Not until 1991, 46 years after the end of the War, was an association formed to represent all CVEs of World War II and Korea. This association was named the Escort Carrier Sailors and Airmen Association, Inc. and is usually referred to as ECSAA.
Today ECSAA has well over 2,000 members and while most WWII veterans groups are facing declining numbers, ECSAA continues to add members every year. New memberships come from ship-specific organizations that join-up with ECSAA's larger audience spanning all Escort Carrier task groups but also the growing support of descendants.
ECSAA's Board of Governors handles the business affairs of the association, publishes a highly popular quarterly newspaper, The Piper, holds annual conventions in various cities where CVE sailors and airmen and their families meet to visit with old shipmates, make new friends, and recount their days of service aboard the little aircraft carriers which contributed so much to the nation's victory during the war.
One of ECSAA's goals is to carry out programs to educate current and future generations of the vital role the CVEs played during the war.
The story of the escort carriers has never been told. During the War, the nation's press rarely made mention of the CVEs, and their outstanding record of service in both the Atlantic and Pacific theatres of war.
ECSAA's educational program consists of placing bronze plaques and displays in key Navy and Maritime museums around the country where millions of visitors of all ages can learn about the escort carriers, the men who manned them, and the valiant pilots and airmen who flew from their decks.
The displays also pay tribute to the six CVEs which were sunk, and our shipmates who died in battle.
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eSCORT CARRIER SAILORS