WWII-era merchant marines may get benefits

WASHINGTON, May 24 (UPI) -- Merchant marines who helped the U.S. war effort during World War II may soon be in line for veterans benefits for the first time, advocates say.

The civilian seamen risked their lives hauling troops, planes, munitions and other goods overseas to aid U.S. forces fighting in the European and the Pacific theaters, but they were denied benefits in the 1940s. Legislation now pending in Congress, however, would give qualified merchant mariners still surviving monthly payments of $1,000, The (Norfolk, Va.) Virginian-Pilot reported Sunday.

About five to 10 of the roughly 10,000 surviving WWII-era merchant mariners die every day, so it's a bill that can't be passed soon enough, Ian Allison, 89, who served in the merchant marines from 1941 until 1948, told the newspaper.

"President (Franklin Delano) Roosevelt said we were military," said Allison of Santa Rosa, Calif., who heads a non-profit organization seeking compensation for the seamen. "We lost a lot of people in the war," but, he said, the 1944 GI Bill of Rights was written to exclude the merchant marines.

The House of Representatives has approved the Belated Thank You to the Merchant Marines of World War II Act of 2009, and it is pending the Senate, the Virginian-Pilot said.