Merchant Marines Still Fighting Battles After War

My husband served in Vietnam. His Dad served with Patton and 3 uncles fought during WWII and one of them was a Merchant Marine. His ship was hit by the Japanese and he ended up in the ocean. When he got stateside, it was clear he had what they used to call "shell shock" and he was give two choices about the rest of his life. Go into an institution or go live on a farm in Massachusetts with other veterans. He took the farm and lived the rest of his life with a couple taking care of veterans just like him.

‘Giving their lives’: Merchant Marine vets seek compensation, recognition
Belleville news Democrat
Mike Fitzgerald
August 15, 2015

When Orville Sova, 88, returned to the metro-east after years overseas serving his country during World War II, he was welcomed home with neither parades nor medals.

Unlike other veterans of his generation, Sova was not eligible for the GI Bill, VA medical care or even burial in a military cemetery.

The reason: Sova served as a sailor with United States Merchant Marine, the civilian-run cargo arm of the U.S. war machine that delivered troops and war supplies to war theaters from Siberia to Australia.

Even though Sova and his fellow mariners played an essential role in winning the war; and even though they served under some of the harshest conditions and in some of the most dangerous war zones, in the eyes of the U.S. government, Sova was still a civilian — and therefore entitled to nothing.

Seven decades after the end of World War II, the lack of recognition and denial of benefits for his wartime service still rankles Sova, a Collinsville resident.

“Every merchant seaman you see floating around today has this fire in their belly because we didn’t get recognition,” Sova said. “We should’ve got it.”
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