Navy League Sun Coast Council Pays Tribute to WWII Merchant Mariner
By Brett Davis
The American Merchant Marine Veterans and the U.S. Navy League Sun Coast Council held a tribute to local World War II veteran George Koch at the Military Heritage Museum in Punta Gorda, Florida, on Saturday, Feb. 6, 2021.
Koch served in the U.S. Merchant Marine making the Arctic convoy runs to bring supplies and support to the U.S. ally, the Soviet Union. These convoys fought off ferocious air attacks, submarine attacks and even surface raiders such as the famed Nazi battleship Tirpitz to bring much needed supplies to our allies.
Imagine yourself looking up into the darkest night sky, sailing silently through the frozen North Sea en route to the Soviet port of Murmansk. Through the hushed blackness of the inscrutable skies come the sounds of German planes. The peaceful sea is alive with speeding torpedoes. Your convoy splits up to make themselves harder to target. Seemingly alone in a vast hostile world, you make your way along the icy deck to the sounds of frantic shipmates and frenzied commands. And you are only 16 years old. This was the reality for George Koch as he carried out his mission to deliver vital supplies to the Soviets during WWII. Though supported by a British Navy escort, his convoy came under regular attack from both the sea and the sky.
The American Merchant Marine Veterans and the Sun Coast Council presented Koch with the Medal of Ushakov from the Russian Federation, recently received from the Russian Embassy. Foreign recipients of the Medal of Ushakov are U.S. Navy and Royal Navy personnel and merchant mariners who participated in Arctic convoys in WWII. The award certificate was signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
George himself shared his experiences in the convoys as a young Sailor. His moving speech covered the incredibly bad weather conditions and high seas, the impact of the conditions on the slow Liberty class merchant ship, chipping ice off of the superstructure and the ferocity of the U-boat attacks. His talk ended with how impressed and thankful he was that the bright flashes they saw on the transit home were not another attack, but the beauty of the northern lights.