill is now on its way to the Senate.

The next step is: tomorrow the US Senate will conduct Hearings on S 1361 “WW II Merchant Mariners Service Act”, an identical bill to HR 1288 that was amended into HR 2189. It is scheduled for 2 PM and can be viewed on C-span if anyone desires to watch. We have come a long way to correct a travesty ongoing for over 70 years.

Many thanks to all the cosponsors of HR 1288 for staying the course and seeing this bill through the House and on to the Senate. I owe you a debt of gratitude.

Let’s keep our fingers crossed to see this one also hit out of the park. Thanks for all your help.