TORSTEN OVE Pittsbugh Post-Gazette
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via AP
Michael Kemple, 93 poses for a portrait at his home Wednesday, Jan. 6, in Elizabeth, Pa. Kemple served in the United States Merchant Marines from 1944 to 1945. During his tour, he served aboard a ship that transported supplies to the Russian port city of Murmansk.
PITTSBURGH — Winston Churchill described it as the “worst journey in the world,” and two local Merchant Marine veterans in their 90s are among the last left in the U.S. to have endured it.
These were the World War II Arctic convoys to the Russian ports of Murmansk and Archangel to supply the USSR with materials to carry on its fight for survival against Nazi Germany.