New US Merchant Marine book

Antipodean Andy · Mar 15, 2009

This would be an interesting book and obviously a labour of love.

A new book on U.S. Merchant Mariners in World War II -- Newsday.com

In two decades of interviewing U.S. Merchant Marine Academy graduates who survived prowling German U-boats and other dangers during World War II, George Billy has been surprised and impressed by one common thread: None of them thought they did anything special.

"No matter how unique or dangerous their wartime assignments, Kings Pointers do not regard their travails as worthy of special attention," Billy and his daughter Christine write in their book, "Merchant Mariners at War: An Oral History of World War II," published in September. "Many mariners braved extraordinary dangers with little or no protection. Yet, they consistently stated that they were only doing their duty."

This despite the fact that 142 Kings Point cadets died in action before graduating and of the more than 200,000 men who served in the U.S. Merchant Marine carrying supplies and troops during the war, about 7,000 died.

The academy was founded in 1942. In the book, the Billys note that "during World War II, the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point was a beehive of activity ... Kings Point graduated more than 6,000 students in a feverish effort to provide badly needed officers for merchant ships. Yet few Kings Pointers have told their story."

Billy, the academy's chief librarian, said the impetus for the book was the library's Mariners at War Project, an oral history undertaking that began in 1990 at the suggestion of the superintendent at the time, Adm. Thomas A. King, Class of 1942 and a merchant mariner who sailed during the war. He suggested Billy run the project because of his interest in maritime history. Born in 1940, Billy grew up during the war in which his uncles fought, and he later earned a doctorate in military history from the City University of New York Graduate School.

Seventy-two graduates were interviewed, most by Billy. Then he and his daughter, who had worked at the school doing public relations before going to law school and becoming a clerk for a federal judge in San Francisco, edited them into the book.

What motivated him, Billy said, is that "the story of the contribution of Kings Point graduates was not well known. I wanted to capture their stories before they were no longer alive because they were getting on in years. I wanted to publish their contributions so everyone knew about it. What I was not prepared for was the extraordinary stories."

Billy, an Army veteran who has been at Kings Point for 32 years, said that along with his surprise at how dramatic some of the accounts were, he "did not realize how many theaters of operation many of them served in. Whenever I talk to most veterans, they served either in the Pacific or the European theater or North Africa and maybe the Italian campaign." Over the course of the war, a Merchant Marine officer could end up carrying cargo to Europe, Russia, the Middle East and the Pacific.

Before the project, Billy, who previously wrote "Palmerston's Foreign Policy: 1848," about a 19th-century British prime minister, did know that the merchant mariners suffered "exceptionally high" casualty rates compared to the armed services and received very little recognition at the time or afterward.

"Wherever the U.S. military forces went, so did the civilian Merchant Marine, bringing the necessary supplies that tipped the balance in favor of Allied success," the authors write.

VOICES OF THE MERCHANTS MARINERS

'Friendly' warning to act

George Kraemer of New Hyde Park, 84, Class of 1944.

After the war and until he retired in 1986, he managed towing and tugboat operations in New York, culminating in a job as operations manager for McAllister Brothers.

On a trip to Russia, "we were under submarine alert ... The [Allied] escorts were dropping depth charges especially for the last two days out ... As we approached the coastline, I remember noticing hundreds of dead fish (victims of depth charging) floating dead or stunned on the surface."

When his ship was too slow in maneuvering with the convoy, the escorts converged on it and ordered it to speed up. "They were getting a little indignant about this. All of a sudden, one escort vessel came right across the stern of the ship, and he dropped a depth charge close to our stern. And boy, I'll tell you, that shook everybody up! So then we sped up."

"I can remember sleeping with my clothes on, continuously, day after day ... We all had a 'scram bag' packed - just extra stuff that you might not have available in the lifeboat."

He weathered the storm

Karl J. Aarseth of Lynbrook, 86, Class of 1943.

By the time he was 24 he was licensed to serve as captain for anything afloat. During the war, he made trips to Europe, India, Russia, the Mediterranean and the Middle East. After the war he handled logistical support for American forces in Vietnam.

In the book he describes ferrying troops home at the end of the war:

"In the North Atlantic, we ran into the worst storm I've ever been in all my life. The ship was small and with no cargo. We heard that an aircraft carrier had turned back because of damage to the flight deck ... Finally ... I got to Boston. The ship had several cracks all over it."

Limping home after a collision and a fire

Robert Wells of Great Neck, 88, a 1941 graduate of the U.S. Merchant Marine Cadet Corps, which was the predecessor of the academy.

Some years after the war, in 1958, he joined the faculty at Kings Point as a professor of engineering. He retired in 1980.

He had sailed on a tanker carrying fuel to various ports in the United Kingdom for the Normandy invasion.

He describes sailing along the East Coast in 1942 when it was known by mariners as "Torpedo Alley":

"There were U-boats off the coast, but we were very lucky. We never got shot at by a German submarine, but we became, as the Army calls it, targets of friendly fire.

When we were coming up from Texas in March 1942 ... a fellow American or English ship collided with us ... The ship caught fire.

Fortunately, we put the fire out, but we had a hole in the ship that ran two-thirds of the way through ... We managed to limp in to port."

Zigzagging to Europe in a convoy

Charles Renick of Great Neck, 82, Class of 1947.

He worked at the academy starting in 1961 and was director of the Office of External Affairs when he retired in 1993. He helped establish the American Merchant Marine Museum on the campus and still runs it.

Renick served on an Army transport carrying thousands of troops to Europe in convoys of 40 to 60 ships: "It was like being on a busy parkway and having cars speeding 60 or 70 miles an hour on each side of you, and in front of you, and in back of you, and tailgating, because one of the things that a convoy had to do was keep very close quarters. You had to be 100 yards apart and sometimes even closer. If the ship in front of you slowed down suddenly, you could go right into its stern ... You were also zigzagging all the time ... There was always some ship in the convoy that didn't get the word. When everyone else was turning right, it was turning left, and that would cause a lot of confusion ..."

Close U-boat encounter

Perry Jacobs of Seaford, Class of 1944, died in 2001.

After the war, he worked with the Military Sealift Command and received his license as chief engineer in 1951. He participated in several NASA programs including Gemini, Apollo and Skylab. After retirement he was an active volunteer at the Cradle of Aviation Museum in East Garden City.

He first served on a Liberty Ship freighter in 1943, when he was 19: "I can recall some of the waves being 30-, 40-foot-high ... You held onto the lifelines for your dear life."

In 1943, traveling in a convoy during his first voyage in the North Atlantic, Jacobs saw the results of an encounter with a German U-boat: "On the ship directly ahead of us, there had been an explosion ... It slipped down our column and passed by astern of us ... It was severely damaged ... The crew had already abandoned the vessel."

As they were approaching port in England, Jacobs recalled: "There were two seaman's boots that were inverted and floating in the water. The way they were positioned, I'm sure there was a body underneath."
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liverpool annie · Mar 15, 2009

So Andy ............ did you buy it ?? :happy:

Antipodean Andy · Mar 16, 2009

I've banned myself, Annie.

liverpool annie · Mar 16, 2009

Antipodean Andy said: ↑

I've banned myself, Annie.
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Yeah right Andy ...... for how long ?? :mosking:

Antipodean Andy · Mar 16, 2009

Until I get a new job.

liverpool annie · Mar 16, 2009

OK ! now I believe you !! ... I wasn't thinking ! :brick:

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