In a ceremony to be held today in Seattle, Washington, Senator Warren F. Magnuson, Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, will present to the master and crew of the SS Meredith Victory a bronze plaque detailing the ship=s exploits in a achieving the greatest rescue by a single ship in the annals of the sea. In making the presentation, Senator Magnuson will reach back sixteen years into the past to the year 1950 and the Korean conflict. It was during this time of the American involvement in South Korea=s fight to maintain its independence that the Meredith Victory earned for itself the right to be called a AGallant Ship@, by effecting the rescue of 14,000 Korean civilians from the threatened communist execution.

The feat occurred at port of Hungnam, upon which in that bleak December North Korean and Chinese communist armies were converging. While the big guns of the U.S. Navy, field artillery, and carrier based planes held the Communists at bay, discharged supplies were reloaded on board American ships in the harbor, along with tens of thousands of American fighting men.

Within the defense perimeter of Hungnam, however,, were thousand upon thousands of Korean refugees, men women, and children, and for this entire civilian population the Communists had decreed death by beheading got aiding the South Korean, American and other allied forces. Even as American troops were being embarked, the thousands of Korean civilian refugees were being shuttled in crash boats from the shore to American ships in the harbor in order to save them. Among these ships was the Meredith Victory, which had been broken out of the Maritime Administration=s National Defense Reserve Fleet when the Korean conflict began in order to carry supplies to our forces fighting in Korea.

Owned by the Maritime Administration, for which she was operated under General Agency Agreement by a private steamship company, Moore-McCormack Lines, the ship was crewed by American merchant seamen as one of the hundreds of American merchant ships carry supplies to Korea under the control of the Navy=s Military Sea Transportation Service.

In command of the Meredith Victory was Captain Leonard P. LaRue of Philadelphia Pa., who ordered the crew to take aboard all refugees possible. Scrambling up cargo nets let over the side, literally thousand of Korean men, women, and children climbed to safety. They filled the holds, the between-deck spaces, the main and boat decks, and clung in the rigging. It was not until more than 14,000 were aboard that the Meredith Victory steamed out of Hungnam to pass through a 30-mile enemy mine field.

With little food and water aboard, with no doctor, not even an interpreter, for three days the Meredith Victory made her way down the coast of Korea. During this time she added to her passenger list five babies born enroute. On Christmas Eve, 1950, with her cargo of humanity aboard, the Meredith Victory arrived at the island of Koji-Do, some 50 miles southwest of Pusan.

In the ship=s log, Captain LaRue wrote: AThe nearness of Christmas carries my thoughts to the Holy Family-how they, too, were cold and without shelter. Like the crucified Christ, these good people suffer through the actions of guilty men." How great was the impact upon Captain LaRue is attested by the fact that he later gave up the sea to take religious vows and become Brother Marinus, Order of Saint Benedict, Saint Paul=s Abbey, Newton, New Jersey.

But though the Meredith Victory>s heroic service to humanity took place in December 1950 and she was later designated a AGallant Ship@ by Act of Congress, today=s ceremony will mark the first occasion for the plaque to be placed aboard the ship. True, her former master and crew had been honored and received commendations for the rescue in which they participated at a ceremony conducted some years ago in the National Press Club in the nation=s capital. But in the meantime, which the Korean conflict successfully terminated, the Meredith Victory had once again been taken out of service along with hundreds of the ships and returned to the quiet harbor of the National Defense Reserve Fleet.

Now, once again, the nation has need for its ship to maintain the long lines of supply to Southeast Asia, and the Meredith Victory, has been reactivated along with some 160 other cargo ships from the reserve fleets. For many of these, as for the Meredith Victory, it is a case of a veteran returning to the wars, again to aid an Asian nation in its fight against communism to maintain its independence. Among the allies to whom it will carry supplies in Southeast Asia will be thousand of South Korean troops, who may well remember that it was this ship that saved 14,000 of their own people from extermination when they too fought for freedom from communism. It may well be that some will remember the name of this ship, for the Government of South Korea gave recognition to the exploits of the ship and its crew.

The ceremonies in which the gallant ship plaque will be placed aboard the Meredith Victory will also mark the completion of her reactivation and her return to the service of the nation. Taking cognization of the Meredith Victory=s achievements of the past and her service in the days to come, the ceremonies will be marked by the reading of messages from both the governments of South Korea and South Vietnam. In this new service, the Meredith Victory will be operated for the Maritime Administration by American President Lines as General Agent and again crew by American merchant seamen, in maintaining the Military Sea Transportation Services' supply lines to South Vietnam.

Nor is there any question that the Meredith Victory will live up to her reputation, for she is a AGallant Ship@ and her master and crew are representative of the finest mariners in the world, the American merchant seamen. And as once before, her mission is in the cause of preserving freedom in the world. It is in this frame that her former master, Brother Marinus, has written in a letter to be read at today=s ceremony in Seattle, Washington: AWithin the Monastic walls of our Benedictine Monastery, located in the colorful hill country of Northern New Jersey, word has been conveyed to me of the reactivation of the SS Meredith Victory.

ADuring the Korean War, I enjoyed the privilege of sailing in this vessel. At present, and for the past twelve years, I have been holding down a berth in another vessel, namely the Barque of Peter@.

AThough approximately sixty miles separate the Monastery from the sea (jokingly, we say the beach is a little wider here) the news of the reactivation rekindles a host of vibrant and treasured memories - memories of a Gallant ship and her complement utilized in a gallant mission of mercy and justice. Distance cannot separate us from cherished recollections of the Meredith Victory and the men constituted her complement@.

AOnce again, in a National crisis, the Meredith Victory will be engaged assisting in an effort to help stem the scourge and evil of communist aggression.@

AMay she and all who serve in her be successful in this endeavor!@

APlease convey to the Master, Officers, and Seamen of the Meredith Victory my sincere congratulations in their new assignment. May they always uphold the highest traditions and ideals of our Country and our Merchant Marine.@

AWishing them God speed and all blessings.@

ASincerely, in Christ

Brother Marinus, O.S.B.

Ex-Master, SS Meredith Victory@