I am glad to help although I'm not sure that anything I have provided to you would carry much weight with the Veterans Administration. They would need official documentation, not just a posting on a message board. After all, I could have made it all up!
You may be able to obtain a copy of your father's official merchant marine service record, via the U.S. Coast Guard, which was and is responsible for issuing documents and licenses to U.S. merchant marine personnel. See this page from the website I manage, http://www.armed-guard.com/searchmil.html, in particular section A.2. Records of Individuals - Merchant Marine. You will have to contact the Coast Guard's National Maritime Center, providing as much identifying information as possible. Contact information is available on the above-noted page. If you can obtain his records they may indicate other ships in which he sailed (since I discovered he had three years of sea time as of 1945), including applicable dates, plus other information that may prove useful to you and your mother.
Good luck.
Ron Carlson, Webmaster
Armed Guard / Merchant Marine website
www.armed-guard.com
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