The U.S. Merchant Marine Mediterranean-Middle East War Zone medal was issued to commemorate the service of merchant marines who served as members of crews aboard U.S. merchant ships between December 7, 1941 and November 8, 1945. On the obverse of the medal is a shield superimposed with an anchor, denoting the maritime nature of the service, which is enveloped at its base by two palm branches which denotes the Mediterranean and Middle East and is also a symbol of victory.
Service in the Merchant Marine during World War II was extremely hazardous, with the service suffering a greater percentage of war-related deaths than any other U.S. service. One reason for the high mortality rate was that sometimes the materiel being transported, such as ordnance or fuel, could be detonated or set aflame. A particularly tragic example of this occurred in the Mediterranean-Middle East War Zone on 2 December 1943 at the Italian port city of Bari, when German bombers sank at least 17 and perhaps as many as 28 Allied ships, including five American Liberty ships manned by Merchant Marines (three other Liberty ships were damaged).
But the horror of the attack had just begun because, unbeknownst to the crewmen or port authorities, one U.S. ship had been secretly transporting mustard-gas bombs that were intended for use only if Germany launched chemical attacks. The sulfur mustard that leaked into the water diluted the poison, but only enough that the effects were delayed for a few hours, and sailors who had leapt into the harbor were coated in a deadly mixture of oil and poison. According to Pulitzer Prize-winning author and historian Rick Atkinson, more than 1,000 Allied servicemen died or went missing, with 617 deaths (including 83 Allied) attributed to the mustard gas solution.