Agenda - 06-16-2009 - 4gg - Laserfiche WebLink

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y James D. Horton 104 Riverview Ave Camden NC 27921 18 May, 2009 Dear Members of Board of County Commissioners of North Carolina, I need help in assisting some 10,000 U. S. Merchant Marine seamen from WW II to gain recognition as veterans under P.L. 92-202 & 105-368. Because of shortsightedness of two government actions they are being denied eligibility as veterans and therefore VA benefits are not available to them. These actions that prevented them from gaining recognition occurred before the Public Laws were in force. (1) On 20 Mar, 1944, the Commandant issued orders to masters of tugs, towboats and seagoing barges of the requirement for submitting reports of seamen shipped and discharged on form (718), the same one now required to prove employment for eligibility. (2) USCG Reference Information Paper # 77 states "After world War II, the deck and engineering logbooks of vessels operated by the War Shipping Administration (WSA) were turned over to that agency by the ship owners for safekeeping, and were later destroyed by the Maritime Administration, in the 1970s, on the grounds that they were voluminous, costly to house and service and very seldom used for research" (3) Further, this same official USCG document #77, indicates that the three documents required to receive eligibility were (a) shipping and discharge certificates Form (718), (b) ship's deck logs, and (c) paperwork from the company bearing the name of the seaman, ship and destination. Note: I doubt the latter ever happened as it was against regulations to publicize destination of vessel. Remember the WW II slogan" loose lips, sink ships"? Because of government actions removing two of the three documents from the veteran and the third document being impossible to obtain since companies have long since been lost to history, alternative methods of providing acceptable information must be made. Therefore, I am calling on all commissioners of the 100 counties in North Carolina to stand high and support a resolution, such as has been presented by my County of Camden, to show their patriotic support for those that answered the call. They delivered the goods when it was necessary to keep this country safe from all who challenged. We owe them and this is the least that we can do. 1 am counting on you and I know you will come through. Let us tell congress we haven't forgotten those who helped us and we want them to press on as our veterans are leaving us at the rate of 850 per year. We can't wait much longer to honor those that are still alive and, as important; we can now say we have finally thanked them for a job well done. To date, these counties have taken the lead and signed off on the resolution, Camden, Currituck, Pasquotank, Perquimans and Wilson. Many others are scheduled for 18/20 May. This should complete lst & 3`d districts. Districts 2 & 7 are planned for this request. Please develop and approve your resolution and send originals (4 or 5) to me so that I can offer them by district, as a package to each of our Congressional Representatives. (Senators Richard Burr & Kay Hagan, & your respective House Representative (s)). Due to timing of meetings and distances, I am unable to meet with individual counties in preparation of resolutions. Thanking you in advance. Very Respectfully, James D. Horton 252 336 5553