On behalf of President Bush and Vice President Cheney, welcome to the U.S. Merchant Marine Memorial Service.

This annual observance commemorates the accomplishments and sacrifices of the United States Merchant Marine. Each time, in the last century, our Nation’s military deployed to protect U.S. interests, the lives of America’s men and women were placed at risk. And in each one of those deployments, their logistical lifelines -- the U.S. Merchant Marine -- were right alongside, or close behind, with the tools to get the job done and return home safely.

That scenario is still true today. The civilian seafarers’ role has never been easy, but it has become less dangerous than it once was. Today we pay tribute to the "way it was" for a quarter of a million U.S. merchant seamen in World War II.

No war better exemplifies the spirit of sacrifice that defines what service in the U.S. Merchant Marine is all about. During the Second World War, roughly one in 30 Merchant Marines died in the line of duty. Those figures represent a higher percentage of war-related deaths than any of the armed services except the Marine Corps.

Nearly 7,000 seamen perished at sea, most as a direct result of engaging the enemy. More than 11,000 were wounded. And more than 600 spent part of their service interned in prison camps. Stanley Willner, a Merchant Marine prisoner of war, was forced to work on the infamous Death’s Railway -- the Burma-Siam (Thailand) railroad. His story, and that of many others, was retold in the film, The Bridge Over the River Kwai.

In the dark days of 1942 when Allied shipping in the Atlantic was being lost at horrific rates, the steel bridge across the ocean bent and swayed -- but never broke. The seamens’ iron will ruled their fears. Doing ones duty was expected. Being scared was just part of the job.

And there was something else. They knew this war was for keeps. As ‘G.I. General’ Omar Bradley grimly noted: "In war there is no second prize for the runner up." So, they soldiered on.

U.S. mariners faced danger in virtually all the world’s great oceans and seas. However, the Run to Murmansk, combined elements of danger from both enemy and nature.

For the Allies to get supplies to its war-time partner, Russia, the most direct route from Great Britain lay through the Denmark Straits between Iceland and Greenland. From there, ships sailed around the North Cape of Norway into the ports of Murmansk and Archangel, well north of the Arctic Circle.

Indeed, the fact that cargo made it through to America’s G.I.s was a story in itself. America’s wartime cargo from the homeland to the Pacific and Europe totaled more than 268 million long tons. In the last year of the war the delivery rate reached 8500 tons every hour of every day.

Those numbers are impressive even now, but they are extraordinary when one considers that the fleet workhorse was the modest ugly duckling Liberty ships. These plodding workhorses could move no faster than 11 knots and carried only a fraction of the cargo of today’s container ships.

There is no end to the stories one could tell. Individual and collective acts of heroism -- many of you know seamen who served in the war that, by all accounts, was the U.S. Merchant Marine’s finest hour.

Just two weeks ago, I spoke at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy’s Battle Standard Dinner in Kings Point. This world-class maritime institution is justly proud of the contributions its war-time classes made. Thousands of young men -- from abbreviated classes -- went to sea to deliver the goods to America’s fighting force. Sadly, out of those thousands, 142 midshipmen perished.

Supreme Allied Commander General Dwight Eisenhower understood the sacrifice and accomplishment of U.S. merchant seamen. "When final victory is ours, there is no organization that will share its credit more deservedly than the Merchant Marine."

History records that such sentiments were not unique. FDR and Churchill, Generals Marshall and MacArthur, Admirals Nimitz and Halsey and other giants of that era knew the worth of the U.S. Merchant Marine and trumpeted it to a grateful public.

That worth has not been diminished over the years. We have Admiral Fahy with us today from the U.S. Transportation Command who can tell you how much the military depends upon the ‘fourth arm of defense.’

Later today at the Propeller Club luncheon, I will have the opportunity to share with you my thoughts on the challenges confronting the Nation’s Marine Transportation System and its domestic merchant marine. We must never forget, however, that America’s maritime future is inseparably bound to its past.

The civilian mariners we honor today honored America in their appointed hour of sacrifice. Those who died, those who suffered, and those whom fate blessed with safety during their perilous sea service, deserve our deepest respect and our profound gratitude.

Thank you very much.

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Briefing Room