Captain Leonard LaRue (January 14, 1914 – October 14, 2001), later known as "Brother Marinus", was the skipper of the SS ''Meredith Victory'', a

United States Merchant Marine United States Merchant Marines are United States civilian mariners and U.S. civilian and federally owned merchant vessels. Both the civilian mariners and the merchant vessels are managed by a combination of the government and private sectors, an ...

cargo freighter that was involved in the largest humanitarian rescue operation by a single ship in human history. Under LaRue's leadership, the ship evacuated over 14,000 refugees to safety during the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

Early career

Leonard LaRue attended the

Pennsylvania Nautical School Pennsylvania Nautical School existed in Pennsylvania, United States, from 1889–1947. In an effort to meet the nation's demand for trained seamen, the United States Congress passed an Act on June 20, 1874, giving the Secretary of the Navy the aut ...

, served aboard the Schoolship

Annapolis Annapolis ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Maryland and the county seat of, and only incorporated city in, Anne Arundel County. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east o ...

, and graduated in 1934.

Rescue operation

Three days before Christmas in 1950, Captain LaRue's SS ''Meredith Victory'' was delivering military supplies to the besieged port of

Hungnam Hŭngnam is a district of Hamhung, the second largest city in North Korea. It is a port city on the eastern coast on the Sea of Japan. It is only from the slightly inland city of Hamhung. In 2005 it became a ward of Hamhung. History The port ...

in northeast

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

. Nearly 100,000 Korean refugees had gathered, hoping to board ships evacuating

United Nations Command United Nations Command (UNC or UN Command) is the multinational military force established to support the South Korea, Republic of Korea (South Korea) during and after the Korean War. It was the first international unified command in history, an ...

soldiers, arms, and supplies to safety in the southern port of

Pusan Busan (), officially known as is South Korea's most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea, w ...

. With the SS ''Meredith Victory'' as one of the last remaining ships, over 14,000 refugees remained. LaRue made the decision to unload nearly all of the arms and supplies on the ship in order to board as many refugees as possible. Only hours away from advancing

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

and

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

n communist forces, LaRue ordered the ship to be converted to hold the refugees and was able to evacuate the refugees out of Hungnam. On December 23, the ''Meredith Victory'' sailed south with no mine detection equipment, no doctor, no interpreter, no lighting in the holds, no heat, and no sanitation facilities. The ship's only gun was the pistol in Captain LaRue's pocket. The ship arrived in Pusan on

Christmas Eve Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas Day, the festival commemorating the birth of Jesus. Christmas Day is observed around the world, and Christmas Eve is widely observed as a full or partial holiday in anticipation ...

before heading to its final destination,

Geoje Island Geojedo or Geoje Island (also McCune–Reischauer: Kŏje Island) is the principal island of Geoje City, on the southern coast of Gyeongsangnam-do province, South Korea. It is joined to land by two bridges from nearby Tongyeong. Gohyeon is the ...

After the war

After the war, LaRue entered St. Paul's Abbey in

Newton, New Jersey Newton, officially the ''Town of Newton'', is an incorporated municipality located in Sussex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is situated approximately by road northwest of New York City. As the location of the county's administrati ...

to live out his days as a

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...

. He committed his days to the tradition of ''ora et labora''—prayer and work—and was given the religious name "Brother Marinus". On March 25, 2019, Bishop Arthur Serratelli, bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Paterson opened the canonization cause for Captain LaRue, known as Brother Marinus, OSB.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Larue, Leonard 1914 births 2001 deaths American sailors American Benedictines Sea captains People from Newton, New Jersey Catholics from New Jersey American Servants of God 21st-century venerated Christians

Early career

Rescue operation

After the war

See also

References