From left, Rainer Popke of the German river police and Cmdr. Joe Beneski and Capt. David Turocy of Military Sealift Command, Europe, hold a wreath before they place it in the Weser River in Bremerhaven, Germany, during a ceremony honoring the U.S. Merchant Marine. (Ed Baxter / Military Sealift Command)
Members of Military Sealift Command Europe joined with military and civilian officials at the United Seamen’s Service Center in Bremerhaven, Germany, recently to honor the service of the U.S. Merchant Marine on National Maritime Day.
Merchant mariners have served since the Revolutionary War and have been involved in every U.S. military operation since. National Maritime Day, May 22, was congressionally proclaimed in 1933, according to Capt. David Turocy of the Military Sealift Command.
“Of all the U.S. military services, the U.S. Merchant Marine’s per capita fatality rate in World War II was second only to the U.S. Marine Corps,” said Turocy during the ceremony. “Some 700 merchant ships were lost to attack resulting in the loss of some 6,000 merchant marines in service to their country.”
Even now, Turocy told the crowd, about 95 percent of all supplies destined for U.S. military forces is sent by sea.
To move forces for Operation Iraqi Freedom alone, MSC used 30 northern European ports, including Bremerhaven, to load more than 280,000 tons of combat equipment, Turocy said.
Officials also laid a ceremonial wreath in the Weser River, which empties into the North Sea, to honor those merchant mariners who have died at sea.
Military Sealift Command is the world’s largest employer of merchant mariners, with about 3,000 U.S. government service and another 2,000 commercially contracted mariners on more than 100 ships.
