A Shame on America: Merchant Marine Heroes Denied Benefits for 60 Years.WASHINGTON -- Bestselling author Brian Herbert Brian Patrick Herbert (born 1947) is a best selling American author who lives in Washington state. He is the elder son of famed science fiction author Frank Herbert. Brian and his wife, Jan Herbert, have been happily married for forty years (as of 2007). wishes he could send giant sandworms to march on Washington, D.C. After all the years of injustice, something needs to be done to get the attention of the legislators and help the U.S. Merchant Marine. Millions of people know that Brian's father, Frank Herbert Franklin Patrick Herbert, Jr. (October 8, 1920 – February 11, 1986) was a critically acclaimed and commercially successful American science fiction author. He is best known for the novel Dune and its five sequels. , was the legendary author of DUNE dune, mound or ridge of wind-blown sand formed in arid regions and along coasts. Dunes are common in most of the great deserts of the world. Often a dune begins to form because material is deposited by the wind as it encounters a bush, a rock, or other obstacle to , considered the greatest classic in the genre -- and that sandworms lived beneath the sands of the planet, rising like sea monsters This article is about the BBC television program. For the legendary creatures, see Sea monster. Sea Monsters was a BBC television program which used computer-generated imagery to show past life in Earth's seas. from the depths. If only those behemoths could actually come to life and ring the capitol city Capitol City may refer to:
But that is fiction, and today Brian has written about something even more strange, the reality of a terrible injustice committed against American citizens. During World War II, the U.S. Merchant Marine suffered a higher death rate than any of the armed forces. They were civilians serving in war zones, transporting military troops and supplies under the direction of the War Department. But because they were civilians, the merchant seamen who survived received no military benefits, no G.I. Bill The G.I. Bill (officially titled the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944) provided for college or vocational education for returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as GIs or G.I.s) as well as one year of unemployment compensation. or its equivalent. Brian points out that a high percentage of those seamen were of minority races, and many were physically disabled and unable to enlist in the armed forces -- so this injustice constituted illegal discrimination against minorities and the handicapped. While Brian Herbert is best known for writing his own popular "Dune" novels (with Kevin J. Anderson
Kevin J. Anderson (born March 27, 1962) is a prolific American science fiction author. He has written spin-off novels for Star Wars, StarCraft, Titan A.E. ), he has now taken on the cause of the U.S. Merchant Marines. His book, THE FORGOTTEN HEROES, chronicles the heroism of American merchant seamen, all the way back to the Revolutionary War, and provides a fascinating glimpse into the men of the sea who served this country so valiantly. The book is filled with evidence of the wrongs that were committed against these men, and provides a political analysis of what went so terribly wrong in this country, and what we need to do as a nation and a people to heal the wounds. At long last, there is a bill in Congress to provide benefits for merchant seamen. The passage of H.R. 23 would be a step in the right direction, and we urgently ask for the help of anyone who can provide it. |
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