Myrtle Beach approves new monument to honor Merchant Marine at Warbird Park

A new monument will go up soon in Warbird Park in Myrtle Beach to honor a branch of veterans who received little recognition for their service during World War II, according to a president of the local Merchant Marines chapter.

American Merchant Marine supporters say the mariners suffered the highest casualty rate of all the services in WWII as they carried troops, tanks, airplanes and supplies to the war front. Nearly one in every 26 mariners who assisted the U.S. war effort were killed or died of injuries sustained in WWII, according to the American Merchant Marine at War website.

When the war ended, though an estimated 9,300 mariners had died, 12,000 were wounded and 1,500 ships were lost, “the Merchant Marines were actually considered civilians … and they all had to find their own way home,” said John “Tom” Schmidt, Jr., president of the John T. Schmidt Palmetto Mariners Chapter in Myrtle Beach.

It took a successful lawsuit in 1988 – 43 years after WWII ended – to fully recognize the WWII mariners as veterans and grant them veteran status, Schmidt said.

“Since these Mariners were not G.I. (government issued), they did not receive the benefits offered by the GI Bill,” according to the Palmetto Mariners website.

The battle for their benefit compensation continues to this day.

Today, American Merchant Marine organizations are fighting to ensure these veterans, who carry imports and exports at peacetime and assist the U.S. Navy in wartime, get the honor they deserve. Countless memorials have popped up across the country.

The Palmetto chapter, with the help of the Daughters of the American Revolution, dedicated a new monument at the veterans park in Florence on Sept. 11, 2014, but one was still lacking at the chapter’s home in Myrtle Beach.

Schmidt said they reached out to the city to place a monument in Warbird Park -- which is off Farrow Parkway at the former front gate to the former Myrtle Beach Air Force Base -- to honor “all Merchant Marine veterans” and especially the few survivors who gave so much in WWII.

In honor of his late father, who helped found the chapter in Myrtle Beach that now bears his name, Schmidt said his family “has decided that one way or the other we’ll pay for the honor.”

But he said they are also seeking donations from others to help cover the monument, which is expected to cost between $5,000 to $6,000.

The Palmetto chapter’s membership, which includes many veterans in their late 80s and early 90s, has raised nearly $3,000 so far, he said.

“We want as many of them to see it as possible,” Schmidt said, so his group hopes to have the monument installed by January.

“We feel a sense of urgency to get it done so that’s why the family has pledged to” cover any remaining costs, he said.

The monument is estimated to stand more than 4 to 5 feet tall with a rope-entwined anchor at its back. The front will be inscribed with “In memory and honor of all Merchant Marines; given by The John T. Schmidt Palmetto Mariners Chapter of South Carolina; Lest we forget; In peace and war; 1775, dedicated 2015.”

It is set to be located separate from the warbirds on its own path and pad in the park.

To donate or for more information about the chapter, visit www.usmmsc.com or call 843-651-8046.

Weaver: 843-444-1722; @TSNEmily

This story was originally published November 10, 2015 at 6:14 PM with the headline "Myrtle Beach approves new monument to honor Merchant Marine at Warbird Park."