ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, March 14, 1996 TAG: 9603140099
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: E-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: STEWART MACINNIS SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES
Bill Miller doesn't want to relive his wartime experiences; he just wants to get together with those who went through the same things.
There's plenty of pain in his memories, like the time his ship was torpedoed off the North Carolina coast.
"It was an experience you wouldn't want to sell," he said. "But I'd never want to do it again."
But it's the memories of camaraderie that Miller likes most.
He was one of 144,000 sailors assigned to gun crews aboard Merchant Marine vessels during World War II. He is helping organize a Western Virginia chapter of the Navy Armed Guard Veterans. U.S. Merchant seamen who served during World War II are also invited to join the group.
Miller has found about 75 veterans of the unique service in the area since last June.
"I know there are more out there," he said. "I'm trying to locate them and get them involved in our informal group. We just get together and talk and remember."
Members of the group, most in their 70s now, meet once a month at the Roanoker Restaurant.
Their experiences span the globe. The Armed Guards went wherever Merchant Marine vessels went. And the Merchant Marine was in every theater of operations, ferrying men and supplies throughout the world, bringing the great assets of the American arsenal to bear on the fascist regimes in Europe and Asia.
"We went to literally every port in the world where they took supplies," Miller said.
The Merchant Marine was the lifeline for the Allied fighting forces. That made the merchant vessels prime targets for enemy submarines, warships and aircraft. In fact, Miller said, the Armed Guard suffered a 12 percent to 15 percent casualty rate.
But that wasn't unexpected. Of the 6,236 merchant ships that were protected by the Armed Guards, 710 were sunk by the enemy. The Armed Guards lost 1,810 servicemen in those attacks.
Merchant ships were crewed by civilian Merchant Marines - sailors who made their day-to-day living ferrying all manner of merchandise, raw material and passengers around the world's seas. During the war, they were pressed into service transporting war materiel and soldiers.
The Navy placed the Armed Guard detachments on the otherwise unarmed merchant vessels, providing some measure of protection for the valuable ships. It was a system pioneered in the First World War and expanded during World War II.
The Armed Guard veterans were members of those detachments - Navy veterans, but veterans who had a very special and very dangerous assignment. The detachments consisted of 25 men to operate gun crews, serve as signalmen and radiomen. They were directed by a naval officer.
Miller said some of the veterans served in the Armed Guards throughout the war; others were transferred to other Navy service after a tour in the Armed Guards.
The local chapter of the Armed Guards Veterans meets at 11:30 a.m. on the second Friday of each month at the Roanoker Restaurant. For more information, write Bill Miller at 157 Houston Ave., Roanoke 24112.
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