fought in this unforgiving forest is without question. theirs is a war story that deserves to be told. i'm oliver north. good night.

>> i'm oliver north. welcome aboard the ss jeremiah. now in san francisco harbor. the o'brian is the only it's the only unaltered operational survivor of the normandy invasion. they were up against the formidable enemy. tonight you'll meet one of those who stopped to send this ship and others like her to the bottom. this is the story of unsung heroes who served in every theater from the invasion on north africa to the landings on d-day. you'll see tonight they paid a price in blood to be called veterans. over 700 merchant ships were sunk and 1 of every 16 merchant mariners were killed. that's a higher casualty ratio than any of our armed services. this is the story of the united states merchant marine.

1939 america was still recovering from the great depression and money was hard to come back. a gallon of milk cost 51 cent and the average income was $1,266. people were desperate for work. they came from small towns in port cities. they were old men and young boys. some had been sailing their whole lives and others had been rejected by their draft boards. >> i had gone to try to sign up for the air corp. i was rejected because my eyes were bad. i had poor eyesight. >> i wanted to get in the marines. they turned me down because i got hurt pretty bad playing football. >> i was on my own. >> the mariers all had one thing in common. they were hungry for adventure and motivated by a strong sense of patriotism and duty.

september 1th, 1939. there was a blitz on poland. world war ii had begun. fortress england now stood alone against germany. he was the commander of the sea boat fleet and one of hitler's right hand men. >> he was a submarine skipper during world war i. >> pete peterson was a machinist. he grew up near the danish border. >> he understood that the supply to great britain of either

equipment, food was essential. if we could disrupt that supply and keep it from going to its destination, that would be a great war effort. he was absolutely right. >> from june to october 1940, german u boats sank 130 ships and one-half million tons of britain shipping. michael higgins is the author of action and a former merchant mariner. >> it's also referred to as fat yard, the fat years when many, many merchant ships were being sunk. >> on land the enemy was just as formidable. they staged an all out assault. the battle of britain raged for four months. in a desperate move british prime minister winston churchill to a man he met only once,

franklin roosevelt. f.d.r. was reluctant to get involved in another european war. >> f.d.r. did arrange for aide to be given to great britain. it was very much under the table and within the constraints of the neutrality act of 1937. >> they were carrying passengers or freight to countries wart. f.d.r. found a way around it and introduced a new concept, lend lease. >> this is warships that figure in the historic trade that united states has made with britain. the ships will aid britain. >> it was a master stroke on the part of f.d.r. without united states support england would have fallen. it's a slam dunk, no brainer.

the merchant marines had been destroyed. >> they developed and modernized the merchant marine. it would promote u.s. commerce and in times of war serve as a naval auxillary. >> shipyards were the answer. valued at only a million and a half dollars each liberty ships were 440 feet long and could carry 10,000 tons of cargo at 11 knots. bernard was a native new yorker when he first set eyes on the liberty ship. >> there are thousands of these ships put together in very short

order. 2,708. the fastest liberty wads built. >> sleek lines. >> it wasn't sleek. they called it the ugly du duckling. they rowed and they pitched depending on the seas. sometimes it would come down and you hope whoever was welding didn't do it on a monday morning as they did it some other day during the week. >> on september 27th, 1941, the first liberty ship was launched from the shipyard in baltimore. f.d.r. declared it liberty day. >> this is a memorable day in the history of american shipbuilding. today from dawn to dark, 14 ships are being laun ch launchen tennessee the atlantic and the pacific. >> less than three months after the first ship sailed, pearl harbor was attacked by japan.

congress declared war the next day and germany declared war on the united states four days later. it would take seven to 15 tons of supplies to support one soldisold ier for a year. it was the responsibility of over 250,000 merchant mariners to man the fleet. >> some called it the pearl harbor of the atlantic. find out how the german u boats sankts ships. sankts ships. that's when folks think about what they get from alaska, they think salmon and energy. but the energy bp produces up here creates something else as well: jobs all over america. engineering and innovation jobs. advanced safety systems & technology. shipping and manufacturing. across the united states, bp supports more than a quarter million jobs. when we set up operation in one part of the country, people in other parts go to work. that's not a coincidence. it's one more part of our commitment to america.

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at war sailors were needed to man the fleets. near 250,000 seamen answered the

call. >> where did you go do school? >> i had to go to sheep head bay for five weeks. we had to learn radio code. we went up to boston harbor. he joined three months before pearl harbor. >> we rode and road. halfway around the world. >> stanley volunteered right after high school. >> i got appointed in 1938. i got my mates license and i was automatically in the naval reserve. >> this shoulder is lower than that shoulder. >> 17-year-old george duffey wanted to get out of his home. he tried to get into the naval academy but ended up in the merchant marine instead. >> we spent mornings in the classroom and the afternoon we worked in the sail life,

splicing, doing seamanship. we were getting ready for training crews in the spring. >> a hodgepodge of volunteers. they converged on union halls for their next assignments. >> all the jobs would be posted. you'd look at the bulletin board. >> 19-year-old ken pride left oklahoma to become a seaman. >> it was everything to be seaman. >> while europe raged at war merchant ships supplied vital supplies. >> the germans were looking for way to strike back against america. >> they wanted to be prepared with a plan of action. what he came up with was a plan called operation drum beat. >> he launched operation drum

beat in december. >> it was to be a swift coordinated strike that would bloody america's nose on its front door. >> as soon as the u boats left france, british intelligent sent the chief of naval operations alerting him that you boats were heading to america. admiral king chose to ignore the warning. >> there was a lot america could have learn eed from the early ds of world war ii. >> he was once described by a junior officer as being meaner than hell. he was a man who inspired respect, if not love. even those general eisenhower would write one thing that might help us to win this war is to get someone to shoot king, end

quote. >> our mission was simply sink ships. >> sailors like peterson was part of the elite submarine fleet. not part of operation drum beat. he would go on three missions to the american east coast. he said his experience was similar to that depicted in the 1982 german movie, "das boot." >> i was incredibly seasick the first day at sea. >> it would carry up to 22 torpedos. >> the carnage would begin on january 12th. >> the five u boats in operation drum beat were highly successfully. in three weeks they sent 26 vessel, 162,000 of gross registered allied ships and americans to a watery grave. >> it was a shooting gallery.

they had no idea how to handle it. everything was brightly lit up. >> the navy did nothing. they were sitting ducks. >> not only were they sinking ships, they were putting german spies ashore. >> who landed secretly in florida and on long island put ashore by u boats. >> it wasn't until the summer of '42 that blackouts were ordered. >> he was the first drum beater. he was known to be a tougher commander, but a very, very, very successful one. >> he kept meticulous logs of the ships he sank. >> on april 7th, cap pain hardegen said we're marching again tight along the land from

lighthouse to lighthouse that burn as if during peacetime. >> on april 8th, 1942, u-1 was waiting for its next kill. >> after 12:15 he spied one tanker proceeding north ward and it was the ss oklahoma. >> fired a torpedo at the unarmed okunarm ed oklahoma but missed. an hour and a half he tried again, this time he hit his target insignificatantly killin sailors. >> sent her to the bottom in 40 feet of water. >> she was hauling 89,000 barrels of heating oil from texas to new jersey. >> at that point you're right off the island. was your shipped armed? >> yeah. two two by fours we stuck sthem

tolgt and wrapped them around. >> sent about the task of taking out the so baton rouge. >> i figured i grab my life preserver. i laid out and fell asleep. woke up. boom. hitting the bunkers in the engine room. >> did you know where you were at that point? >> no. i didn't know anything. must have thrown me up in the air. here i am with water coming down all over me and everything. there's nothing worse than to see a big ball of fire go up. >> 22 mariners were killed in the attack. 44 ships were sunk during the war and become the sixth most

successful boat. >> winston churchill said who controls the atlantic will win the war. the war. learn how the your customers, our financing. your aspirations, our analytics. your goals, our technology. introducing synchrony financial, bringing new meaning to the word partnership. banking. loyalty. analytics. synchrony financial. enagage with us.

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1942 over 400 allied ships were sunk by german u-boats killing nearly 5,000 seaman. casualties among be u-beat were also staggering. >> serving on the submarine was a very dangerous job. 80% of the people did not come back. they tdied. >> after spending 333 days at

sea pete peterson made it back to port. >> it came back to norway. we couldn't land in france anymore. the first day we could barely walk because we hadn't walked for four months. usually there's a band playing most of the time. we had our own words to the song. now we're back home and we die of foaming beer because 518 got on a pier. when i came to the united states i didn't know it was an american song. i had no idea. >> by may of '42, they realized we were losing the commerce war because of the u-boat menace. the supply line to britain was still in peril. >> british learned a valuable lesson in world war i that the best way to protect shipping was to run if groups.

arranged with most valuable cargo in the middle. >> convoys could span up to nine miles. by the end of summer the number of merchant marine losses dropped significantly. admiral carl had another plan. >> what he envisioned to have a fleet of u-boats 15 to 20 strong. the wolf back would assemble and attack at night on the surface and effectively take out convoy. >> some of the most heroic submarine captains were known to drive right into the middle of a convoy, surface and start picking off their targets. >> they soon found out that u-boats weren't the only menace. >> we were attacked by german planes. >> they were on their maiden

voyage to deliver supplies for the russians. >> i heard a loud explosion. i thought we were hit. it wasn't us. it was the ship next to us. i was really scared. >> you have to marvel at the uncommon valor exhibited by these merchants. it was a true gauntlet for them to run. >> it was crucial for the u.s. and great britain to keep russia in the war. >> we helped those russian people over there. they couldn't have survived. >> bernard found himself in a 25-ship convoy on what became known as the merman's run. a 5,000-mile trip from the united states. >> you're now going into what many people say is the second

worst ocean in the world. >> the north atlantic is a horrible place to be in any kind of a storm. >> how long can a person live many that water? >> i give them five minutes. the spray, weatherer hits t hit guns. the ice was sometimes five inches thick on the front of the ship. they had to use hammers to break the ice off. >> it was the longest and the costliest. ♪ mr. daniels. mr. daniels. look at this. what's this?he cyeah.. yoshi, we're back. yes, sir! ♪ more shipping! more shipping! ♪

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news. by the end of 1943 the pendulum swung in favor of the

allies. >> the air gap that existed in the mid-atlantic was closed. liberators were able to strike u-boats in the mid-atlantic. the convoy system had finally been honed and detailed. >> now they have radar. they have recruit sonar. they are breaking the codes of german submarine messages that are being sent. >> the shipbuilding effort were able to crank out more ships than being sunk. >> it was a combination of all these factors. >> we were well on our way to winning the war in the atlantic. many merchant ships had to brave the seas alone. >> we were traveling alone. on our ship we had ten navy boys and one 14-inch gun and two ..50

caliber machine guns and that's all we had. >> the american leader was a c 1 class vessel. it was a little over 400-feet long. we left new york on the 26th of april in 1942. we had a full cargo of war supplies consigned to the russians and british. bob wire, army boots and nine twin engine bombers on deck. we red in the paper that the german navy had two radars operating in the atlantic ocean. everybody knew they were out there but nobody told us what to look for or how to avoid them.

>> consider to be grand admiral secret weapons, they appeared to be neutral merchant ships but were armed vessels. ten of them were in operation during world war ii. >> they operated in the indian ocean and they operated in the atlantic. >> these guys were pirates. they flew anybody's flag they felt like. one of them diagnosed as a japanese ship. she approached ships and boom. >> it just looked like an ordinary merchant ship until it went into action. >> september 7th, 1942, the american leader and her crew of 58 left cape town, south africa bound for new york. >> for this radar hit us at about 10:00 at night. >> we were headed due west, 270 degrees. up out of the dark came another

vessel and bang, bang, bang. they expended about 150 four inch and nine-inch shells into the ship. >> they hit storage fuel tank and when they hit that tank and set it afire when that oil just run all over us. fire in the sea and fire along our decks. first thing i heard after we got hit was abandon ship. >> the american leader was on fire and sinking. we had nothing but a few life rafts. we were in an enviable position. i had 22 people on this life raft. >> i can see it right now. i can see that ship going down. it's like setting out in your yard and watching your house burn. >> they were picked up by the nickels crew. they joined 500 other prisoners

of the germans who's ships were targeted and sent to the bottom. for the next three months the nickel continued to lure unsuspecting merchant ships. on november 29th, 1942 third mate stanley willner and the crew were next. >> tell me about coming back out of india headed home. >> about 400 miles off of madgascar. it was real cloudy and dark. it was overcast. it was about 9:30. i noticed something in the distance. in the water hanging on the a piece of wreckage. i don't know hold w i got in th water. they said our ship sunk in 10 or 15 minutes. >> the ship that sunk you was a

german raider. >> right. called a nickel. they shelled us until it went down. >> no warning given whatsoever? >> none. >> no signal stop? >> no. they said they spotted us in the afternoon and tailed us and doubled in front of us and waited for us and let us have it. >> stanley and his best friend were among the 19 survivors. the germans kept us on there for three months. gave us wonderful medical treatment or i wouldn't be here. >> you had been badly wounded? >> i had a big hunk out of my leg. >> your ship disappeared without a trace. >> disappeared without trace. >> no one heard from the crew until 1945. find out how these brave young americans ended up as prisoners of japanese. that's next on "war stories." new york state is jump-starting business with startup-ny. an unprecedented program that partners businesses

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disguised as nuclear vessels they were highly effective. >> i think if we knew how bad it was, we might have something to say about whether we went to sea or not. we didn't know how desperate the situation was out there. on october 17th, 1943, she finally met her demise when she was sunk by a submarine.

>> one thing none of these marine mariners never imagined was becoming japanese prisoners of war. stanley and his friend dennis were handed over to the japanese in occupied singapore. >> they put us off in changy first. it's like time square in new york. it was a big scaffold there. there was about six or eight naked women decomposed there. in the treatment you get by the japanese is entirely different than the germans. >> they just beat you unmercifully for nothing. >> they had been there for a years when they transferred. >> tell me about building a bridge. >> the japanese given you the same treatment you'd give a cockroach in your house, step on

it. >> that wasn't the worse of it. after months of building the death railway, stanley witnessed a most horrifying scene. >> this little one arm, one leg englishman used to heat the water in tank for the japanese officer. we were coming in from work. there was all kind of commotion and screaming and hollering going on. we knew something was up. we got in there and they marched right up in there. we see the water under the drum and boiling water. they picked this little englishman up and threw him in. they said he made the water too hot for the japanese officer. boy, that scream never went away. >> the death railway would claim the lives of over 100,000 slave laborers. >> how much did you weigh? >> 75 pounds, 74. something like that in the low 70s. >> they transferred us to a

supply ship. turned us over to the japanese. >> they gave us a casual inspection and he told us to get whatever belongings we had. that was it. that's how we became japanese prisoners. >> duffey made a pow journal. >> we found out we're going to build a railway. >> they hit a dirt road and widened the dirt road with additional embankment. this was not a long rail. we had about 138 miles. ken had gone in the middle of 1944 when i left the go. he had already been sent to japan. >> ken pride was being transferred to japan when it was torpedoed by an american submarine. >> i was sleeping on the hatch.

raised up and i seen this torpedo coming. it come right around the bow of the ship. it blew me up in the air. i just tumbled and tumbled. i don't know how many times i tumbled. i popped up out the sea and the ship was gone. it was that fast. there was dead people everywhere. just everywhere. all nationalities. there were 770 of us there. 212 came up alive. he was picked up by a japanese ship and sent to work in deplorable conditions in a coal mine. >> they worked on us mentally. on our holiday they set up a big banquet. everything like big roast turkey, big ham.l the trimmings here at home and they would

march us in there and set us down and they would take pictures of us and then they stand us up and march us out. >> they were leased in 1945 shortly after japan surrendered. it's hard to imagine they'd want to go back to their hell but two of them did. in 1976, dennis and stanley went back to the bridge over the river. it was march of forgiveness. a reunion of japanese officers and their former pows. >> do you feel like going over that bridge? >> i wouldn't walk across it. roly brought a flag from new york gave him flag over the white house. i got one from senator bird but i wouldn't walk across the bridge with them. i didn't forgive them. german u-boat 505 falls into american hands. we'll take you aboard. [ male announcer ] eligible for medicare? that's a good thing, but it doesn't cover everything.

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the allies were well on their way to winning the war. the u.s. navy was still up to achieving something that hadn't been done since 1815. >> the plan was put into action. sink it if you have to, but if possible get aboard the submarine and bring it home. for about two to three months they train boarding parties. >> they found its target. german u-boat 505 was lurking in the waters. >> it was the morning of june 4th, 1944 about 11:00 a.m.

they got a solid contact on the u-505 about 100 feet down and immediately sat upon a death attack. >> badly damaged on the water. had the opportunity to come to the surface. abandoned the ship and fully expected that the submarine was going to sink. >> a boarding party jumped in their well boats with attack plans in place. in about 11 minutes were able to get aboard u-505 and basically gain control over the boat. it was an amazing story. >> these men are the cream of the german navy. they just can't believe that their ship has been captured. >> americans quickly raised the stars and stripes. >> after it was captured, it was towed to bermuda. it was immediately put into dry dock and investigate bid all kinds of naval intelligence personnel. the american navy probably expected to see the greatness of

german engineering and incredible build quality. when they got to inspect them up close, they realized that the quality wasn't kwhat they expected. >> it's at the museum of science and industrial in chicago. >> it's dedicated to the sailors that lost their lives in two world wars primarily due to the submarines. >> pete peterson took "war stories" on a special tour. >> there is one of the holes caused by the enemy fire. we have entered through the side into the electric motor room. in the back is the rear torpedo room. this was used for quarters for recruits to sleep. a certain part of the crew, mostly engineers slept in that. in fact, my bunk was the second to the left. i was sleeping like sleeping on

a ton of tnt. no problem. you get used to that sort of thing. one interesting thing is the term hard bunking. what it means is that actually two people slept in one bunk. not at the same time, of course. back here kind of an interesting little item and that was one of toilets. there were two toilets aboard a sub like there. to go to the toilet on a sub is an experience in itself. i don't want to go into details but one of the toilets was right here. it was called a washroom. believe me it was no washing in there. we're in the kitchen now. full-time cook who had nothing else to do but cook worked here and can you imagine in this small space cooking for 55 people. >> by the spring of '45, german

u-boat wrs no longer a threat to the allies. they continued to rise. >> on april 30th, 1945, he committed suicide and next day, may 1st, he was the only other person to have the title. he surrendered the german forces on the 7th of may, 1945. dunitz was tried for war crime and being found guilty on four counts. he was sentenced to ten years in prison. he survived until december 24th, 1980. >> at the end of war our troops came home to celebrations and the benefits of veteran status but not the merchant mariners weren't considerated part of the

military. >> there were no parades. there were no benefits. >> some merchants became famous yet none of them were recognized as veterans. >> i took my wife down to dance in port jefferson. i walked up to the door. they wouldn't let us in. i was a merchant marine. can you believe it? >> when you got back home, it turns out that our government wasn't willing to qualify you as veterans. tell me what that meant to you. >> i felt bad because the british they were veterans and australians were veterans and even the japanese consider a pow. >> when president roosevelt signed the g.i. bill he said i trust congress will soon provide similar opportunities to members of the merchant marine who risked their lives time and again during war for the welfare of the country but f.d.r. died before it could be implemented. >> with f.d.r.'s death so went

the hopes to receive veteran status. >> 40 years later a wrong was righted. in 1988, president reagan gave them their due. >> it only happened because of lobbying on the part of individuals like myself and other men throughout the united states, hundreds of thousands of us that we were able to persuade the congress and the senate to grant veteran status to us. >> were you bitter about that? >> i love my country. i can't hate my country. it didn't affect me in any way other than the mere fact we're not considered to be a veteran. how could you say i'm not a veteran when i'm a veteran. i was there. >> you got to once again honor their per sis tans. their per sis tans. >> i'm oliver north

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world war ii the u.s. merchant marine played a crucial role in every theater of war. without them delivering weapons, food ammo and fuel from the home front to the battle lines, there would have been no allied victory. when world war ii ended in 1945, nearly 80,000 allied merchant mariners and 5,000 ships lay at the bottom of the sea. president franklin roosevelt said as time goes on it will be greater public understanding och our merchant's record. time has gone on and the merchant marine has as well. the vast weapons and equipment used to fight operation iraqi freedom was delivered by merchant mariners. for those who serve and continue to serve, theirs is war story that deserves to be told. i'm oliver north, good night. ne

kennedy: between isis and ebola the news is very disconcerting president you get the feeling the world could easily unravel. it's a little uncreative to -- tonight we thought we would widen the net to find all the ways the world could possibly end. how prepared are you for an alien invasion. what about a nuclear strike that melts our financial grid. how quickly could a financial collapse end our economy. we'll spell it out tonight. apocalypse how, this is "the independents." i'm you