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Memorial, Independence and Veterans’ days continue to roll by. It’s warm and fuzzy to see veterans recognized for their service — even a lowly peace-time sergeant such as me.

After enjoying numerous opportunities to stand and be recognized with other veterans, I said to a church friend, who always remained seated: “I would have taken you for a veteran.”

“Let’s have lunch one day and talk about that,” he said.

Today was that lunch day. It wasn’t on the menu, but my chow tasted like crow. It came with one side — a primer on the Merchant Marines. Instead of napping after lunch, I made a visit to http://usmm.org .

Please help me. Would you be sure your next patriotic service includes appreciation and recognition for World War II Merchant Marines?

Here’s what I learned about them. During WWII, the Merchant Marines were an auxiliary to the U.S. Navy. “They delivered the goods when and where needed in the most difficult and dangerous job ever undertaken,” President F.D. Roosevelt said.

During WWII, 215,000 merchant mariners placed their lives in harm’s way — each one was a volunteer. One in 26 perished and 12,000 were wounded — the highest casualty rate of any military branch.

“The Merchant Marines were with us on every landing from Guadalcanal to Iwo Jima,” said Lt. Gen. Alexander A. Vandegrift, commandant, U.S. Marine Corps.

Who will forget the Inchon Invasion during the Korean War? Thirteen U.S. Navy ships participated. Sixty additional ships were manned by Merchant Marines.

The Merchant Marine-manned SS Mayaguez was a Vietnam War icon. More recently, the Merchant Marine ship Maersk Alabama was taken back from Somali pirates by sharp-shooting Navy Seals.

Did I mention that Merchant Marine ships cannot shoot back, release torpedoes, drop depth charges or send up anti-aircraft flak? They can neither run nor hide.

Nothing is fair in love, war, golf and prostate cancer. Merchant mariners would add Veterans Affairs benefits to that list. More than 40 years after WWII, Congress finally approved a bill granting veterans’ status to war-time Mariners.

Congress was too late, the benefits too little and the mariners too old.
Don’t get ahead of me here. My lunch guy wouldn’t take a million dollars for his Mariner service, even though it wasn’t his first choice. He was draft-exempt because his civilian job was considered vital to the national defense.

“I thought it was a joke they thought my job was vital — I wanted to join something, and only the Merchant Marines would talk with me.”
Ken Roberts’ hometown is Rockfish, Va. He attended school in nearby Schuyler. A schoolmate, Earl Hamner, became writer and producer of “The Waltons.” Earl referred to Schuyler as Walton’s Mountain — think Mount Airy to Mayberry.

Roberts completed the Maritime Services Training School in early 1943 and deployed on a tanker, the Polonaise, as ship’s purser. (No, I didn’t know either — but today they’re called Supply Officers.)
Roberts never referred to his first ship as a “generic” tanker. He insists she was “an old, slow tanker.”

While anchored in the Gilbert Islands, the old, slow tanker was taken over by the U.S. Navy. The Navy offered Roberts a supply corps commission if he would come with the ship, but he deferred.
“In the Gilberts, we watched aerial dogfights most every day. Our primary defenses were rain squalls and darkness.”

Roberts joined the SS John S. Sargent as purser/pharmacist mate, on which he was commissioned as ensign by the U.S. Maritime Service.

Assignments varied. “We delivered fuel to Marines in the Pacific, and troops ammunition and airplanes to the Army and Air Force in North Africa, Italy, France and Belgium.

“We watched torpedoes narrowly miss our ship fore and aft, port and starboard. That’s when I realized God was saving me for something.

“In Italy, two U.S. Navy PT boat commanders invited me to accompany them on a 'seek and destroy’ mission up the coast. I was disappointed the skipper would not allow me to leave the ship.”
Roberts was disappointed from another perspective the next morning — both PT-boats were destroyed; all hands perished.

“Our closest call came when we were broken down at Antwerp during the Battle of the Bulge. German buzz-bombs sunk the ship docked next to us and destroyed an Army barracks on shore, killing a good number of soldiers.”

Roberts remained a Mariner until discharged as a lieutenant senior grade in 1946. “We worked hard after the war ended and continued to lose a good number of ships to mines,” Roberts said.

After several years in the insurance industry, Roberts started his own business in 1972, designing and administering retirement plans for small businesses.

In May 2003, he designed a retirement plan that even he could not resist.

Ken and Jewell Roberts have lived in Greensboro since 1966. They are members of Friendly Avenue Baptist Church.

Statistically, Greensboro has eight WWII Merchant Marine survivors. Please don’t let the vital roles these heroes played in WWII go unrecognized in your next patriotic program.

Contact Harry Thetford at htthetford@aol.com.