Merchant Seamen to Get Veteran Status
The Defense Department, under orders from a federal judge to reconsider the issue, has agreed to extend veteran’s status to the men who sailed merchant ships during World War II, the Pentagon announced Wednesday.
The decision was made by Air Force Secretary Edward C. Aldridge Jr. on Jan. 19, acting as the Pentagon’s designated administrator of a 1977 law that governs appeals for veteran’s status, the service said in a statement.
The new designation will apply to any civilian sailor who served on an oceangoing merchant ship “during the period of armed conflict in World War II--Dec. 7, 1941, to Aug. 15, 1945.”
Navy historians estimate that 250,000 men served in the merchant marine during World War II.
The designation approved by Aldridge will entitle the merchant seamen to obtain military service discharge certificates, which will make them eligible for selected veteran’s benefits such as use of Veterans Administration hospitals and burial in a national cemetery.
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