Posted by David Bailey on December 17, 2014, 9:21 am
I was told once that the armored guard were not regular navy and were treated differally under benefits, was this true?
Re: benefits
Posted by Ron Carlson on January 15, 2015, 3:08 pm, in reply to "benefits"
David,
Fran Kent is entirely correct: the Armed Guard was fully a part of the U.S. Navy and its men have/had the same benefits as any other servicemen.
What you may be thinking of, or what your source of information may have been thinking of, was the merchant marine, the civilian sailors who operated merchant ships on which Armed Guard units were placed. After the war the U.S. government refused to recognize merchant mariners as veterans, even though they faced the same situations, including combat, that the Armed Guard experienced. Merchant marine veterans received no benefits whatsoever until 1988 when the Department of Defense was forced, all but kicking and screaming and under court order, to recognize these men as veterans -- by which time many or most of them had died or had certainly passed the age at which many potential benefits would have been most useful. Even so the benefits for merchant marine veterans are very limited, generally limited to burial benefits.
The post-war treatment of merchant marine veterans is a blot on our nation's history.
Ron Carlson, Webmaster Armed Guard / Merchant Marine website www.armed-guard.com
Re: benefits
Posted by Francis Kent on December 17, 2014, 1:24 pm, in reply to "benefits"
Not true. The Armed Guard was in every way a part of the Navy, and those who served in it were, and are, eligible for the same benefits as every other veteran. Incidentally, the term "regular" is used to distinguish the career sailor from the reservist. Most, but by no means all, of those who served in wartime were reservists, in for the duration of the war. -- Fran