Perils of War

During World War II, the seamen of the U.S. Merchant Marine suffered a higher casualty rate than any service branch. As many as 9,500 perished at sea, from their wounds, or in prisoner of war camps.

At the end of the war, they received no government pensions or benefits and could not take advantage of the GI Bill. Celebrations for returning heroes usually overlooked them. Only in 1988 were seamen of the Merchant Marine granted the same benefits as other veterans. By then, fewer than half the men who had served on Liberty ships were still alive.

Waldemar Semenov and the SS Alcoa Guide

On April 16, 1942, a German submarine surfaced near the SS Alcoa Guide off the coast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, and opened fire with its deck gun. Unarmed and without an escort, the ship sank in two hours. But Junior Engineer Waldemar Semenov and 26 of his shipmates survived. In two lifeboats, the men drifted for three days until they were spotted by a search plane. The next day, the USS Broome, a Navy destroyer, picked them up. Semenov’s ordeal didn’t drive him from the sea. He continued to work as a merchant seaman until his retirement in 1987.