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Frank Hodges
Frank B. Hodges served in the Merchant Marine from 1942 to 1945 as a wiper and fireman. He served on ten different ships of which two of the ships (SS Alcoa Mariner and SS Jacksonville) sunk while he was serving on them. On August 30, 1944 he was on an American tanker, the USS Jacksonville when it was torpedoed by a German submarine in the icy North Atlantic. The tanker had a cargo of 135,000 gallons of gasoline which caused a major explosion. He was one of two survivors out of crew of 79 men. Hodges and one other survivor Marcellus Raymond Wegs, who was a gunner for the Armed Guard, managed to jump overboard into the flaming water and swim away from the sinking ship. Hodges ended up with a broken leg, smashed ribs and was badly burned. He was in the water for about an hour and a half when a destroyer escort picked them up. He was in a British hospital for about seven and a half weeks and another month to convalesce.
Florida State / Institute on World War II / The Merchant Marine
The Merchant Marine
Overlooked in History
Overlooked in the history of World War II, the United States Merchant Marine was instrumental in winning the war. President Roosevelt explained the importance of the Mariners to the war effort in 1943, stating that “the men [and women] of our American Merchant Marine have pushed through despite the perils of the submarine, the dive bomber and the surface raider. They have returned voluntarily to their jobs at sea again and again, because they realized that the life-lines to our battle fronts would be broken if they did not carry out their vital part in this global war. . . In their hands, our vital supply lines are expanding. Their skill and determination will keep open the highway to victory and unconditional surrender.”
The Merchant Marine participated in all fronts of the war. In the Pacific, the Merchant Seamen partook in the invasions alongside the military, notably Okinawa and Iwo Jima. During the invasion of Normandy, 2,700 Merchant ships were used to transport troops and munitions. Despite its successes, the Merchant Marine suffered enormous losses. The poorly armed and protected Merchant ships were susceptible to German submarines, notably the “wolfpacks,” mines, armed raiders and destroyers, aircraft, “kamikaze” attacks, and the weather. As the war progressed, more protection was given to the Merchant ships. Serving alongside the Merchant Mariners, the U.S. Navy Armed Guard provided firepower against enemy attacks. The convoys, used to provide military escorts and air coverage, decreased the number of losses, but the slower ships and those on the outside of the formation remained targets of the enemy attacks. Though these efforts were implemented to protect the Seamen, the Merchant Marine had the second highest casualty rate with one in every twenty-six men dying. The number of Mariners killed is estimated to be around 8,500, with another 11,000 wounded.
The success of the Mariners, during World War II, is best summed up by General Douglas MacArthur who stated, “I hold no branch in higher esteem than the Merchant Marine.” Motivated by a duty to their country, the men and women of the Merchant Marine valiantly risked their lives to provide the war effort with the necessary supplies, including troops, food, ammunition, tanks, winter boots, bombs, airplanes, fuel and raw materials.
