G. K. Butterfield: “Let me first thank Mr. Takano for yielding, and I thank all of you for your advocacy on this bill. This is a very, very…”

“Let me first thank Mr. Takano for yielding, and I thank all of you for your advocacy on this bill. This is a very, very important piece of legislation for our veterans. Mr. Speaker, we are running out of time to finally recognize the critical contributions of a forgotten but critical segment of brave men and women who served our country during World War II. Because we are running out of time, I urge my colleagues to pass H.R. 677, which contains provisions from my bill, H.R. 1288, that would create a pathway for these forgotten individuals to finally be recognized for their service to our country. I am referring to an overlooked segment of the World War II Merchant Marine, known as Coastwise Merchant Seamen. These men and women, Mr. Speaker, served the vital role of transporting raw materials and supplies between our domestic military installations and production facilities during the war. Their jobs were absolutely essential to the war effort. To this day, many of these mariners have never been recognized for their service, largely at no fault of their own, but rather because of decisions made by the Federal Government. It has been virtually impossible for many of these mariners to obtain the required documents needed to prove their World War II service due to government orders that either had these documents destroyed or never kept at all.…”