[PghBaldy]

I always heard merchant mariners had the highest death rate.

[Leaning Right]

> I always heard merchant mariners had the highest death rate. <

That’s correct, according to this article:

http://www.usmm.org/casualty.html

But I don’t believe they received veteran status until sometime in the 1980s.

[ansel12]

James Garner joined the Merchant marine in WWII at age 16 and later received 2 purple hearts for infantry combat wounds in Korea.

[Rockingham]

The US Merchant Marine suffered extraordinary losses early in the war due to German U-boat and air attacks, especially on the North Atlantic run between the US and Britain and on the Murmansk run between Scotland and Murmansk, Russia. One of my uncles was in the Merchant Marine during WW II and was on multiple trips on both routes. The experience was harrowing.

In essence, if your ship was hit and began to sink, you might get into a lifeboat but had only a poor chance of rescue. Due to the risk of enemy attack, ships in convoy had orders not to stop and make rescues. Many US merchant sailors therefore died when their ships went down or of exposure in the ocean in life vests or in lifeboats.