In World War II, the U.S. Merchant Marine played a crucial role in every theater of war. Without them, without the bridge of merchant ships delivering weapons, troops, food, ammo, and fuel from the home front to the battle... more » lines, there would have been no Allied victory. While transiting the ocean, the United States Merchant Marine had to contend with German U-boats, dive-bombers, surface raiders, auxiliary raiders, and mines. When World War II ended in 1945, nearly 80 thousand Allied mariners and 5,000 ships lay at the bottom of the sea. They paid in blood for the right to be called veterans--but it took them over 40 years to be recognized. In this poignant episode of "War Stories with Oliver North," you'll hear first hand accounts from mariners like Frank Trubisz, whose tanker was torpedoed right off the coast of Georgia. Meet George Duffy and Stanley Willner who managed to survive a blistering attack on the high seas, only to be captured by the Germans, and eventually enslaved by the Japanese. You'll also meet Pete Petersen, a member of Hitler's elite Unterseebootwaffe, who will give you a tour of a captured German U-boat. This is the story of the United States Merchant Marine."« less