MERCHANT MARINE SURVIVORS OF WORLD WAR II

Obviously, the Second World War would not be won without the brilliant U.S. Merchant Marine playing their role. In peacetime, the fleet was crewed by civilian seamen and it used to carry most of the ocean-borne commerce of the whole nations. In the wartime, the fleet became the real "fourth arm of defence" - they provided the critically important support for the beachheads in all areas.

Twenty Merchant Marine veterans of the Second World War are featured in this book telling you an excellent and fascinating story. Most of them had at least one vessel bombed, torpedoed or mined out from under them, Some of those people were the prisoners of the Japanese army during that war... We can say that the casualty rate suffered by the Merchant Marine was comparable to the one of the Marine Corps.

This is the outstanding book - read it and you will feel yourself there when reading these stories, oral histories collected by Michael Gillen, who is the former merchant seaman. According to the reviews of the book, the author did a really invaluable work which resulted in a remarkably interesting reading, absolutely recommended to all lovers of the naval history and fleet as well as of the truly heroic people of the past.