Born on July 14, 1912, in Okemah, Oklahoma, Woody Guthrie spent his life chronicling the struggles of working Americans with a battered acoustic guitar and a voice that carried across boxcars, union halls, and migrant camps. Though long skeptical of war, Guthrie’s politics hardened after the rise of Hitler, and he volunteered for service in the U.S. Merchant Marine—one of the most dangerous roles in World War II.
Between 1943 and 1945, Guthrie sailed on troop and supply convoys targeted relentlessly by German U‑boats. He served aboard vessels that were torpedoed or attacked, including the SS William B. Travis and the SS Sea Porpoise, surviving harrowing strikes at sea that killed fellow mariners. Merchant Mariners suffered the highest casualty rate of any American service branch, and Guthrie kept sailing anyway.
On the face of his guitar, he scrawled a blunt declaration of purpose: “This Machine Kills Fascists.” It was not a metaphor. For Guthrie, the guitar was a weapon—one he carried into the wartime convoys where he believed American democracy needed defending most.
Image: Woody Guthrie, 1943. Photo by Al Aumuller for the New York World‑Telegram and the Sun. Public domain.
