Background
Pursuant to Public Law 105-368 (enacted 11 November 1988), Merchant Mariners of the Second World War gained the right to petition for veterans’ benefits. Among the small ream of documents they must produce is a DD-214 – “[a]s issued under the provisions of Public Law 95-202 (38 USC 106 Note), [it] administratively establishes Active Duty for the purposes of veterans benefits.” Its several boxes provide a terse narrative of a mariner’s various awards and decorations while serving under the auspices of the War Shipping Administration and allied organizations; there is inevitably a line above all others which reads: Merchant Marine Emblem.
The Emblem, or more specifically the Merchant Marine Service Emblem (sometimes called a Service Insignia), was the second decoration legislated by Congress specific to the American Merchant Marine; it supplanted the War Shipping Administration’s administratively-created Maritime Eagle award. As a badge of honor and recognition, the emblem found its way to the caps, chests, collars, coat cuffs, and shoulder boards of American merchant seamen. Upon the war’s close, the Federal government awarded the emblem no longer; instead, it became a piece of identifying insignia for members of the United States Merchant Marine Corps of Cadets at the United States Merchant Marine Academy. As awarded during the war, the metal badge was seen on cadet-midshipman collars and garrison caps until the spring of 1955; a miniature still resides on the Regiment’s cap badge, and an embroidered version graces the coat sleeve cuffs as a medallion. In recent years, the United States Maritime Service at Kings Point has revived the emblem and re-made it into a command-at-sea badge for Masters and Chief Engineers.
Perhaps the broad issue of the emblem to merchant seamen during the Second World War resulted in its absence from post-war literature as being an award to Merchant Mariners. This could be in the semantics of “award of insignia” and not “honor;” however, an award of insignia is considered an honorific act, which would make the emblem an award, not a decoration. Nevertheless, almost every bluewater merchant seaman from the period has the emblem – even the formerly caustic National Maritime Union and Seaman International Union rank and file who railed against Federal emblems and honors. In the strictest of definitions, following Congressional debate leading up to the creation of the awards and decorations of the Merchant Marine, the emblem is an award since it is a representation of special service on the behalf of the United States, and thusly is a mark of honor. Its rightful place is indeed the first line of the DD-214.
Legislation
Hon. Schuyler Otis Bland of Virginia introduced House Resolution 2281 on 5 April 1943 – some months after a similar bill died in committee (as outlined here) – to honor merchant seamen:
After no debate, on 10 May 1943, the Resolution became Public Law 78-52; §1 a. concerned the device which was to become the Merchant Marine Service Emblem:
The definitions and design, and more importantly, who was to receive the Merchant Marine Service Emblem came some months later in the Federal Register, Saturday, 25 September 1943 p. 13070:
Design
The design of the new badge was not as bold and stylish as its predecessor – the Maritime Eagle – but held an elegant, lasting charm. It married two elements familiar to all merchant seamen who attended training at the various War Shipping Administration Training Stations – the ubiquitous compass card used in boxing the compass training – and the federal shield of the United States Maritime Commission (albeit with the cable tidied up). The badge was designed by Rene Paul Chambellan and struck at The Medallic Art Company (MACO); incidentally, its die was produced just before that of the “Merchant Marine Medal” which came to be called the Mariner’s Medal.
Not included in the legislation was how to wear the emblem. Luckily, guidance is found in the King Point’s Polaris issue November 1943, p. 49; by 1944 – these instructions match images of merchant seamen of the period. However, in King Point’s case, the emblem began appearing on cadet-midshipmen collars in May 1944 and was found in Regulations in 1945. An embroidered version of the emblem also found its way to cadet-midshipman cuffs in July 1944 – when new dress uniforms were issued across the Regiment. In time, the emblem came to be called “Manhole” by cadet-midshipmen, and so it remained until the Academy deleted it from collars and garrison hats in Spring 1955. After this date, the metal emblem was no more.
May 1944 – first photograph of wear at USMMA
United States Maritime Service, 2003
Due in large part to the efforts of Captain Eric York Wallischeck, USMS (Ret.) at the United States Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, in October 2003, the United States Maritime Service reissued a renovated version of the emblem following the newly legislated 46 U.S.C. § 51701 d. “United States Maritime Service Awards Program;” this legislation amended §1306 of the Merchant Marine Act, 1936 (46 U.S.C. App. 1295e) by adding:
Previously, the United States Maritime Service had no specifically enumerated awards; the 2003 legislation remedied the lack. It is important to note that the cessation award of the Merchant Marine Service Emblem as an award was coincident with the end of the Second World War on 8 November 1946. Thus, as a nod to that older tradition, the emblem reappeared as the “United States Maritime Service Command At Sea Badge (Deck Officer/Engine Officer).” The rule governing the badge’s wear has it centered above all ribbons, following the stipulation outlined in 1943. Since both wartime manufacturers of the badge, The Medallic Art Company and American Emblem Company, had long-shuttered and production dies lost, Vanguard Industries created a new badge not entirely faithful to the original design, but a faithful interpretation of the law.
