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| Sanpans in Shari China 1945, Sanpans in Hong Kong, 1955, Sanpans in Vietnam, Sanpans forever I guess!! (Photo Furnished By SeaBat, her Dad served on the LST 125 in WWII) |
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| Many didn't make it back, like the LST 736 above |
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| Sometimes it got very crowded |
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| A refurbished compartment on the LST 325 Memorial, Typical of all LST's (It was crowded here too) (photo by Chip Lanham) |
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| Gene Elliott (1955-57) With the model of the Snohomish County he built and brought to the reunion in 2005. Second picture: another model he built of a Large Slow Target of Old. Run your mouse over the photo. |
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| Joseph C. Miller QM1 (1954-55) Ship's Reunion 2004 The man totally responsible for the Ships Reunions. A lot of work, but with some very good results. |
| Movies Anyone?
Roger Akester FTG3 (1967-1969) As sailors are well aware, each ship carries several movies on board as a means of entertainment while at sea. And of course we show them over an over again until such time we can find other ships we trade with to get a different supply. Then we watch them for awhile, and swap process starts all over again. We were at anchor just off shore at Vung Tau, a staging area were we would await our mission assignments. Of the movies we had on board we had shown them several times and were in need of some different ones. Checking around with the other ships anchored in the area, found one that was also looking to make the trade. The watch section I was in was on duty and I was tapped to go on the movie run as bowhook. Lowered the LCVP into the water, got our bags of movie cans and headed off to the other ship. It was early evening and starting to get dark. In addition to a few other ships in the area there were also some small boats, what appeared to be local fishing boats and Vietnamese junks, etc. There was a PBR slowly roaming about as well as a Swift boat. We reached the other ship, made our exchange, listened to our yeoman argue with their yeoman about how one was screwing the other on the exchange, and got on our way. By now it was pitch black, and we were puttering back to the Snoho, navigating by the lights shining on the 1126 numbers on the bow. I had been standing up where I could have a good view of the whole area, it looked neat at night, ships lit up, the lights of the village in the distance, all the lights reflecting off the water, etc., rather pretty. Suddenly there were strings of red tracers zinging just above the water in front of us. Then some behind us. The coxswain yelled for us all to get down. That instruction did not need repeating, I was down flat in the well of the boat. We did get back to the ship with out incident, but as I was lying there in the bottom of the boat, all I could think about is what a hell of a note it would be to get killed making a movie run. Kind of funny how things look in hindsight. |
| Photos - Memories and Experiences |
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| Ernie Pyle found the LST a "roller" |
| The original configuration of gages on LST's was not nearly this congested looking as this of the LST Memorial. This is the result of many years of additions and changes by different owners. (Photo by Chip Lanham) I believe much of this has been cleaned up by the Memorial Volunteers |
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| My Dad had bought a Model A Ford like this and I used it the whole time I was on "Boot Leave". It was an eye catcher and you could set the spark and idle such that it would actually chug a long at a slow walking pace. With traffic bumper to bumper on the Boulevard which all the tourist cruised, I would actually get out and walk alongside of it while talking trash to the girls who were in other cars or walking on the sidewalk. (ccb) |
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| Playing War Games with Marines and their Amtracs 1955 Inchon, Korea (Photo by Gene Elliott) |
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| Leaving Yokosuka Japan in 1955 the lookouts saw a body floating out in the bay. We sent a LCVP out and brought it back to the ship. It was a Marine who had gone fishing over the weekend and got caught in a squall. He and another Marine drowned when their boat overturned in the rough waters. The body was put into our reefer unit until we were able to transfer him. (Photo by Gene Elliott) |
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| Always exciting to launch these Amtracs into the ocean from out of the bow. I kept expecting one of them not to float, but fortunately they all did. However the fun ended when you had to take them back aboard in some slightly rough waters. |
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| Benton (on a mission) at Mission Beach 1954 The water even in July was too cold for me, but the scenery (girls, sand, beach, girls, ocean, girls) reminded me very much of my home town of Myrtle Beach, SC |