Merchant Marine veterans of World War II were honored during Memorial Day activities yesterday, in Washington. This was especially important, because merchant mariners who served in World War II have been overlooked as non-veterans, even though they were drafted into wartime service and the ships on which they served too often were not armed to protect them against enemy attack. They received no veterans benefits to help them start over after the war. In the 1980s, then-President Reagan declared the Merchant Marine to be one of the branches of military service; however, one is hard pressed to find their seal among the seals of the military branches.
