Then and Now, the U.S. Merchant Marine Delivering the Goods

It's not that Bob Bodine wanted to avoid the World War II draft in 1943. It's just that being an Army infantryman "didn't sound like a lot of fun."

He tried to join Army Air Corps but failed the vision test. He also talked to a recruiter about Navy aviation opportunities, but the Navy was bringing on 17-year-old youngsters at the time. Bodine was too old at 18.

"What else is there?" he asked the recruiter. "Well, there's the Merchant Marine, but they've got a helluva casualty rate," the recruiter answered. "What does a teenager care about casualty statistics?" Bodine, now 80, said from his home near St. Louis. "I always liked boats, so the Merchant Marine sounded pretty good to me."

He promptly secured a slot at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, New York. In his second year at the Academy, Bodine sailed off on a required nine-month cruise to the Mediterranean. It didn't take the teenager long to realize that if he really was trying to avoid the draft, he could have taken an easier route. Bodine was a crewmember aboard the SS Fleming, which was hauling a dozen P-51 aircraft and a huge load of vehicle and aviation fuel to the troops. The Fleming was part of a 110-ship convoy. While it managed to escape unscathed, 50 of her sister ships were sunk by German U-boats and floating mines.

Bob Bodine was just one of the more than 243,000 civilian volunteer mariners who served aboard ships that provided the greatest sealift in history. The U.S. merchant fleet was critical to the war effort; delivering troops, supplies, ammunition and equipment all over the world.

They took part in every invasion from Normandy to Okinawa, often sitting duck targets for enemy submarines, mines, bombers and kamikaze pilots. Fighting was especially fierce in the Atlantic, where "wolf packs" of German submarines and deadly U-boats prowled the ocean destroying Merchant Marine ships in an attempt to isolate Great Britain. Much closer to home, enemy submarines sank hundreds of ships off the U.S. east coast.