On June 11, 2005, the U.S. Merchant Marines celebrated the inaugural dedication of their local
WW II memorial.  This memorial consists of a twenty-ton bronze propeller off of a WW II  
ship.   It was donated by John Bantiviglio of Camden Iron & Metal.  It took months of buffing
and polishing by Charles Mardigian to bring it up to memorial standards and mounted on a 
slant because the last thing a merchant seaman usually saw as his torpedoed ship was sinking
beneath the waves was the propeller.

This memorial was spearheaded by Charles Mardigian an 82-year-old veteran  mariner who 
spent five years of his 82 in the merchant marines, 44 months of which in carrying 
much-needed military supplies on  Liberty Ships and tankers through oceans infested 
with Nazi subs, mined waters, and other forms of enemy raiders who pounced on unescorted
vessels.

Liberty Ships during that period had a top speed of ten knots.  They could keep up with a
rowboat being oared by a pregnant woman but not much more.   However, they were the 
mainstay of our ongoing support efforts to our allies in Europe and the Pacific.  
Fact is that President Roosevelt, at the time, classified the Merchant Marines as our 
fourth line of defense. 


Former Lt. Commander Charles Mardigian told those in attendance of the nearly 10,000
volunteer seamen who lost their lives in the process.  Many among them were those
who had failed to pass their military physicals during induction but who bravely
volunteered to become merchant seamen in order to help win the war.

Mr. Mardigian also noted the few who had survived a sinking but who immediately
volunteered their services on the next ship they were accepted on.  They paid out
of pocket for all wartime injuries and for their passage home if they got stranded
in a foreign port after a sinking.  And in spite of all the hardships they encountered,
they were never formally afforded any commendations or recognition until forty-eight
years after the war.

As for one who served in the military, all I can say is we can thank the Army, the Navy,
the Marines, the Air Corps, the Submariners, and the Coast Guard, but while we're at it,
we shouldn't overlook the most unassuming and unsung heroes of them all--our U.S. Merchant
Marines.  Who knows but if it weren't for these brave souls, we may have been 
‘goose stepping' or kneeling toward the Rising Sun for the last sixty years.


                        Joseph Vosbikian