#205: Seven Brothers, the Merchant Marine, and the War Against Hitler's U-boats

The Art of Manliness

Philosophy, Society & Culture, Education

4.7 • 14.8K Ratings

🗓️ 30 May 2016

⏱️ 45 minutes

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Summary

You've probably heard of the great battles fought in Europe and the Pacific during WWII, but did you know that part of WWII was fought just miles off the coast of the United States? And that the men taking part in these battles were civilians?
Well, my guest today has published a book about this oft forgotten of WWII history. His name is William Geroux and his book is The Mathews Men: Seven Brothers and the War Against Hitler's U-boats.
Today on the show, William and I discuss the U.S. Merchant Marine and their important role during WWII and why they were targets for German U-boats off the coast of the United States. We also discuss why Mathews County Virginia produced so many merchant mariners during WWII and the family from Mathews County that produced 15 men who took part in the merchant marine war.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	["Brett McCay, The Art of Manliness Podcast."
0:18.2	So you're probably familiar with the battles of World War II, fought in the European and
0:22.7	Pacific theaters, thanks to shows like Band of Brothers or Pacific on HBO.
0:27.9	But a lot of people don't know that there was a part of World War II that was fought just
0:31.5	off the coast of the United States.
0:34.9	And the thing was, it was between civilians and the German U-Boats.
0:38.7	And my guest today on the podcast has written a book about this often forgotten part of World
0:43.5	War II history.
0:45.1	His name is William Jaroah, he's the author of the book, The Matthews Men, Seven Brothers
0:48.6	and The War Against Hitler's U-Boats.
0:51.6	And it's about the war fought between the US merchant marine and Hitler's U-Boats that
0:56.6	often happened, like I said, right off the coast of the United States.
0:58.8	What a lot of people don't know is that the merchant mariners, they were civilians, they
1:03.0	weren't actually soldiers, but they had some of the highest casualty rates during World
1:06.8	War II as they were shipping supplies to soldiers across the war.
1:11.0	And they even got involved in the war before the US were in the war as they were shipping
1:15.3	supplies to Great Britain or ally.
1:18.8	Really fascinating podcast.
1:19.8	We also get into the title of the book, The Matthews Men, because as we'll see, there
1:23.4	was this county in Virginia that supplied a huge amount of the merchant mariners that
1:28.2	took part in World War II.
1:29.5	In fact, one family, there was eight members, male members of the family that were merchant
	...

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