The Forgotten Heroes: The Heroic Story of the United States Merchant Marine [Hardcover]

Brian Herbert (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0765307065 | ISBN-13: 978-0765307064 | Publication Date: May 1, 2004 | Edition: 1st

The United States Merchant Marine has a tradition---from the Revolutionary War to the present-day Gulf conflicts---of being in the forefront of every American military action. They have served with distinction in every case. Brian Herbert has chronicled the amazing exploits of these gallant seamen, assembling a fascinating array of data to describe the world of the Merchant Marine in peace and especially in war.

Drawing from historical documents, government records, diaries, and interviews with surviving veterans, Herbert has constructed a brilliant history that details the heroism, self-sacrifice, and grim determination that has been the hallmark of the United States Merchant Marine. He also reveals one of the great injustices of American history---the grave failure of our legislators that has allowed the veterans of the Merchant Marine to become the forgotten heroes of World War II

The civilian fighters of the Merchant Marine performed feats of extraordinary bravery during World War II; they were the lifeline of the entire Allied war effort, delivering troops, materiel, food, fuel, and every essential needed for victory over the Axis enemy. While executing these duties, the Merchant Marine suffered losses so high that the casualty rates were kept secret.

At the war's end, the men and women of every other branch of the service were honored by parades and given medical and educational benefits. But the members of the Merchant Marine, who were so vital to our victory, have received neither the benefits nor the recognition they deserved. New York Times bestselling author Brian Herbert is part of the growing movement across the United States to right this terrible wrong.

The Forgotten Heroes is a history of the unsung heroes of the United States Merchant Marine and a plea for justice for these neglected veterans of World War II.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

This somewhat jumbled but eloquent plea for recognition of the U.S. Merchant Marine veterans of World War II is by the son of the creator of the science fiction classic Dune, who was one of those veterans. The core of the book narrates the merchant sailor's perils and achievements during the war, as derived partly from anecdotes, many of which will be familiar to seasoned maritime readers, and partly from the wartime experiences of one Dean Beaumont and his liberty ship. Herbert then proceeds to state the case of his heroes by recording the neglect and discrimination merchant mariners suffered and offering suggestions for just restitution even at this late date. He skips from incident to incident and from theme to theme and doesn't always portray the larger strategic picture within which the merchant marine operated as assuredly as he does the merchant mariner in peril at sea and destitute on land. Still, he convincingly renders the merchant marine's wartime service as a triumph of production, persistence, and heroism. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"A tightly written chronicle of courage and terror. . . . There is no way you can read this book without becoming involved in it. It demands respect. And it isn't every day you can read a book that makes you simultaneoulsy proud and angry."--Oregon Statesman Journal

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Forge Books; 1st edition (May 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765307065
• ISBN-13: 978-0765307064
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,291,727 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Those who sailed with the forgotten heroes., June 10, 2004

By 

ROBERT E. TASSINARI (WALNUT CREEK, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Forgotten Heroes: The Heroic Story of the United States Merchant Marine (Hardcover)

As I read the book I am disappointed with the minimal mention of the men of the USN who, after a delay in the early months of 1942,sailed on the merchant ships as Navy gunners and communications personnel as members of the USN Armed Guard. On most Liberty ships there were about 28 members of the USN. I served on four Liberty ships and had a very high admiration for the MM as shipmates in periods of tedium as well as in enemy action. The inability of the civilian sailors to get the post-war benefits enjoyed by their Navy crew members was unfortunate but they did not sail alone. The book is enjoyable.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting but flawed book, August 14, 2006

By 

Wilson Stone (California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Forgotten Heroes : The Heroic Story of the United States Merchant Marine (Hardcover)

Brian Herbert's motivation for writing this book is fine. The U S Government treated the merchant marine (which suffered a higher death rate than any military branch) shamefully during and after WW II. Second only to the way it treated the women pilots who were kicked out without even bus fare home. For that reason alone, I hope a lot of people read this book.

But Herbert makes the argument over and over again - seemingly on every second or third page - until you get really sick of reading it. Also the book is an example of awful editing. With typos on nearly every page, the publisher should be ashamed for serving the author so poorly.

And one final complaint: Any author who presumes to write about the sea should know better than to use the phrase "knots per hour." A knot is a measure of nautical miles per hour. To say, "ten knots per hour," is to say, "ten nautical miles per hour per hour." Anyone who uses the term "knots per hour" is immediately and justifiably presumed to know absolutely nothing about the sea.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Taking a Ride in a Kaiser Coffin, April 22, 2005

By 

B. Merritt "filmreviewstew.com" (WWW.FILMREVIEWSTEW.COM, Pacific Grove, California United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Forgotten Heroes: The Heroic Story of the United States Merchant Marine (Hardcover)

How did all of those troops get to Normandy on D-Day? Who brought all of their supplies over for that momentous day? Some of the soldiers and their supplies were brought over by military transports, but much, much more made its way across the Atlantic in Liberty Ships: merchant vessels that navigated the treacherous wartime waters in ships that would later be called "Kaiser Coffins" (because of how often they were sunk by enemy attacks...and how easy they WERE to sink.)

And who were the men that grabbed the helms of these tin-cans, risking life and limb time and again? They were (are) known as The Merchant Marines. Never officially inducted into the military, many men in The Merchant Marine failed the basic physical exams given by the Armed Services. Their only hope to help fight and win the war was The Merchant Marines. And they streamed in by the thousands, volunteering to help bring needed supplies over to Europe, Australia, the Pacific Theater, and places beyond.

It wasn't just WW II in which we find the heroic deeds of The Merchant Mariner either. Oh no. When George Washington and his army were fighting the Brits, who helped transport his legions of men? Yep. The Merchant Marine. From the U.S.'s founding fathers, to the Persian Gulf War, The Merchant Marine has been there, hauling our sons, daughters, and their needed supplies across deadly seas. And they've died in numbers larger than any of those in the Armed Services.

So one would think that The Merchant Marine deserved a little recognition, maybe a GI Bill style package to help out those returning from wartime service, right? Especially if they were wounded during the course of the war, right? Wrong. Since The Merchant Mariner is not an "official" member of the Armed Forces, they get none of that. No GI Bill. No war memorial. No medical benefits coming anywhere near those given to veterans. Where did America go wrong? Why were these men (and women) swept under the rug of our society?

The answers are in this book, The Forgotten Heroes by Brian Herbert.

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The book basically follows the history of Dean Beaumont, the son of Arthur Beaumont, the unofficial "Artist Laureate" of the U.S. Navy (many of Arthur Beaumont's paintings are hung in places such as The White House, the first nuclear submarine, and in private collections...often valued at over $100,000.) Dean is an asthmatic and he fails the Armed Forces medical exam, but he doesn't give up. He joins The Merchant Marines and travels the war-torn seas during WW II. And when he returns to the States, wounded and much more savvy in the ways of the world, he finds that The Merchant Marine is a disgrace. They don't qualify for anything, nothing at all.

Although Mr. Herbert tells a story that needed to be told, his methods became a bit preachy and repetitive at times but, even so, that still didn't detract from the overall history lesson the author gives us. I'm sure most Americans had no idea of this bloody smear on our past that never made it into "High School History 101".


This is a great book for those who wish to learn a greater depth of maritime history, and for those who'd like to remember The Forgotten Heroes.