Anyone love historic things? Tour of World War II LST war ship

Retired & Loving It!

Retired & Loving It!

Member
We recently toured this WWII ship. What a piece of history! We even talked with a WWII vet near the end who was a gunner that shot down kamikaze! Well worth the tour if you are a history lover!
 

My wife and I toured the USS New Jersey. What a remarkable battleship with a remarkable career she had on the high seas. I also toured other ships as well.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_New_Jersey_(BB-62)

We toured ships in Hawaii (and a submarine) and in Massachusetts, which has a few battleships. I found all of these ships to be interesting, factual and patriotically displayed. If anyone likes history and I am one of them, then they should consider touring at least one retired ship from a war. They are full of history. My wife was a history professor and head of her department at Georgetown University, so I better like history.
 
oldman said:
My wife and I toured the USS New Jersey. What a remarkable battleship with a remarkable career she had on the high seas. I also toured other ships as well.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_New_Jersey_(BB-62)

We toured ships in Hawaii (and a submarine) and in Massachusetts, which has a few battleships. I found all of these ships to be interesting, factual and patriotically displayed. If anyone likes history and I am one of them, then they should consider touring at least one retired ship from a war. They are full of history. My wife was a history professor and head of her department at Georgetown University, so I better like history.
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Sounds like an amazing experience! We both love history & visiting all kinds of historic places!
 

Thanks for sharing your incredible tour. My wife and I found it to be very comprehensive and informing. It's incredible to hear these men tell their stories. Another great story is the USS Indianapolis. There is YouTube video about that story. Edgar Harrell , a fellow Marine and the narrator of the video has since passed away.

My dad landed on Omaha during the second wave of men gong ashore. He faced German gunfire, but made it onto the Beach and then later into the country of France.
 
oldman said:
Thanks for sharing your incredible tour. My wife and I found it to be very comprehensive and informing. It's incredible to hear these men tell their stories. Another great story is the USS Indianapolis. There is YouTube video about that story. Edgar Harrell , a fellow Marine and the narrator of the video has since passed away.

My dad landed on Omaha during the second wave of men gong ashore. He faced German gunfire, but made it onto the Beach and then later into the country of France.
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Thank you for sharing this link! We will definitely watch!
 
I have toured navy vessels after my service ended and they all had the same resemblance...they all smelled like human occupation!!
 
I flew on and off the decks of five different carriers. Such a great thrill that I can’t describe or even begin to put words to it. Some aviators took it as a day’s pay, but I looked at it differently. To me, it was the best thing that ever happened.
 
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Been There said:
I flew on and off the decks of five different carriers. Such a great thrill that I can describe or even begin to put words to it. Some aviators took it as a day’s pay, but I looked at it differently. To me, it was the best thing that ever happened.
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Thank you so very much for your service to our nation.
 
I spent time on Iwo Jima in the 60's and was well aware of the history. Some years later, we visited the Marine Corps Museum, and there was a
veteran of that campaign there. There was a photo of him using a flamethrower against a cave there.IMG_5142.JPG
Also, as a pilot I have flown 3 WW2 aircraft; an SNJ trainer, a B-25 and a P-51. It was a thrill to fly a piece of history.

.IMG_5143.JPG
 
bowmore said:
I spent time on Iwo Jima in the 60's and was well aware of the history. Some years later, we visited the Marine Corps Museum, and there was a
veteran of that campaign there. There was a photo of him using a flamethrower against a cave there.View attachment 185544
Also, as a pilot I have flown 3 WW2 aircraft; an SNJ trainer, a B-25 and a P-51. It was a thrill to fly a piece of history.

.View attachment 185540
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You flew a Mustang? Where you a member of the 99th? I saw and was able to get up close to a Mustang at the U.S. Pavilion. I have to say that we have come a long way since those days. Do you follow the planes being used in today’s military? We have a few planes in the barn that very few have ever seen.
 
LSTs were cramped and rough riding workhorses. Their crews had love/hate relationships with their ships. Often LST was said to mean "Large Slow Target" or "Lousy Stinkin' Tub" among other names not appropriate for family viewing.
 
Been There said:
You flew a Mustang? Where you a member of the 99th? I saw and was able to get up close to a Mustang at the U.S. Pavilion. I have to say that we have come a long way since those days. Do you follow the planes being used in today’s military? We have a few planes in the barn that very few have ever seen.
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I flew all of these planes in recent years. I flew the P-51 to celebrate my 80th birthday. There are a number of organizations that have these WW2 planes flying. Two examples are the Commemorative Air Force and the Collings Group.
 
bowmore said:
I spent time on Iwo Jima in the 60's and was well aware of the history. Some years later, we visited the Marine Corps Museum, and there was a
veteran of that campaign there. There was a photo of him using a flamethrower against a cave there.View attachment 185544
Also, as a pilot I have flown 3 WW2 aircraft; an SNJ trainer, a B-25 and a P-51. It was a thrill to fly a piece of history.

.View attachment 185540
Click to expand...
Thank you for your service!!
 
Llynn said:
LSTs were cramped and rough riding workhorses. Their crews had love/hate relationships with their ships. Often LST was said to mean "Large Slow Target" or "Lousy Stinkin' Tub" among other names not appropriate for family viewing.
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Wow! This was our first experience seeing an LST
 
This was an interesting tour. I served on USS Washtenaw County LST 1166 form 1957 until 1959. They gave them names I believe in the early 1950s. The Washtenaw was built in 1953 and the last I knew was derelict in the Columbia river. Llynn is right they were rough riding. If you stood at the rear of the tank deck while in rough seas, you could see the hull flexing, that was spooky. When we moved our home port from Virginia to San Diego we were permitted to load our cars on board. We went through the Panama Canal and up the west coast of Central America and Mexico. During my time there were no wars going on, so no one shot at us. That was fine with me. The Washtenaw County did go to Viet nam, where it served as a floating base for riverene boats.
 
Manatee said:
This was an interesting tour. I served on USS Washtenaw County LST 1166 form 1957 until 1959. They gave them names I believe in the early 1950s. The Washtenaw was built in 1953 and the last I knew was derelict in the Columbia river. Llynn is right they were rough riding. If you stood at the rear of the tank deck while in rough seas, you could see the hull flexing, that was spooky. When we moved our home port from Virginia to San Diego we were permitted to load our cars on board. We went through the Panama Canal and up the west coast of Central America and Mexico. During my time there were no wars going on, so no one shot at us. That was fine with me. The Washtenaw County did go to Viet nam, where it served as a floating base for riverene boats.
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Thanks for your service!
 
Manatee said:
This was an interesting tour. I served on USS Washtenaw County LST 1166 form 1957 until 1959. They gave them names I believe in the early 1950s. The Washtenaw was built in 1953 and the last I knew was derelict in the Columbia river. Llynn is right they were rough riding. If you stood at the rear of the tank deck while in rough seas, you could see the hull flexing, that was spooky. When we moved our home port from Virginia to San Diego we were permitted to load our cars on board. We went through the Panama Canal and up the west coast of Central America and Mexico. During my time there were no wars going on, so no one shot at us. That was fine with me. The Washtenaw County did go to Viet nam, where it served as a floating base for riverene boats.
Click to expand...
Thanks so much for your service!
 

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