The Fourth Arm · Episode 6 of 11 · 21 min
The Orphan Who Sailed the U-Boat Atlantic
A penniless orphan from Ripon, Wisconsin found the one academy that would pay him to learn, through an advertisement in the back of Popular Mechanics, and his acceptance arrived the same day as his draft notice. This personal thread follows his cadet crossings of the U-boat Atlantic and the arc to the Public Health Service the merchant marine created, with family memory labeled apart from the documented record.
Who's who
- Franklin D. Roosevelt+28 more episodesPresident who dedicated the Merchant Marine Academy in 1943
Where it happens
- Ripon, WisconsinHometown of the orphaned cadet at the center of the episode
- Kings Point, New York+3 more episodesSite of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy
- North Atlantic Ocean+2 more episodesConvoy route where U-boats sank ships in 1942-45
Timeline
- 1798Twenty-cents-a-month seamen's fund creates the Marine Hospital Service
- 1938Merchant Marine Academy established; Kings Point site acquired in 1942
- 1942Worst year for merchant fleet losses to U-boats
- September 1943Roosevelt dedicates the Academy, comparing it to West Point and Annapolis
Still debated
The episode separates documented facts, such as the Academy's wartime structure and the Atlantic casualty figures, from family memory that is flagged as unverified, including specific convoys, ships and the circumstances of enrollment.
← Previous142 Died as Students: The WWII Cadet Double-StandardNext →Called Civilians: The 43-Year Fight for Veteran Status
Connected episodes in other series
The Web of Steel: America at Peak RailWho Tore Up the Tracks? · Episode 1Also features Franklin D. Roosevelt
The Good War's Fine Print: The WWII Draft's Forgotten LosersGreeting: America and the Draft · Episode 5Also features Franklin D. Roosevelt
A Town the War Built: Marin City's Long Fight to IntegrateLiberty Ships, Closed Doors · Episode 1Also features Franklin D. Roosevelt
How the CCC Secretly Rehearsed World War IIRoosevelt's Forest Army · Episode 3Also features Franklin D. Roosevelt