Poems

The Forgotten Merchant Marine Over a half century has passed and we’ve yet to be told. About the men on the ships who carried more than their load. The first Americans to die even before the war was declared, Loving fathers and sons, hardly any were spared. More seamen perished, more than any other branch it is said. One seamen out of thirty-two gave his life and is now dead. Yet children lost fathers and mothers lost sons. Wives lost their husbands before the conflict was won. No military honors were bestowed on these men. No mention of heroism was ever told to their kin. No parades or open arms met them back home. Only ridicule and scorn and sarcasm the tone. That dark cloud of disrespect still hangs and it looms. It has taken over fifty years to try heal these wounds. Yet love ones still morn and the injured still ache. They have given up wondering if this is some kind of mistake. The scars still remain, the story is untold. They ask not for themselves the honor to be bestowed. They ask for their comrades who gave their life to the ocean. So their relatives at home can remember them with devotion. BY: Walt Drew

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