Mission of Respect

Serving as an auxiliary to the Navy during World War II, the Merchant Marines were the supply line that provided everything Allied armies needed in order to survive and fight on foreign battlefields. Working through Nazi U-boat infested waters, they pulled the most dangerous duty during that war. Casualty rates were dramatically higher than in any formal branch of the military, yet it wasn't until the Reagan era that veterans' status and benefits were awarded these brave men.

Recently Tehachapi resident Captain Ed Sullivan, MA Field Representative for the MA National WWII Memorial Committee, along with a group of five retired veterans, went on a Mission of Respect. Sullivan said the trip to Russia was to honor his father Ed Sullivan Sr. and the men who kept that lifeline alive during the war. Ed Sullivan Sr., a US Naval armed guard served on the USS Francis Scott Key, and was a survivor of the l944 Forgotten Convoy that was frozen in port for nine months in Murmansk, Northern Russia. Their ship provided food and needed supply to help keep the line open to Russia and support the "Siege of Leningrad".

The Mission of Respect started in St. Petersburg, Russia on Dec. 23. Throughout their stay the group held daily prayer vigils to extend respect and to honor the sacrifices made by both Russian and American veterans and Merchant Marines. A ceremony was held in conjunction with the Piskarevskoe Memorial and the Russian Geographic Society where the credentials of Sullivan's father, a copy of Captain Arthur Moore's "Bible to the US Merchant Marine" and Sullivan's book "Daddy's Not Comin' Home" which also honored the memory of Merchant Marines, were installed as a permanent exhibit in the WWII Museum in St. Petersburg. After meeting Oleg Blaev, Director of the Piskarevskoe Memorial, Captain Sullivan received an unexpected surprise. The Director of the Russian Memorial presented Sullivan with the Piskarevskoe Memorial Peace Prize Medallion as a thank you for promoting peace and honoring the Russian & American sacrifice in WWII.  Captain Sullivan said, "The memory and spirit of the merchant marines who sacrificed to go to Russia are perpetually in motion with the spirits of the men who died at Leningard."

Another highlight of the journey was a visit to Murmansk. Sullivan said his father returned deaf from firing the deck guns of the USS Francis Scott Key defending the women and children in the Murmansk Village. In addition as a head of the gun crew his Dad took over the cook job when the cook went down. He announced as the new cook that there would be no wasted food and under US Naval armed guard at night delivered the scrap food to the women and children. On a whim Sullivan posted his Dad's picture with a notice to Murmansk grandmothers asking if any remembered his Dad feeding families to come to the daily prayer vigil. Said Sullivan "I can't describe the emotion of a Russian grandmother who arrived crying. She shared the story of how his father's boxed scrap food from the naval ship saved their lives in WWII. Another woman shared how thankful she was to meet the son of the man who kept her family alive with food during the war."