Blood IsThicker Than Water - Part 5

During World War II, the United States Merchant Marine provided the greatest sealift in history between the production army at home and the fighting forces scattered around the globe in World War II.

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt praised them as the “Fourth Arm of Defense." During times of peace, they were civilians. During war, these civilians answered a new call.

In fact: “The U.S. wartime merchant fleet . . . constituted one of the most significant contributions made by any nation to the eventual winning of the Second World War....”

A new Merchant Marine Act from 1936 was already in place. This act provided a new Maritime Commission the empowerment which granted mariners the means to plot the lanes American ships would travel. Too, they were granted the power to build and operate their own ships should private enterprise fail to meet the demand.

Through U.S. Maritime training programs, a prewar total of 55,000 experienced mariners exploded into a force of 215,000 during World War II.

Merchant ships faced all the dangers of war and “thirty-one ships vanished without a trace to a watery grave.” Total human loss is estimated at 9,300; one in twenty-six died in the line of duty, thus suffering a greater percentage of war-related deaths than all other U.S. services. Casualties were kept secret during the War to keep information about their success from the enemy and to attract and keep mariners at sea. (Source is cited above).

Government displays of bright colored posters urged the merchants to war; Uncle Sam implored and advertised a nation’s need without fear of reprisal from its citizens. Military and civilian alike joined together to keep together all that was theirs. They stood alongside their brothers and sisters; apprehended the gift bequeathed to them through the blood of their forbearers, and ensured that the nation’s titanic necessities were fulfilled.

Some of the photos with this edition serve to illustrate just a portion of the requirements of a nation at war. It is thought that each soldier required between seven to fifteen tons of supplies for one years’ support.

For a look at some of these posters, please visit