When the war broke out, there were 34,000 seamen on Norwegian ships outside the country's borders. The Nazis gave orders that ships sailing abroad should set course for Norway or other countries under German rule, but no one did.Instead, they went to allied ports and signed up for service. The large Norwegian fleet came under the shipping company Nortraship, which was created to manage the international fleet.
The efforts made by the war sailors during the Second World War are considered Norway's most important contribution to the Allied victory over German military power. Under extremely difficult conditions, Norwegian merchant ships transported fuel, war material and other goods, first and foremost across the Atlantic Ocean, but also in the Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean and the western part of the Pacific Ocean.
The war sailors went through considerable psychological stress; a constant danger of violent death, the feeling of being defenseless against superior force and enemy air and submarine attacks and the lack of contact with family and friends back home in Norway took over. Until the peace in 1945, around 3,800 people in the outer fleet lost their lives in war wrecks, and 473 ships were lost.
When the Second World War was over, many of the sailors wanted to go home to a free country and family and friends waiting at home. But not everyone returned to Norway. Some settled abroad, and became a new group of Norwegian emigrants.
Nortraship had collected wages that should have been paid to the seafarers, but after the war the money was gone. Many of the sailors were traumatized after war efforts and the torpedoing of convoys in transport for the allied forces. Their important war effort was neglected by the Norwegian authorities and many were treated badly, which led to many moving from Norway for good.
Thousands of the Norwegian sailors settled abroad, in, among other places, the USA, England and Australia. There was a strong bond between the war sailors, and war sailor clubs were formed over large parts of the globe.
On the monument that has been set up at the Emigration Centre, there is a list of sailors' clubs that were connected to the sailors' association outside of Norway's borders, most of them in America.
The memorial was unveiled on the opening day of the Emigrant Church, 6 July 1997.
In honor and memory of all the war sailors
In the Norwegian merchants fleet and other war veterans
who defended their country, freedom and civilization
throughout the second world war 1939-1945
and who later settled abroad
Especially in remembrance to the war sailors clubs in Seattle - New York - Chicago - Los Angeles (San Pedro) - New Orleans - San Francisco - Vancouver, B.C. - Liverpool - Durban - Melbourne - Sydney - and groups other places in the world
NORWAY IS THANKFUL