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Credit Information
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Articles reprinted with permission from the book
volume:
"Large
Slow Target"
A
History of the Landing Ship Tanks (LST)
and The Men
Who Sailed Them
by:
Mel Barger
With Contributions from
Veterans of LSTs |
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The
U.S. LST has a rich history. Learn more
about the
background and history of these
ships on this page.
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The
United
States
LST Association
Forming
It
Was
The
Right
Idea
At
The
Time
By
Mel
Barger,
LST-555
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 Although
much of the more
difficult organizing
work was done by
others, I love
to tell people
that the United
States LST Association
was established
in January 1985
in the living room
of my home in Toledo.
It had really started
the previous year
when G. Wayne Hessemer,
a retired Naval
Reserve commander,
organized an informal
meeting of former
LST sailors living
in the Toledo area.
He was skipper
of LST-573, which
had earned three
battle stars for
World War II Pacific
landings, and he
had gone on to
command another
landing ship in
the Korean War.
Others attending
the first meeting
were Don Kinney
(LST-69), Bob Busch
(LST-851), and
Johnny Jarzeboski
(LST-681). .. Charlie
Patton, his fr iend
Cindy, & later
Linda Gunjak became
corresponding secretary...
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The
Genius Behind
The LST
John
C. Niedermair
Was A Giant
in the Field
Of Naval Architecture
By
Mel Barger,
LST-555 |
 When
John C. Niedermair was
chosen for a high national
honor in 1956, it was
noted that more than
8,000 ships had been
built from designs originated
under his guidance—a
record that is never
likely to be equaled.
As Technical Director
of Preliminary Ship Design
at the U.S. Navy’s
Bureau of Ships, Niedermair
had been responsible
for the basic designs
of battleships, aircraft
carriers, cruisers, destroyers,
submarines, patrol and
mine craft, and numerous
auxiliaries. Yet,
the great love of his
life was the LST. “Worthy
of particular mention
is the part he played in the design of the LST,” a press notice said at
the time of the award, terming the ship “in large measure the product of
Mr. Niedermair’s originality and fine engineering judgment.” Although
the LST ...
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The
Second
Pearl
Harbor
Disaster
LST
Veterans
Still Remember
the West
Loch Tragedy
By
Mel Barger,
LST-555
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 On
21 May 1989, fifteen
former crew members
of LST-69, along
with their wives
and guests, boarded
a U.S. Coast Guard
cutter in Honolulu
for a day-long
trip to West Loch,
Pearl Harbor. It
was a sunny day
and a festive excursion,
with children of
the cutter’s
crew joining a
pleasant cruise
that would include
a buffet luncheon
served on deck.
But it was also
a somber occasion,
because the
LST veterans were returning
to the scene of a tragedy
of forty-five years earlier,
to the very day. Sometimes
called the “second
Pearl Harbor disaster,” this
was the 21 May 1944 West
Loch tragedy...
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Leyte:
MacArthur's Return
LST
Veterans
Still
Remember
the
West
Loch
Tragedy
By
Mel
Barger,
LST-555
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 When
Japanese
forces were
closing in
on key defensive
positions
in the Philippines
in March
1942, General
Douglas MacArthur
was ordered
out by President
Roosevelt.
His great
promise to
the Philippines, “I
shall return,” was
fulfilled
two and one/half
years later
when soldiers
of the U.S.
Sixth Army
came ashore
at LeyteMacArthur,
with his
wife and
young son,
had left
Corregidor in a PT boat.
PT boats were with General
MacArthur when he returned,
but also in the background
as he waded ashore were
the blunt bows of LSTs,
ships that had not yet
been built when he left
the Philippines in early
1942. More than 26 LSTs
were at Leyte on D-Day,
20 October 1944, and
within a few days they
were joined by nearly
100 others. It was now
an accepted...
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