Art Costan (my uncle) and his friend Bill came up with the ideal of a
USMM memorial in the 80's. In the 90's he collected the first 10,000
dollars from his MM buddies in Nevada and gave the check to Bob Dole to
get the ball rolling. Now anyone can visit the memorial.


This striking memorial, the first national memorial to merchant seamen
in the United States, was commissioned by a group of local seamen to
honor merchant marine veterans from all wars. At the height of World
War II, there were 215,000 merchant mariners, including many teenage
boys too young to enlist in the military, and men classified as 4-F,
yet caught up in the patriotic fervor that swept the country after the
Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. According to official statistics, more
than 6,795 civilian merchant seamen lost their lives in World War II
for a causality rate of 1:32 (the highest casualty rate of any
service); 600 were taken prisoner; and more than 650 of their ships
were sunk. Unofficial statistics cite 8,651 merchant mariners killed at
sea, 11,000 wounded, 1,100 died from their wounds ashore, 604 taken
prisoner and 60 died in prison camps.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...80px-AMMVM.jpg

The bronze statue depicts two merchant seamen climbing a Jacob's ladder
after making a rescue at sea. The designer of the statue was the
Wilmington, CA sculptor, Jasper D'Ambrosi. His creation of the original
design was finished and accepted in early 1986. However, D'Ambrosi died
August 1 of the same year before starting the final clay model. The
enlargement was done by his sons, Marc and Michael as a tribute to
their father. The Jacobs ladder was cast at the family foundry, Arizona
Bronze, in Tempe, AZ in 1987. Although the land for the memorial was
donated by the City virtually all of the $700,000 for the project came
from private donors.

A bronze plaque on the memorial states, "The United States Merchant
Marine has faithfully served our country in times of war and peace
hauling cargo to every corner of the world. This Memorial is dedicated
to those brave men and women of all races, creeds and colors who
answered that call to serve."


American Merchant Marine Veterans Memorial
South Harbor Blvd At West 6th Street
San Pedro, CA 90731

My uncle Art passed away before the memorial was open. But he had to be
real pround knowing what was coming.

Us Merchant Marine Salute you Art Costan!

WELL DONE SIR! WELL DONE.

Joe