[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 85 (Tuesday, May 19, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2348-S2349]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                        Honoring Harold Dossett

  Mr. YOUNG. Mr. President, in May of 1944, before the Allied forces 
landed on the beaches of Normandy, Dwight Eisenhower signaled out one 
American service branch for their loyalty, courage, and fortitude. When 
Operation Overlord was complete and victory won, he predicted:

       [T]here is no organization--

  No organization

       --that will share its credit more deservedly than the 
     Merchant Marine.

  The Supreme Allied Commander was correct, but the credit he spoke of 
was never given to this service branch in proportion to the sacrifices 
made. After all, no branch suffered losses at a greater rate during the 
war--not the Marines, not the Army, or Coast Guard, not the Navy. Of 
the 243,000 merchant mariners who joined the fight, nearly 9,500 paid 
the ultimate price.
  As we prepare to observe Memorial Day this coming weekend, we 
remember the fallen sailors of the forgotten service, and we honor a 
young Hoosier who gave his life aboard one of its ships. Without the 
sacrifices of the Merchant Marine, America's military would be unable 
to win its war or to defend its people.
  In war, our civilian mariners and commercial vessels transport and 
supply our soldiers, sailors, and airmen. They are the critical link 
between the homeland in the front, the one that has made the difference 
between victory and defeat for 250 years.
  During the Revolution, they delivered the gun powder the Continentals 
used to beat the British. In the War Of 1812, they armed their clippers 
and sloops with cannons. They ran the enemy's blockades, and they 
brought clothes and guns to our troops. Throughout the Civil War, they 
carried coal, horses, and food to the Union soldiers along the Atlantic 
Coast and on the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers.
  Wherever our men and women in uniform have gone in the world to 
defend liberty, the Merchant Marine has followed in support. Whenever 
America's soldiers have raised our flag in victory, its mariners helped 
to make the triumph possible. And they have always done this in the 
face of grave danger and at great cost.
  Commercial sailors were among the casualties in America's first naval 
battle at Machias off the coast of Maine. They were killed by the 
enemies' fire on the oceans and the Great Lakes. From the Republic's 
beginning, merchant mariners have died in every major conflict, 
including Vietnam and Korea, as well as Operations Enduring and Iraqi 
Freedom.
  These civilians transport their cargo into war zones with minimal 
defense. Because of their vital mission, they are the target of and 
often sunk by warships and aircraft.
  In no conflict was the peril greater than World War II. They left 
from America's coasts. They headed for the front carrying the Sherman 
tanks and Mustang fighter planes, steel and lumber, bandages and 
antibiotics, mail from home, rations, and even chocolate.
  On board those ships were what was required to defeat the Axis and to 
make a soldier's life just a little bit less miserable while doing it. 
That is, if they made it to their destination; 733 of America's 
merchant ships were sunk during the war. The Samuel Q. Brown was one of 
them.
  The tanker was on its way from New Orleans to Honolulu carrying 
80,000 barrels of fuel when it was struck by a torpedo from a German 
submarine 100 miles south of Cuba. The ship erupted into fire. Its crew 
jumped overboard and swam to the lifeboats and the rafts that they had 
cut loose after the explosion. Two men were lost. The rest watched as 
the U-boat launched another torpedo and sank the Samuel Q. Brown.
  After 13 hours afloat, a Navy patrol plane spotted the survivors who 
were eventually rescued. The five injured among them were transported 
to a hospital in Key West, FL. All survived but one, a messman named 
Harold Dossett. He died on June 1, 1942.
  Harold was 27 years old. He was from Princeton, IN. He came from a 
line of heroes. Members of the Dossett family fought in the 
Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and the Civil War. No surprise then 
that he was active in the history club at Princeton High School before 
his graduation in 1932.
  He was well-known and well-liked in Princeton, a fixture of the 
downtown square, where the local newspaper noted he was often seen at 
the front table in the local restaurant the Alco. At the end of the 
1930s, Harold relocated to Texas where he found work in the oil 
industry and ended up as a messman on the Samuel Q. Brown, which was 
owned by the Tide Water Associated Oil Company.
  He had served aboard two other ships before the Samuel Brown; both 
were sunk after his transfer. ``The third one was fatal,'' his mother 
later said.
  It was during that ship's mission that he joined the list of 
Americans who have laid down their lives so that their countrymen could 
live in freedom.
  After his body was brought back to Indiana from Florida, Harold's 
mother was presented with the Mariner's Medal. This is the Merchant 
Marine's highest honor, and its equivalent to the Purple Heart. Another 
honor arrived later to address the incredible losses of commercial 
vessels during the war, American industry mass produced Liberty ships 
to speed supplies to the front.
  In 1945, one of these Liberty ships, the SS Harold Dossett was 
completed. Ultimately, it was the men aboard those Liberty ships who 
helped win the war.

[[Page S2349]]

  As Dwight Eisenhower said, the merchant mariners ``brought us the 
tools to finish the job. Their contribution to final victory will be 
long remembered,'' he said--a contribution that cost many lives.
  So let us not lose sight that Memorial Day is not just the beginning 
of summer. It is a solemn day, when we honor and do what little we can 
to give thanks to the men and women who have died so we can remain 
free. It is also a time to keep the families of the fallen in our 
hearts and those serving in danger now in our prayers.
  And let us not forget to pay tribute to all--all--of the lost. And 
one place we can do that is outside of the Gibson County Courthouse in 
Princeton, IN. You see, a monument there is inscribed with the names of 
local men who never came home from the World Wars.
  Hoosiers, go there. And among the marines, soldiers, and sailors, you 
will find a merchant mariner, Messman Harold Dossett. Never forget the 
debt we owe them all.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.