"The Elsie Item" - USS Landing Craft Infantry National Association

"The Elsie Item" orficial Newsletter or the USS LANDING CRAFT, INFANTRY, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, INC. MARCH, 2002 Newsletter #40PACIFIC LCI VETS HAVE THEIR DAY IN NEW ORLEANS (See Story, Page 5)

"THE ELSIE ITEM" Number 40 March, 2002Official Newsletter of the USS LCI National Associationa non-profit veterans organization .. Membership in the USSLCI National Association is open to any U. S. Navy or U.S.Coast Guard veteran who served aboard a Landing CraftInfantry. Associate Membership, without voting privileges,may be offered to others upon approval of the Board ofDirectors. See Page 31 for a list of all officers anddirectors.Published quarterly by the USS LCI National Association20 W. Lucerne Circle, #615, Orlando, FL 32801. John P.Cummer, Editor.What's in this IssueFrom the Desk of Jim Talbert ............................................... 2A Note from the Editor ......................................................... 3Welcome Aboard! ................................................................. 3Fond Memories ofATB Solomons orIt Pays to have a Good Looking Girl Friend ..................... 4Liberty in the "Big Apple"! .................................................. 4Pacific Wing National D-Day Museum Opens:LClers Join in the Celebration ........................................... 5 LCI Reunions ........................................................................ 7 Roy Galewski Receives our Bravo Zulu .............................. 8 Letters to the Editor .............................................................. 8 "Now It Can Be Told" - LCI(R) 765 Takes on A Jap Destroyer ............................................................... 12Fog ...................................................................................... 14Can You Top This for BRASS? .......................................... 16Elmer Carmichael: German Paratrooper orLCIer? ............................................................................. 17Book Review, Mighty Midgets at War; TheSaga ofthe LSI(L) from Iwo Jima toViet Nam .......................................................................... 17Admiral Sabin's Seasickness Story Gets toHank Henderson's Wife! ................................................. 18F'or the Record: LCIs Sunk or Damaged onD-Day, June 6, 1944 ........................................................ 20Don Hawley and the Uniform of the Day! ......................... 20The Greatest Battle that Never Was: TheTyphoon and the Kamikaze ............................................ 21 Pete Gagliardi Experiences the Great Typhoon .................. 23 The LCIer and the Keebler Elf ........................................... 24 Picture Gallery .................................................................... 25 In Memoriam ...................................................................... 27 Comings and Goings: LCIers on the Move ........................ 29 New E-Mail Addresses ....................................................... 30 Officers and Directors Contact Information ....................... 31 San Antonio Reunion Information and Registration Materials ................................................ 32-35 From The Desk of Jim Talbert: Wow! I'm writing this just as we havereturned from the dedication ofthe PacificWing of the D-Day Museum in New Orleansand what an outstanding display ofwhat we really went through in WWIL Iwas a bit disappointed that our LCIs werenot more prominent and were not shownin actual landings, but, over all, it is a"Must" see. I'm sure John is writing moreabout it in this issue, so look for it.As you know, members, we really don't have a very good way ofnotifying you when dues are due. This is why I have been sendingout reminders all over the place. If you get one" please takeit for the right reason and not that you have done anything wrong.Ifyou are like I am, you can't remember your name halfthe time!Hey, guys, I know that some ofyou have your own LCI reunionsand that's OK. And I know that some ofyour shipmates are not:nembers ofour National Organization. It would really be greattfyou could get those who are not members to join and have yourreunions along with the National. Yes, it's great to meet withyour old shipmates every year, but wouldn't it be more fun notonly to meet with them but also with the fellows that were onother LCIs that were in your group, made the same landings andmade liberty in the same ports? Just think ofthe "whoppers" youcould tell each other!We are getting this issue of the "Elsie Item out early this timebecause we want to get the forms and information about the SanAntonio Reunion to you one more time.Just for your information, we have been pretty busy this year.Vice President John Cummer, Treasurer Tiny Clarkson, SecretaryBob McLain and I have done a lot oftraveling in the name ofthe LCI National Association. We attended the annual get-togetherat the old Solomons ATB in Maryland, a model presentationat the ATB Little Creek, Virginia, the opening of the PacificWing of the D-Day Museum in New Orleans, and a model presentationat the Amphibious Attack Boats Museum in Ft. Pierce,Florida. And I might add, it was at our own expense. Yes, theAssociation pays for any expense in making the models and displaycases or any shipping charges, but that's all.We are doing our best to put the LCI and the part we played inWWII in front ofthe public by putting models, pictures and anythingthat pertains to an LCI in every Naval Museum we canfind. We do it because we are very proud ofwhat we did and wedon't want our children and grandchildren or the people of thiscountry to forget.2

A Note from the EditorIn place of my regular mug shot, I thought for this issue I'd use this picture taken Novem­ber 11, 2001, when we had the pleasure of presenting an LCI Model to the Amphibious At­tack Boat Association at their memorial and museum in Ft. Pierce Fl. Here Ed Brisbois, their President,accepts the model.But why put this picture here?Because I ran out ofspace withall the other good stories I had, but still wanted to share thisoccasion with you!You really did give me a lot of interesting things to sift throughfor this issue and I'm grateful to you for that.With this issue I want to introduce any of you who don't knowhim already to an LCI writer that I know you'll enjoy. Way upnorth in Warroad, Minnesota right on the Canadian Border,Hank Henderson ofLCI(R) 765 has held forth for many years asthe kingpin in his ship's reunions. He is a great story teller andI'm happy to share three of them with you.The first, page 12, shares the remarkable story of the duel betweenthe 765 and a Japanese destroyer. Then, Hank (page 18)tells us the reaction of his salty wife to the story Admiral Sabintold of seasickness while crossing the Atlantic (see Issue 39).Finally, (page 34) he shares with us the real story ofthe KeeblerElf. I think you'll enjoy all these stories.Another aspiring writer who shows a good touch is RalphLangenheim, professor of Geology at the University of Illinoiswho, on page 14, recalls the experience of dense fog on the EnglishChannel. Ralph also writes our book review on page 17.And we also include the information and registration materialsfor our San Antonio reunion. We're now well into the planningfor this event and hope that your plans are well in place. It promisesto be another outstanding event and we hope to see youthere. We look forward to another great time of fellowship andsight-seeing.Keep those stories and pictures coming! We love 'em and fromwhat we hear from our readers, so do lots ofother people!Welcome Aboard!We're delighted to welcome aboard this fine list of new memberswho have joined since our last newsletter came out. If youspot a shipmate's or friend's name, give 'em a holler and starttelling sea stories!Akar, Edward, LCI 79,152 Lanza Avenue, Garfield, NJ 07026 Arquit, Gordon J, LCI 437, 130 Christopher Circle, Ithaca, NY 14850 Avila, Robert B. LCI FF679, 435 Loring Avenue, Crockett, CA 94525 Brady, Donley L LCI 4, 35507 Beach Road, Capistrano Beach, CA 92624 Cone, Cecil E, LCI 396, P.O Box 35, Brush Prairie, WA 98606 Cook, Eugene T., LCI 1017, 12149 Trailways Drive, St. Louis, MO 63146-4828 Corti, Leonard J., LCI 417, 2876 East 777'h Road, Utica, IL 61373 Craft, Robert H., LCI 773, 1620 Meadow Lane, Glen Mills, PA 19342 Farmer, Raymond K., LCI 1063, 706 Tyler Court, Duncanville, TX 75137 Finestone, Leonard, LCI 961, 546, 633, 1203 N. K. Street. Apt. II, Lake Worth, FL, 33460 Fritts, Warren N., LCI 636, 35 East Kraft Avenue, Oaklyn, NJ 08107 Hall, Richard H LCI 40, 188, 21 Codfish Hill Ext. Bethel, CT 0680 I Hlebechuk, Walter, LCI 773, 12179 11 'h Street S. W., Fairfield, ND 58627 Kempton, L. Lavar, LCI 26, 1634 Sunrise Circle NW Salem, OR 97304-1117 Leaken, James N., LCI 409, 6241 stStreet South Columbus, MS 39701 Levandowski, Eugene J., LCI 545, 277 Country Club Road, New Caanan, CT, 06840-3111 Lowe, Thomas c., (LCI not listed) Box 95, Venice, FL 34284 Maniscalco, Richard, LCI 582, 10 Twilight Trail, Belvidere, NJ 07823 Maragni, Galileo, LCI 5, 802 Autumn Lane, Brewster. NY 10509 Michaels, Bernard W. LCI 545, 5005 Hillside Lane, Valparaiso, IN 46383-1049 Niezgocki, Russell A., LCI 418,2313 East Maryland Avenue, Maplewood, MN 55119 Owens, Jack T., LCI 1093, 1275 Ohltown McDonald Road., Mineral Ridge, OH 44440-9322 Philipp, Alfred H. LCI 961, 2101 Highland Drive, Fernandina Beach, FL 32034 Reid, 1. Keith, LCI 59, 83 Northridge Drive, Bountiful, UT 840 I 0 Satterfield, Garel C., LCI 456, 1530 Hgwy. nw, Clinton, SC 29325 3

New Members (Continued)Sellers, Robert C., LCI 989, 844 Cascade Drive,Riverside, OH 45431Semmes, Allison (AI), LCI 992, 7104 Arrowwood Road,Bethesda, MD 20817Snider, Numa L., LCI (FF) 628, 315 Hillcrest Street,Waveland, MS 39576Thornburg, Joe M., LCI 438, 649 South 88 th East Place,Tulsa, OK 74133Toussaint, Herb, LCI 951, 953, 852 Black's Ferry Road,Pocahontas, AR 72455Wakeling, Robert w., LCI 742, 19 Cheshire Meadows,Kennebunk, ME 04043New Affiliate Member:VanDerLinden, Carmilla, daughter ofJ. Stanley Dunn, LCI 372,10857 Snow Cloud Trail, Littleton, CO, 8125each drawer contained another food course and drinks!It pays to be a good looking, young, slim fiery redhead. Sheremembers it well to this day.P.S. She lost her hat (as you remember all girls wore them then)in the channel. Cost of doing business!-Dave DorflingerLiberty in the "Big Apple"!New Members from Abroad:Devlin, Terry D., (LCI number not listed), 920 Simpson St., Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada P7C 3K6 Williamson, Jack, LCI 131, 4 Roomsey News, Cambridge, England CB 1 3PBFond Memories ofATB Solomons or It Pays to Have a Good Looking Girl Friend! Don't go into shock, but, yes, there is someone who has fondmemories ofAmphibious Training Base, Solomons, MD! Lastissue we heard ofthe great work detail Jim Talbert pulled whilehe was there. Now, Dave Dorflinger, LCl(L) 355, now a residentofBerlin, NJ, shares another fond memory with us!I remember one Sunday in July, 1943, My fiance was coming tosee me. When I went to the boat [to get over to the village ofSolomons from the base] I sloshed through 5 inches ofred mud.It was raining hard when we reached the dock in Solomons. Thecoxswain allowed Peg to go back to the base while I shed thewet, red set of whites. The SPs. said she could not go on thebase so she went to the OOD's office. I left her there and wentto change.When I got back she didn't care if! ever did - happy as a clam athigh tide, so to speak. There she was, sitting in the middle oftheoffice. The OD, the Chaplain, and about three other officerssurrounded her. A plate loaded with all sorts of good stuff besidecold chicken was on her lap. A file cabinet was opened andThe folder for this picture says "The Place, It's the Heart ofGrenwich Village" and proclaims it to be "The Hottest Spot inTown"And here Calvin Anderson and buddies from LCI(G) 466 demonstratejust how happy sailors can be on liberty!We're indebted to Calvin's wife Wilma for this one. She writes,"Checking into some ofour old files . .. 1 ran across this picture.1 am including a listing ofthe Navy buddies that Calvinwas enjoying on an evening out while they were in training inthe New York area in preparation for going down through thePanama Canal, into the Pacific Ocean and up to San Diego . ..before heading for the Pacific. They may not be in the properorder, but here show Calvin listed them: (l to r) Bill Kovic, FrankCharles Moranville (it could be Maranville), Morris EugeneThompson, James F Della Volpe, Calvin T (Andy) Anderson,Orville Grooms, Harold Robert Frank, Mike Kenimore, andStanley Peter Kasperczyk"Calvin and Wilma now live in Livingston, TX, and hope to be atthe San Antonio reunion.4

PACIFIC WING, NATIONAL D-DAY MUSEUM OPENS; LCIers JOIN IN THE CELEBRATIONS! "The Big Easy" lived up to its reputation as a great party town where the people know how to celebrate again lastDecember 6-9 at the opening of the Pacific Wing of the National D-Day Museum. LCIers were present in forceand, although we may look like super-annuated "geezers" to some folks now, for a while there in N'Awlins wewere all salty young sailors having a ball in a great liberty town once again!Things got off to a great start with a get-together atMichal's Cajun Restaurant,just around the comer fromthe D-Day Museum, with mouth-watering Cajun foodand toe-tapping music.Joe and Alice Dumeningo may be from the frozen North(Massachusetts, to be exact) but when they got on thedance floor they were swinging with the best of them.Joe served on LCI(G) 568.In between eating and drinking there was a lot oftalking and sea stories to tell. Here, our local host,Cal Galliano (LCI 344) shares stories with TonyaAshley, granddaughter of Pete "Jughaid" Holsing ofLCI442. Tonya came from Arkansas to make friendswith and get to know some ofher granddaddy's shipmates.She was a doll and we all loved her.Later that evening, the LCI National Officers attendeda major donor's reception at the Museum. Here, Dr.Stephen Ambrose, noted historian and guiding lightbehind the D-Day Museum stops for a picture .. (Leftto Right: Dr. Ambrose, Bob McLain, "Tiny" Clarkson,Janet Clarkson, Jim Talbert, Jean Talbert and JohnCummer.5

The Grand Parade on December 7th honored veteransof the Pacific Campaigns. LClers filled one of thetrucks designated for Navy Vets. (See cover photo)Here, Aggie Hurdle, with her son and Yvonne Mason,cheers the LClers as they ride past.Following the Parade, Celebrators gathered at theConvention Center for the "Gathering of Eagles",where LClers had the opportunity to take front andcenter as President Jim Talbert presented our checkfor support of the National D-Day Museum to Presidentof the Board of Directors, Dr. Gordon H "Nick"Mueller.THE GRAND FINALE - THE USO SHOW AND DINNER DANCE!The Ballroom of the New Orleans Marriott Hotelwas the setting for a gala usa Show andDance. With great big band music and superbperformances by a trio of girls doing great renditionsofAndrews Sisters music we all felt likewe were back in the • 40s again.Here's the whole gang - or at least all that wecould round up at the end of the evening. Allcleaned up and looking fairly respectable buthaving a ball!.6

LeI ReunionsMichigan LCI ReunionReported by Sam Rizzo, LCI 687, Grosse Point, MLOur reunion started on a damper Tuesday, September 11 th. Someoneran into the registration room just as the news was about toshow the second plane crash into the World Trade Center. Wewere stunned. We could not believe that we would see a "Kamikaze"attack in our own country 55 years after the war.The whole reunion was subdued with many tears and we leftafter two days instead of the three we had planned. However,we were glad to be together again.Our Michigan Memorial Roll Call had 9 men plus Walter Kopazthis year.We were fortunate enough to have as our main speaker a youngU. S. Navy Commander (USNR), Kurt Homburg. He was reassuringand inspirational for our group. He was also flattering tothe LCIers for our service in the War. He knew a lot about us!Bailey, also of Gordo, who have become interested in theirgrandfather's wartime service duties, and those of the LCI (G)561 on which he served. They were thrilled to meet some ofDoyle's "way back" shipmates and made a point of having picturestaken with each of us.Our memorial service, participated in by the North CharlestonHigh School ROTC, was held on the fantail ofthe USS Yorktown.Florida LCIers Honor Don McGranahanReported by John Cummer, LCI(l) 502, Orlando, FLEighty five LCIers and their spouses gathered at the SurfsideResort, Ormond Beach, November 13-14, 200 I for a resumptionoftheir annual reunion.Highlight ofthe reunion was the presentation ofa special plaqueto outgoing Florida State Director Don McGranahan, honoringhim for his many years of service.LCI Flotilla 6, Group 16, Meets in South Carolina Reported by Connie Mulherin, LCI(G) 561, Titusville, FLUSS LCI(G) Flotilla 6, Group 16, held its tenth annual reunionSeptember 12-16,2001, at the Holiday Inn, Mt. Pleasant, SC.The tragedy at the World Trade Center affected our gatheringgreatly with many cancellations because ofair travel problems.The saddest news ofall was the cancellation by our Group President,Sal Caffiero (560) ofStaten Island, NY, because his niecewas in one of the World Trade buildings when it fell. A trulysorrowful period for him and his family.In this same week we also lost Group 16 regular Thomas "Bernie"McCarthy (568) ofBrookville, FL, who succumbed to cancer.Except for travel hardships incurred by several ofthem men, thereunion was a huge success.Present at our reunion were two grandsons ofour late shipmate,Doyle Bailey, of Gordo, Alabama. They were Chris and KirkNational President Jim Talbert presents Don McGranahan witha plaque honoring his long service to the USS LeI NationalAssociationRelaxed conversation on the patio overlooking the ocean (a bitwindy!) and an enjoyable banquet followed the informal patternof reunions of past years. In an informal discussion, it wasdecided to try for a two day meeting next year with more plannedgroup activities.The untimely deaths of the two men who planned this reunionbrought sadness to us all. Harry Gatanis, LCI(L) 435, who hadenthusiastically volunteered to take on planning for the reunionsuccumbed to cancer on September 3, 200 I. His partner EarlMinner, LCI(R) 342 of Daytona Beach, FL, stepped into thebreech to complete the planning. We were saddened to learn of7

his unexpected death just two days after our reunion.We would like to report all reunions. Ifyou are aware ofanygroup ofLCfers meeting. please let us know so that we can sharethe news.John CummerGalewski Receives our "Bravo Zulu" for Amphibious Veterans Memorial Guard and a piper who rendered an emotional version of"AmazingGrace".Guest speaker was Donald R. Presutti, brother-in-law of RoyGalewski and a high school teacher. He lauded the contributionof the Amphibious Forces and the price that they paid in thedefense offreedom. He noted that as a teacher he was appalledat the lack of understanding by students of the meaning of thePledge ofAllegiance to our Flag and that he took every opportunityto explain the true meaning ofthe Pledge and the price thatwas paid for their freedom.Roy Galewski, on previous visits to the veterans hospitals hadnoted there were memorials commemorating the China-Burma­India Veterans and Merchant Marines and asked himself, "Whynot a memorial to the Amphibs?" He approached the hospitalauthorities and gained their approval for the idea. Normally atthis point we would form a committee, start raising funds, andargue among ourselves as to the size and shape ofthe memorialand the wording on it.Amphibious Veterans Gather at the Dedication q(the Memorial Roy Galewski (r) in striped shirt; Tiny Clarkson in center. The "Bravo Zulu" for this issue ofElsie Item deservedly goes toRoy Galewski for his work in bringing about a memorial to AmphibiousVeterans at the Castle Point (NY) Veterans Hospital.Tiny Clarkson, Treasurer ofthe USS LCI National Association,nominated Roy for our recognition and wrote the following accountof the occasion:Not Roy! He is like that NIKE motto - "Just Do It"/ The onlytime he went outside himself in this project was to ask "Tiny"Clarkson for a red shoulder patch so that the Amphibious insigniacould be engraved on the bronze tablet mounted on the frontof the memorial stone. Roy, at his own expense, bought theBarre, Vermont, marble, arranged for the casting of the bronzetablet, and set up the entire dedication ceremony.Watching our shipmate, Roy, in action carrying out this project,this writer was reminded why it was that 60 years ago a bunchofteen age kids were so successful in storming enemy beachesfrom Normandy to Iwo Jima. We just plain didn't know that itwas almost impossible.WELL DONE, ROY! BRAVO ZULU to you!Castle Point, NY, Feb, 7, 2002 A beautiful and meaningful marblememorial dedicated to Naval Amphibious Veterans ofWWII wasunveiled on February 7 in the Courtyard at the Castle Point VeteransHospital.This project was the brainchild of our own Roy Galewski, LCI224, and a Life Member of the USS LCI National Association.Under somber skies, Hospital Chaplain Robert Hershberger gavethe invocation and blessed the memorial as it was unveiled byRoy Galewski.Approximately 125 Amphibious veterans, friends and hospitalofficials were in attendance including hospital Executive DirectorMichael Sabo and Director of Volunteer Services JeromeVaughn. The ceremony was participated in by a Navy ColorLetters to the EditorWell, shipmates, you've kept the mailman busy! We've got quiteafew letters - and e-mails to share with you. Nice to see that somany ofyou read the "Elsie Item" so closely and call me onmistakes! Hey, ifwe keep it up, we 'Il get it right in the end!We'll start offwith Dave Dorjlinger q(the 355. Dave e-mails usfrequently since he sinvolved in the project to get a model ofanLCI aboard the USS New Jersey as she prepares jor the opening8

to the public across the river from New York Cit}: This e-mailhas nothing to do with LCIs but it sa real stinker!! Dave was onthe internet looking for information about a Marine and cameon a website dealing with Sumay, on Guam. Sumay. Dave tellsus, was the location ofthe Pan Am Hotel and the Marine barrack~before WWII. Here s what Dave had to say about thatlocation:January 27, 2002"... I am sure they will not carry the story of the delivery of acargo net full ofcheese that got dumped near the old Fleet Landing.It was rained on so often, where it lay, that they buried it.Then, about nine months later, they dug up the whole area for anew location for reefers. The pan-excavators spread the gookover about four acres!"The stench was unbelievable! Probably smelled all the wayback to CinCPac!"Dave.And we hear another fascinating story from the USS GambierBay. Figure what the chances of hauling someone from yourhome town aboard as a survivor!!December 30, 200 IH 'I I.Ifyou can stand one more story on the USS Gambier Bay, I haveone for you. I was on the USS LCI(R) 340 at the time of therescue of the survivors. We were working 4 on and 4 off in theengine room and then assisted the lookouts on deck when wecould. I was helping when the first survivors were spotted. Welit up the night with our signal light to see the rafts. I was at theladder we had over the side to help them come aboard. The firsthand I grabbed to help aboard was a sailor I knew from my hometown ofTwo Rivers, Wisconsin. He was one of the lucky onesand was not wounded.Since he would be eligible for a survivor's leave, I asked him tobring my girl friend and my parents up to date on me if he gotback home. He was able to do this for me and explain to themwhy the ship was changed from and LCI(L) to an LCI(R). Ourtrip was a bit difficult and we set the pace of the operation becausewe had lost our starboard shaft and screw the day beforethe landing at Tac1oban, Leyte. I hope this helps some of thepeople from the other ships who wondered why we went so slow.Charles Savard, MoMM 1 C, USS LCI(R)340Two Rivers, WI.9 And, a bit belated, here s a nice compliment sent to Sam Rizzoconcerning one ofour model placements:July 2,2001Dear Mr. Rizzo,On behalf of the Grosse Pointe War Memorial I would like totake this opportunity to thank you and the National USS LCIAssociation for the donation of the 42" Landing Craft Infantrymodel. It will be placed in a display case in the newly remodeledVeteran's Room of the historic Alger House.... The War Memorial is honored to display the Landing CraftInfantry model and greatly appreciates your donation.Sincerely,Mark R. Weber, PresidentGrosse Point War MemorialGrosse Point Farms, MIAnd while we're on congratulatory notes, here s one from theNational D-Day Museum in New Orleans:Mr. James E. Talbert, President,USS LCI National AssociationDear Mr. Talbert:On behalf of the Board of Directors and the staff of The NationalD-Day Museum, I would like to thank you and your organizationfor your recent pledge contribution of $5,000. Ourrecords show this as your second installment of a total contributionof $25,000, which brings you to the "Loyalty" level in theFounders Society.Your generous gift has been applied to the capital campaign forthe design, fabrication and installation of Phase I and II of theMuseum's construction and exhibitions. Please know that weare extremely grateful for your support of this Museum projectand we owe our continuing success to you and contributors likethe USS LCI National Association. We hope that you and everyoneon the USS LCI National Association team enjoyed attendingthe Grand Opening events. We certainly enjoyed thepresentation of your donation at the Convention Center, on theGathering of Eagles stage ....The Board of Directors joins me in expressing our sincere appreciationfor your continued support.Sincerely,Gordon H. "Nick" Mueller, PhD.President and CEO

We thank you, Dr. Mueller, and all the staffofthe Museum for awonderful opening celebration and for all the great work in puttingtogether such an impressive museum. We are proud to be apart ofit..From across the border in Canada comes this message: \November 28, 2002Dear Mr. Cummer,... .I am and ex LCIer ofthe British Navy, World War Two anda member ofthe British LST and Landing Craft Association ...Our Flotilla were all built in New Jersey, New York area, I believe.During the war years, the crews for many types of shipswere sent to Asbury Park, New Jersey, staying in two hotels,namely The Berkeley Carteret, and the Monterey. Britain didnot have the capacity to build the ships that were required.I might add that the people in and around Asbury Park werewonderful, their hospitality amazing, they just could not doenough for us. I have many memories of those years, includingthe USOs, The U. S. Defense Center, Park Avenue, New York,the State Door Canteen, and so on.Sincerely,w.A. Smith87 Cornwall Road, Brampton,Ontario, Canada. L6WIN7P.S. The two hotels together, were known as HMS Asbury, butthe food and accommodations were by no means hotel standard,just in case you thought we were all living it up.Next, I want to share with you an e-mailfrom a "new old"friendfrom across the waters. Charles Eagles was a member oftheDurham Light Infantry, the outfit that my ship, the 502, helpedto land on Gold Beach on June 6, 1944. His e-mail asks a questionwhich I pass on. Can anybody from LCIs who landed Britishtroops on D-Day help in this one?that you landed on Jig Green Beach. Following the publicationofHarry Moses' history ofthe 9 th Battalion DLI [Durham LightInfantry], "the Gateshead Gurkhas", we believe that 231 Brigadelanded on Jig Green Beach and 56 Brigade landed on JigRed Beach but, as yet, we don't know the make-up of231 Brigade.We shall keep up with it.The other thing we have learned is that the 9 th DLI, my battalion,was in the second wave and landed on King Green and Red GreenBeaches (so far unable to establish which ofthe two myparticularLCI landed on). I was in the "second" LCI of 3 transportingthe 9 th DLI, which consisted of Major Mogg with "C" Companyand the remainderofHQ and Support Companies. We leftfrom King George V Dock, Southampton. As an active memberofthe LCI Association, next time you meet, could you ask ifany ofyour colleagues remember transporting Major Mogg (laterGeneral Sir John Mogg who died recently) of the 9 th DLI as itwould be great to contact them too .... "Best Wishes,Charles EaglesEast Herrington, SunderlandEnglandFormer Florida State Director Don McGranahan expressed histhanks to Jim McCarthy for the great job on the LCI Calendarand passed on some interesting reminiscences as he did so:February 1,2002Hi Jim,Just a note to let you know that the calendar I ordered for afriend, John Hooper, who was a soldier attached to the 115 thInfantry arrived. One of our LCIs landed him on D-DayNormandy, Omaha Beach. He didn't remember the number ofthe LCI he was on when he landed in Normandy and he wrote tome to see if we could find out. All he knew was that a shell hitthe LCI as he stepped into the water. After I wrote an article forthe Florida Newsletter and sent it to the Elsie Item Newsletter,he received many letters and phone calls and it was decided hewas on the USS LCI(L) 553 which is on your calendar for themonth ofJune. My ship, the USS LCI(L) 412, was right besidethe 553 and we saw it destroyed after the troops were put ashoreand the crew had to abandon ship and go on the beach ....February 6, 2002Dear John,We've been reading your e-mail of the log of the 502, and seeI thought what a great service you have done for the army andnavy by making your calendar available - But, knowing you Jim,I am not surprised as you have done more for the USS LCI NationalAssociation and the State ofCalifornia than any other LCI10

member in our organization.credit. Best Regards, Don McGranahan.You certainly deserve a lot of After April 1, 2002:56 Woodhaven DriveJackson, TN 38301901/668-5085Right on, Don! We agree with you wholeheartedly.Anthony Pelle, Utica, NY, lllho served as MoMM2c aboard USSLCI(L) 495 comments on the book review ofEdwin Hoyt s "TheInvasion Before D-Day" about the disastrous attack by GermanE-Boats on LSTs at Slapton Sands:....Mr. Hoyt mentions the LCI(L) 495 and the possibility thatGen. Eisenhower was aboard. Let me set the record straight.The officers aboard were Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, Admiral JohnWilkes, Air Marshall Tedder (British), and I think Gen. OmarBradley. At the time I was bold enough to obtain their autographs,except for Gen. Bradley.I hope ifany ofmy shipmates read this letter they will write andrefresh my memory.Anthony Pelle, MoMM2C9 Syloan Glen RoadUtica, NY 1350 IPh.: 3151735-8985From Venice, Florida, retired LCDR Carl Smith writes concerningthe actions ofthe LCIs at Iwo Jima and has a request::I served aboard LST 224 during WWII. We made 6 D-Day landingsin the Pacific Theater, including Iwo Jima. During our timethere I was greatly impressed by the courage displayed by theLCI crews.One of those gallant ships was severely damaged and a numberofthe officers and men were killed. As I recall, a BM was commandingofficer because all the commissioned officers werekilled. We towed this LCI from Iwo to Saipan, March 3, 1945,.I am writing a history of LST 224 and would like to write achapter on this LCI and its crew. Please publish my letter. Ifthere are any crew members remaining I'd like to talk with them.Write me, giving ship number and details. Thank you.Sincerely,Carl V. Smith1300 N. River Road, EIOIVenice., FL 342939411493-7901And here are a couple more to make corrections. We got theidentifications on a ship pictured in the "Picture Galley" mixedup and sharp eyes spotted it!... The new format of our magazine looks great!A correction: The caption on the picture of the 24 on page 25states that it was taken on New Guinea. It was on New Georgiain the Solomon Islands.Best wishes,Lou Plant, LCI 24Livonia, MIand William. Stark, Sr., ofPalmyra, WI, spots the same errorand writes a bit more interesting commentary:December 30, 2001Dear John:The wind is screaming through the pines, snow already coversthe drive I cleared only an hour ago. Nevertheless it's a beautifulday here in the hills ofthe "Kettle Moraine" because the "U.S. Mule" gotthrough and delivered "The Elsie Item #39". However,on page 25, there is an error that begs correction and elaboration.The photo caption states that the ship at the left is the 25.This is wrong. LCI 23 is at the far left, not 25.I was with the stem 20mm gun crew when this photo was takenon July 4, 1943.We were informed that none of the 16 Betty's survived the wallof fire that greeted them that day. The Japanese pilots did surviveand some of their less fortunate ones were picked up andbrought ashore between ships 23 and 24. This was the first timewe had seen the enemy alive.Also, of interest, we were told that the bombs were "Daisy Cutters"and detonated prior to striking their targets. This was saidto explain the reason for our casualties and the fist-size holes inthe port side of the engine room area.SeaBees arrived with cutting torches and arc welder in a"Higgins" boat and proceeded to cut up the hatch to the aft troopcompartment. This was done to obtain steel plates for the patches11

and made LCI 23 seaworthy again. I was assigned to work withthe SeaBees on this job.Also, Rendova, contrary to the photo caption, lies in the Solomonchain of islands about 100 miles NW ofGuadalcanal and not inNew Guinea.Despite having had his "Gyro Compass: knocked out, our Skipperfound his way back to Tulagi after dark without incident.Respectfully submittedw. C. Stark, SrPalmyra WIRuss Hayden, Venice, FL, wants to make sure he 50 listed on theright ship - and that we keep him in the Navy instead ofshiftinghim over to the Coast Guard ..... It appears that the December issue of Elsie Item has made atypo error and placed me on the 83, a Coast Guard LCI. I wouldvery much appreciate it if a correction could be made in yournext issue so that I can possibly get in touch with some old shipmatesfrom the LCI (G) 82.Russ Hayden, SMlc, USS LCI(G) 82And, finally, John L. Dobreff, LCI 493, of Westland MI, telephonedto make a correction on the caption under the photo,page 8, Issue 39 (December, 2001) showing the presentation ofthe model to the Calvert Marine Museum, Solomons, MD. Theship was incorrectly identified as the 493 and should have beenthe 497."Now it Can be Told" ­LCI (R) 765 Takes on a Jap Destroyer This is truly one of the most intriguing stories of LCIs I haveever come across. We are indebted again to Hank Henderson,LCI(R) 765for this story which,for obvious reasons, never foundits way into the official records.There is quite a personal story on this clipping. When I wasgrowing up, Billy was one of my mentors - one of my favorites.He was one ofthe oldest boys in my Dad's Boy Scout troop. Allthe way through Billy was an outstanding person and like anolder brother to me.When I received the letter from my Dad with that clipping in it, Iwas the PhM on the USS LCI(R) 765. We were working out ofOkinawa. At the time we were hauling supplies to the Destroyersand Destroyer Escorts on the picket line just south of Japan.They were the most exposed people in the world - trying to keepthe Japanese Navy and Air Force off our backs or at least let usknow when they were coming. Those boys really took a beating.We picked up a full load ofgroceries, ammo and mail and headednorth from Kerama Rhetto. We had also received a bag of mailfor our crew. We had been underway for quite some time - almostoff the southern end of Japan - when we finally got time todistribute the mail to our crew. The first letter I opened was theone from Dad with the news of Billy's death over the "Hump".He was flying a C-47 - the old Goonie Bird work horse - fromIndia to China over the Himalayan Mountains. That is one ofthe worst flight paths in the world - or at least it was for the oldlow and slow Goonies. Today, at 35,000 feet in ajet at 600 mph,no problem. Billy's wing man followed him down and therewere no parachutes! No one knows why they rode her downinstead ofjumping. Either way, there was little hope of rescuewhen you went down in that part of the world.I read that and sort of blew my stack, I guess. I had lost manyfriends during the war, but this was too close to home. With theletter in my hand I went storming up to the bridge, faced theCaptain, and demanded to be transferred immediately to a forwardarea. Right then I would have taken on the whole Japanesenation bare handed.Anyway, the Captain looked at me with a stunned expression onhis face.Finally he said,"A forward area? You want I should drop you off at the Emperor'spalace? We have nothing more "forward" than we are right now!There is nothing between us and Japan except the Japanese Navy- or what is left ofit! You surely don't want to transfer to the JapNavy!"Going through one ofmy albums, I came across an original newspaper clipping reporting the death of W. E. "Billy" Carroll inMarch of 1945.He noticed the letter in my hand. He took the letter, read it,handed it back to me and said,"I understand, Doc. We are there, so just hang tight."12

That night four Jap destroyers tried to break through the picketline. Our destroyers sunk three but the fourth got through. Wepicked him up on radar coming right down our throat at a closingspeed ofalmost forty knots. We had radar and they did not.It was a pitch black night.We figured our skipper would order a 90 degree tum and get theheck out of the way. Our little 153 foot landing craft with one40 mm and four 20 mm guns would be no match for thedestroyer's five inch guns.No way! Bruce (Bruce B. Swegle, LTJG, USNR, our "Old Man"and all of 26 years old) ordered us to load our rocket launchersand he held course.As we skinned along side ofthe destroyer out ofthe dark, maybetwo hundred yards or less from them, we gave them a broadsidepoint blank barrage of 18 five inch concussion rockets. Did afast 180 and let loose with 18 more, then headed off into thedark night. The last we saw of the Jap he was limping slowlynorth toward home with his topsides almost cleaned off.Without the element ofsurprise and the luck ofa very dark nightwe would have been history long before we got within range.Did Bruce, or any ofus, know for sure that the Jap had no radar?No way. But Bruce was the meanest, craziest, and most luckyLTJG, USNR, in the Navy. Commander Coffin told me some40 years later that was why he usually gave us such crazy assignments- and Clarence Coffin, Commander, USN, retired asRear Admiral, was one heck of a Navy Commander. He wasperhaps the Navy version of Marine Corps legend General"Chesty" Puller. I had the good (or bad) fortune to serve underboth men - and Chesty in two wars. He was my CO again duringthe Korean thing [Perhaps that is one ofthe reasons that I amstill alive - with Commanders like those two]The Captain ordered the Quartermaster to make no entry in thelog. He said that ifhe logged that we had attacked and beaten aJap destroyer, Commander Coffin (LCI Flotilla 16 Commander)would send him home in a straightjacket. Later Clarence Coffindid send Bruce home almost in a straight jacket but protectedby a Bronze Star. That got him a slot as the ExecutiveOffice on a cruiser for the Korean thing - six months of bombardingthe heck out ofKorea.After the action was over, Bruce called me up to the bridge anasked,"Doc, do you feel better now?""Yes sir. Thank you, Captain!"Since that night I have many times wondered if he made thecrazy impossible decision to attack that destroyer for my ben­efit, or if it was just another ofthe wild crazy stunts that he managedto pull off. Until he died last year he refused to discuss itwith me!Some of the crew of the LCI(G) 450 asked about firing a broadsidewith our rockets. Their launchers were welded to the rampplatforms and deck. Ours were the six shot variety, three overand three under on rails. Some way the crew managed to swingthem straight outboard in the broadside position and lock themin position with zero elevation. But no one would ever admit toit and the incident was not mentioned again for forty years. Thestatute of limitations had run out by then!When we fired the rockets in the normal position - straight aheadat about 45 degrees elevation for the maximum 4,000 or so yardrange, the rocket motor scorched the paint on the freeboard ofthe ship. After those two broadsides the crew spent all of theirspare time for the next couple of days replacing the scorchedpaint on the deck and sides ofthe deck house.They were not really designed to operate that way, but duringWWII lots of things were modified to do whatever job was required.The original rockets fired by LCIs so the story goes ­came from a Marine mortar squad being carried to a beach headby an LCI. They came under heavy fire from the shore. TheMarines set up their mortars on the deck and peppered the shore,thus suppressing the shore batteries. The crew ofthe LCI managedto draw some "midnight arms" - i.e. Marine mortars andammo, welded the mortars to the deck, and the LCI(R) was bom.Maybe some of you can come up with a different story for theLCI(R) modification, but I have that from some ofthe guys whowere there on that first occasion.The battle between the LCI(R) 765 and a Japanese Destroyer isone ofthe unrecorded stories ofWWII, except that I think it is inmy book, No Flagfor my Coffin.LeI Model to be Presented to USS New Jersey -Hank HendersonSam Rizzo, Chairman of Model Placements, has announcedthat a model of an LCI will be presented to theUSS New Jersey for display at her moorings across fromNew York City. Arrangements have been made throughDave Dorflinger, LeI 355, a resident of Berlin, NJ.Plans for the presentation will be announced in a futureissue of The Elsie Item.13

Fogby Ralph Langenheim, LCI(L) 551, Urbana, IL.Ralph, a Professor at the University ofIllinois with aspirationstoward creative writing, shares with us his experiences in theEnglish Channel as his LCI prepared for the Normandy Invasion.T. S. Eliot was right when he called April "the cruelest month."We couldn't stop to see the "darling green buds forcing theirway out oftheir frozen cocoon." Instead, chilled to the bone bya stiff breeze somewhere in the 40's we stood shivering on thegrey steel deck of our Landing Craft Infantry in dank, dingy,embattled Falmouth Harbor, waiting to flow out in formationagainst Hitler's glowering Atlantic Wall. Some may have appreciatedPendennis Castle as an historic and literary monumentguarding the harbor entrance, but most of us were vaguely depressedby the cold, the clouds, the worn grimy buildings, andthe strange lower class accents, the shabby and unhappy look ofthe populace and the terminal body odor of the English.Our officers and men had learned the rudiments of LCI operationsat the Amphibious Training Base at Solomons, Maryland.We raised the flag and commissioned our newly-launched 155foot long, flat-bottomed ship in Perth Amboy, New Jersey. Afterloading stores at Pier 45 in New York we then took a "shakedown" voyage down to Chesapeake Bay and Solomons. Formore than one of our crew this was their first experience at sea;they had better luck concealing their fears than in hiding their"first time at sea" sea sickness. More training exercises, landings,gunnery, maneuvering in formation, and just generally sailingthe ship followed. Then training ended and we set sail acrossthe Atlantic. Finally, glad to be in safe harbor after nineteendays voyaging across the Atlantic, we had unloaded our deckcargo oftwo spare engines, refueled, took on water and suppliesand became part of the great invasion fleet destined to crashthrough Hitler's Atlantic Wall.At 0843, April 23, 1943, with orders in hand to proceed up thechannel to Dartmouth, LCI(L) 551 began "facing up" to hot combat.Setting special sea detail, we started the engines, cast offfrom our mooring buoy, got underway and sailed out throughthe submarine nets guarding Falmouth Harbor. At 0917 wejoineda column of our sister ships, behind USS LCI(L) 526 and, accompaniedby a small escort, started out. Shortly after the anchorwas housed, Captain Fred Carideo, our 32 year old ex-NotreDame footballer, secured the special sea detail and set the regularunderway watch - watch officer, signalman, and a messengeron the bridge; helmsman and engine telegraph operator inthe pilot house; and two men at the engines - only seven men torun the ship.We were so naive that it fell to me, a newly-graduated 21-yearold,geology student, to suggest that, since we were in the EnglishChannel with the Germans on the other side; who knewwhat we might meet and, perhaps, we should man a gun. So,two men were sent to man number one gun on the bow. Thisreally was a pro forma move as our dinky little 20 mm machinegun, manned by beginners, hardly could have done much hadwe been attacked by veteran fighters in German planes, "E" boats(motor torpedo boats) or a submarine. It was then that it hit me;we were truly at war.Fog began settling around us shortly after we cleared the harborat 1230. A halfhour later, 13000, you could see only about 100to 200 yards. We were befogged - another first time experience- and it got worse. Soon we could see nothing, not the shipahead, not the ship behind, not the coast-line to port, nor anythingout to sea to starboard. We were alone and enveloped on agently heaving cold grey sea. Lacking PPI (Plan Position Indicator)radar, the kind familiar to anybody who has watched "war"movies wherein a rotating ray oflight illuminates objects aroundthe ship, we resorted to the old-fashioned fog buoy to keep ourposition in our column of ships.A fog buoy is a wooden spar fitted with a scoop that throws up ajet of water as it is towed through the water. Each ship in thecolumn towed one of these on a line as long as the prescribedinterval between ships. Thus, each watch officer had to adjusthis ship's speed to keep that splashing buoy just ahead of hisship's bow. In this way, the whole column was strung along likea string of beads. Every ship was dependent upon keeping thatbuoy in sight, and, for that matter, was dependent upon all oftheships ahead doing the same. Presumably the ship leading thecolumn knew where it was going; perhaps they had radar. As itwas, we were totally dependent upon eyes, ears, fog buoys andprudent seamanship - the latter unlikely to be in strong supplyamongst a group of beginners.All went well - for a while - as we eased along; continuouslyhearing the familiar sounds ofour own and our convoy fellow'sfog horns. Occasionally other, generally deeper pitched signals,emanating from other, probably larger, ships, navigational buoys,or light houses, chimed in. As long as they remained distantthere was no alarm. The sea was calm, there was little wind, andwith the muffling effect ofthe fog, the effect was other-worldly.Then Alarm!, deep-toned bellowing close by and in a variety ofdifferent, distinct tones. We were approaching, or being approachedby, a sizeable group of apparently larger ships; maybe14

in fact, being "run over" by another convoy. We couldn't seethem. Could they see us? Probably not if they were merchantships because these rarely were equipped with PPI radar. Escortvessels, ofcourse, had radar and could "see" everybody, but hadlimited ability to communicate with the rest of us. Our LClshad not been ordered to keep a radio watch. We sort of felt likeblind mice running around in an elephant cage. Our quiet ridein the fog lost its charm.At 1430, after two hours in the fog, a minesweeper, presumablyBritish, as they had control in the channel, passed us close abeamto port streaming paravanes. Their starboard paravane clearedus by less than 10 feet; not very comforting, especially as wenever saw the minesweeper. Obviously this guy was clearingthe way for some really good-sized ships deserving of protection.A half-hour later we were overtaken and passed close abeamto starboard, by an American merchant ship. Suddenly a highwall ofgrey steel plates loomed close alongside. That ship's railand upper works were invisible in the mist, as were its bow andstem. Don Buswell, our Executive Officer, another ninety-daywonder fresh out ofBrigham Young University, remembers hearingAmerican-accented voices above him before he could seethe ship. He also remembers that ship bumping our side. I donot remember the bump, but I do remember looking up that cliffof steel almost at arm's length. Up there a couple of guys werelooking down, but you couldn't see the expression on their faces.Fortunately there was no damage, just terror. As quickly andsilently, excepting for the fog horn, the big merchantman glidedahead and vanished.Shortly thereafter, the fog buoy we were following also vanished,cutting our tenuous contact with the rest of our convoy and our"seeing eye" escort. Afterwards the ship ahead told us that amerchantman had passed behind them and clipped off their fogbuoy. We didn't even see that ship! We were on our own, lost ina fog shrouded packet a few hundred yards in diameter and feelingmighty insecure. AT 1716 three freighters passed us going inthe opposite direction about 75 yards to port. This didn't helpour state of mind very much as now we knew that there washeavy traffic both coming and going - all of it invisible.The fog began dissipating at 1900 and we heard a plane passoverhead at 1933. Since we could neither see it or identify it,we sounded general quarters and manned our guns. Nothinghappened so we secured at 1952; returning to our regular watchassignments. During all of this we kept groping blindly up thechannel. We escaped collision, but, eventually, when the fogcleared we found ourselves alone There was not a ship in sight,neither from our convoy nor anybody else. We could see thesouth coast of Britain a few miles away to port - fortunately wehad not run aground or hit a rock. Smooth, unblemished waterextended to the horizon; ahead, astern and out to sea to starboard.The sun was shining, the water gleamed slightly blue,the hills ashore were green. To our amazement, finally we hadfound Spring in Britain. Fortunately there were no E- boats outthere, but, also, there was nobody else. No planes in the sky, noships on the sea; we were just one little ship astray on the edgeofthe war with five puny 20 mm guns manned by greenhorns todefend herself. Even so, spirits rose.Fortunately our British Admiralty Charts showed not only thecoastline, lighthouses and buoys, but included profile sketchesofthe land as seen from the sea, complete with detailed sketchesof notable structures and prominent topographic features. Havingjust finished a geology course in which I made topographicmaps and interpreted them, I pretty quickly identified landmarksand hills ashore and plotted our position. I triumphantly reportedthis to our Captain, Fred Carideo, and anybody else whocouldn't escape me; but none of them were willing to trust mystory or had confidence in their own ability to "read" thosesketches. Thus, when we finally encountered a fishing boat atwork we pulled over like the stereotypical "woman driver" andaskcd thcm where we were. Humiliating, and probably thesource of yet another British tale of how the U. S. Navy wascomposed of a bunch of clowns. For the record, those fishermenconfirmed my reading of our position and we successfullysailed on alone to Dartmouth. The rest ofthe convoy dribbled inby bits and pieces thus ending the first of several convoy debaclesthat enlivened our ship's career.R. L. Langenheim, JrLCI(L)551Based on the memories of D. A. Buswell, John Cox, VincentMcLees and on the ship:~ log.Northwest LClers to Meet; USS LCI(L)713 Sails Again!Plans have just been announced for a meeting of theNorthwest LCI Association in Vancouver, WA,September 10-12,2002. Walt James is bringing the 713 tothis meeting and LClers and their guests will be able toboard her. Walt will speak about the restoration at thebanquet. All LCIers and their guests are welcome butregistrations must be made at once. For registrationmaterials and further information, contact:Rod Scurlock4445 Mustang DriveBoise, Idaho 83709 (Ph. 208/362-4447)15

Can You Top this ­for BRASS?The following morning, at 0620, Colonel Woods, U. S. Army, Commander, 117'h Infantry, 29 th Infantry Division came aboard. But that was only the preliminaries! At 0648 we welcomed: Lieutenant General Omar N. Bradley, Commander, I SI ArmyLieutenant General Cortney Hodges, Deputy Commander, 15\ArmyMajor General R. O. Barton, Commanding General, 4th DivisionLieutenant General H. Lumader, British Army, identified in thelog as "Liaison Staff to General MacArthur"Lieutenant General DeGmngand, British Army, Chief of Staff,21 sl British Army GroupFrom the Editor:I'm going to challenge all you LCIers out there with this assertion::At no time during WWII were there more top brass aboard oneLCIthan on board the USS LCI(L) 502 on March 1O-1l, 1944Any takers? Anthony Pelle, of LCI(L) 495 might well want to challenge that (see Letters to the Editor) and he will certainly get bonus points for having General Eisenhower aboard, but let me give you my list and you can be the judge. My reference for this is the log of the 502 for the dates of this event. The stars fell on the 502 on March 10-11, 1944. The occasion was a practice landing exercise in Start Bay, De­von, England in preparation for D-Day. The LCI 502 was, for some reason, selected to be an observation ship, carrying the brass who needed to see up close what was happening. When we heard who was coming, we tried to fi!:,'1lre out many side boys would be needed, where in the heck we could put them and, most impor­tantly, who could blow a bosn's pipe! Fortunately the order came that "no honors will be rendered" which relieved us all - espe­cially Walt Sellers, our Bos'n. andBrigadier General [initials illegible] Belchem, British Army, BGSPlans, 21 sl Army Group.Can you top this?Logistics that day were something else! I wish I had saved it as asouvenir, but one of the things I remember was a sign posted onthe officer's head reading:"This head is for the use of officers of the rank of Colonel orabove"One of our brash young seamen had the gall to yell "Gangway,ship's company" at a bunch of the star-wearers on the gun deck!And my greatest moment came when General Bradley passed thenumber two 20mm where I was on duty. He paused, looked atthe gun and said,"That's the Mark 14 gunsight, isn't it?""Yessir", I quickly responded.And that was the conversation that undoubtedly changed the courseof the whole war!So here's the list: At 2130, 10 March 44, a Major General W. O. Butler, USAAF came aboard with his aide. At 2145 Rear Admiral D. P. Moon, USN, Task Force Commander, and Rear Admiral J. Wilkes, USN, Commander 11th Amphibious Force came aboard with a bunch of Captains, Majors and Lieu­tenants as aides. 16

Elmer Carmichael: German Paratrooper or LCIer? Here s a great story for you from our good friend ElmerCarmichael, LCI85, now living in Crescent, Oklahoma.You'd think those British Police would have more respect for acombat vet who has just lost his ship!"Out ofthe Fire and Into the Frying Pan - A True Story"On D-Day in Normandy our ship was attempting to land over200 American troops on bloody Omaha Beach when our shipwas shelled, caught on fire and sank. Several days after, all ofour surviving crew members, not wounded, were sent to asurvivor's camp in Plymouth, England. Due to the fact that welost everything except what we were wearing on D-Day, we wereissued a Red Cross Survivor's Kit which consisted of sneakers,pin-striped trousers, slip-over sweaters. Then each of us wereissued battle jackets by the British Army. Our only identificationwas our dog tags which we wore on a chain around our necks.one time and he asked many questions about Chicago and wecould not answer any of them! They informed me that I evenlooked like a German and I told them that I was one-half Germansince my mother emigrated through Ellis Island just prior toWorld War One.After some time, I insisted that we be allowed to call the ShorePatrol in Plymouth and they sent a jeep to pick us up aroundmidnight. The Shore Patrol had to sign for us and they took usback to Plymouth where the Officer of the Day greeted us with."You damn guys knew that you were not to leave the PlymouthArea"And my reply was,"Aye, Aye, Sir"I could not think of a single valid excuse to tel1 him.We were allowed to go into the City of Plymouth; however, wewere warned that, due to our odd mixture of clothing, we werenot to leave the city as the Shore Patrol and Military Police wouldnot know who we were.One of my shipmates had a girl friend who was stationed on afarm some 65 miles from Plymouth and he told me that therewas a second girl also stationed at the same farm and that shewas very attractive. England drafted women into the Land Armyduring World War II to do the farming since most of the menwere in the service. Since at that time I was young and single, itwas not too difficult for him to convince me to go with him tovisit these two English girls.We rode a bus as far as we could, then we caught rides withcivilians the rest ofthe way to the farm. Just after it got dark, thetwo girls, the woman who owned the farm, and my shipmate andI were at the table eating supper when suddenly many spotlightsshown on the farm house and several English Bobbies (Police)came to the door.The police informed us that there had been reports of GermanParatroopers being in the area and, of course, they thought thatwe were the German Paratroopers. We could not produce identification,so the police proceeded to take us to the local policestation where we underwent a very serious interrogation by theEnglish Bobbies. One of the Bobbies had lived in Chicago atBook ReviewMighty Midgets at War; The Saga of the LCS(L)Shipsirom Iwo Jima to Vietnamby Robin L. Reiley Hel1gate Press, P.O. Box 3727, Central Point, OR 07502-0032ISBN 1-55571-5222-2Paperback, $18.95Reviewed by Ralph Langenheim, LCI(L) 551, Urbana,ILReilly's comprehensive account of LCI(L) 3's should interestLCI veterans. LCS(L) 3's evolved from LCI(L)s, supplementingand replacing LCI(G)'s, LCI(R)'s and LCI(M)'s which wereLCI(L) conversions designed for close-in fire support.Though LCS(L)'s had the same hull, quad drive propulsion, familiarround conn, and stern anchor/winch as conventional LCItypes, these babies carried about three times as many crewmenand packed a much more potent armament. Their main battery,either a 3"/50, twin mount 40mm, or single mount 40mm gun,was supplemented with a diverse array of 20mm, .50 caliber,and .30 caliber machine guns plus rockets. Their function was17

to deliver a massive barrage on the beach and immediately inlandabout five minutes before the troops actually waded ashoreand, also, to supply fire support close in for as long as the troopswere on or near the beach.Those ofus who did our LCI sailing in the Atlantic may neverhave heard ofLCS(L)'s as they only saw service late in the Pacificwar. The first ofthe 130 ships in the class, LCS(L) I, wascommissioned in June, 1944, and the last commissioned inMarch,1945.Reiley begins with an extensive account ofwhy, where and howLCS(L)'s were invented, constructed, manned and placed in service.Those ofyou who trained at Solomons will enjoy his frankstories about the place and its "notorious" commanding officerwho, by the way, went on to command LCS Flotilla 4 in hissame inimitable style. Appropriately, most ofthe book reviewsthe combat history of the LCS(L)'s in the Philippines, Borneo,Iwo Jima, Okinawa and Viet Nam.Ship's action reports, other original documents, and eye witnessaccounts supply the information. The last part of the text tellsthe post-war story of LCS(L)'s serving in the French, Taiwanese,Japanese, Viet Namese, Philippine, Italian, Greek, Koreanand Thai Navies and the Ryukyuan Coast Guard. One ship remainedin service in the Thai Navy at the time the book waswritten; the fates of each of the others; lost in action, wrecked,sunk as gunfire targets, blown up at Eniwetok, cannibalized forparts, or scrapped,; are listed in the appendix, Nine ships weresent to the French in Indo China and fought in the Red Riverand Mekong deltas until South Vietnam collapsed. Then severalofthem escaped to the Philippines.Adntiral Sabin's Seasickness Story Gets to Hank Henderson's Wife! Way up north - as far north as you can get in Minnesota - sitsWarroad, MN, on the shores ofLake ofthe Woods. It sthe homeofa great story-teller, Hank Henderson, ofLCI (R) 765. lfyou'reon the internet youjust have to hook up with his great stories onHank shared with me the following:by Hank HendersonI received the December Elsie Item in the mail today and, ofcourse, started reading it immediately. My wife, Virginia, wasacross the office at her desk trying to "fix" her desk lamp. (Ittook a second trip to the hardware store and about two hours toget the job done)Now, Virginia has heard much about LCIs as she was the maininstrument in locating almost all ofthe LCI(R) 765 crew in 1983and inviting them to Warroad for their first ever reunion and tocelebrate the 40 th anniversary of commissioning. She has attendedevery reunion of the 765 since that first one in June of1984 and has done much to help keep the crew in contact. Thispast fall she and I made the reunion ofVaughn Hampton's LCI(G)450. She also lived through scrounging for data for the twovolumes ofLCI history.Virginia edited and has read my book No Flag for My Coffinwhich in its 554 pages includes a two year cruise on the 765. Iassumed that she had heard all ofthe BS possible about the ELSIEITEMS.Deck logs from all 130 ships commissioned, numerous actionreports, interviews with nine veterans, many letters and memoirs,five unpublished ship's histories and numerous publishedworks supplied information for the book.However - that was not the case. As I read Admiral Sabin'saccount ofhis first trip across the Atlantic Ocean on his flagshipLCI, I just had to read aloud for Ginny's benefit and to relieveher stress of trying to repair her lamp.LCI Association members will enjoy the many sea stories andthe new perspective on actions involving LCIs ofdiverse types.The comprehensive review of action reports, though more detailedand repetitive than most of us will appreciate, nonethelessis a valuable historic compilation. I was especially interestedin the extensive reports describing combat on the RadarPicket Stations during the Kamikaze attacks at Okinawa.As I neared the end she more or less exploded with,"I have enough stress with this damn lamp. Listening to thatAdmiral's story I am just about to throw up. I don't need to hearabout people being sea sick all over the deck!"Now this is from a gal whose best friends are wives ofLCI sailorsand who has been listening to and reading LCI sea stories ofbattles, typhoons, Chinese fiascos, ad nauseam. She also holdsa Coast Guard Master Mariners license and has spent manymonths on both sail and power commercial vessels as Officer inCommand and has ridden out her share ofvicious sea storms.18

She has never known the feeling ofmal de mer. In addition myson and I have put an airplane through its paces with Virginiasitting in the back seat (The baddest place in the world to beduring acrobatic exercises) and not a whimper - - but as I readAdmiral Sabin's very graphic account ofvomit all over the decksfor weeks at a time she started turning green and was ready tothrow me out of the office.I will have to admit that the Admiral painted one heck ofa truepicture oflife aboard our little "Spitkits" as he called them. Andthat reminds me of another "green around the gills" LCI tale.At the end ofthe war I briefly ran into my father (an Army Lieutenant)at Saipan. Dad was the Army cargo security officer on aLiberty ship at war's end and his ship was anchored in the lagoonat Saipan until the government could decide what to dowith the cargo. The USS LCI(R) 765 was en route to San Diegofrom Chingwangtao, China. We spent Christmas, 1945, at anchorin the Saipan lagoon.Now Dad had crossed the Atlantic twice in World War I on trooptransports. He had spent a lot of time in the Gulf of Mexico ondeep sea fishing vessels, and he had made a couple oftransits ofthe mighty Pacific on freighters loaded with combat gear. Herehe was at Saipan visiting on the USS SNAFU - a.k.a. LCI(R)765. We were on the gun deck behind the conning tower whenthe Skipper came out and invited the Army Lieutenant to cometo the Ward Room and have lunch with him.Now I figured Dad would be happy to accept the invitation andlearn what an LCI officer's mess was like.Thanks, but no thanks!"I think I will just stay up herc on deck and take in the fresh air"This surprised me - but when I looked at Dad he was - for thefirst time in his life - getting green around the gills!First amazement - then honest concern."Dad - are you all right?""I will be when I get ashore. I don't see how you guys manageto live on this thing. I have never been the least bit queasy at seain my life - and I am sea sick on a ship lying at anchor!"Now, note that we were lying at anchor in the anchorage offSaipan in a lagoon. There was a slight sea swell rolling into thelagoon but so slight that I had not even noticed the ship movingaround. Of course -after nearly two years aboard I hardly evernoticed motion unless we were almost tumbling or ifcoming offa swell she tried to knock me to my knees.At that though I looked around and did notice that she had someslight roll (Like maybe only 20 degrees) plus a couple ofotherweird motions.If an LCI story by an Admiral can make my sea going wife sick- and an LCI at anchor can make my Dad sick for the only timein his life - I have to agree with Dad's question that long ago dayoff Saipan - "I don't see how you fellows live on this boat!"Semper Fi!(Editor snote - Hank was a Pharmacist sMate who also servedwith the Marines)Get Your Military Service Records, Military Medical Records, Military Medals and/or Awards National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)(FAQ)Visit one ofthe listed sites and request your military servicerecords, military medical records, and any military medalsandJor awards to which you are entitled. Download the formand complete all questions. Do not leave any lines blank ifpossible.All forms are in PDF format. You will use *AdobeAcrobat Reader to read and print these files. Ifthis programis not on your computer, you may download it without chargefrom http://www.adobe.comMail the form to the address on the form and be prepared towait. This work is done by hand and has taken as long asone year. The sooner your request is mailed, the sooneryour information will be retrieved and received by you.NARA'S Military Personnel Records Military Medals andAwards:http://www.mara.gov/regionaUmpawr.htmlNARA"S Regional Records Services Facilities: http://www. mara. gov /regional/mpr.html Form SF-ISO can be downloaded at the following locations: SF-ISO Request Pertaining to Military Records - DVA http://www.nara.gov/formslbenbfitslhtm Forms used by VBA (Veterans Benefits Administration) http://www.vba.va.gov/pubs/formsl.htm GOOD LUCK! JIM TALBERT 19

For the Record: LeIs Sunk or Damaged on D-Day, June 6, 1944 Don Hawley and the Uniform of the Day! From the Editor:From the Naval Historical Center Website(www.history.navy.millfagsjag109-4.htm) , I obtained acopyofCTF 122IL11, United States Fleet TaskForce OneTwo Two, dated 17 June 1944, listing sunk and damagedships and craft "on the far shore" The report is over thesignature ofAdmiral A. G. Kirk.Thinking it might be of interest to LCI NationalAssociation members, I give you here the list ofLCIs inthis report.One note which might forestall some argument: Afootnoteindicates that the list ofoperational losses in Normandywas prepared prior to the strong storm which struck theinvasion beaches at midnight of18-19 June and abated 22June. There were many more losses, particularly ofsmallcraft, as a result ofthis storm.LCIStatus83 Damaged85 Lost87 Damaged88 Lost91 Lost92 Lost93 Lost209 Damaged212 Damaged219 Lost232 Lost416 Lost497 Damaged553 LostNope, we weren't Battleship Sailors!(Editor:~ Note: This "letter to the editor" had such a great pictureenclosed that llelt it deserved space as a separate article.You can use this one to show your grandkids what we reallylooked like in the Pacific!By Don Hawley, QM2C, USS LCI (G) 66Gladstone, OregonThe Editor asked for individual pictures, so I am enclosing oneshowing me as an intrepid sailor aboard the LCI(G) 66. I wasQuartermaster, Second Class, so was on the helm in critical situations- such as bringing the 66 down the Mindanao River inthe Philippines, and skirting the mine-swept area during the invasionof Balikpapan, Borneo.During ordinary skirmishes I was gunner on a 20 mm as picturedhere. I am wearing our normal uniform, consisting ofcutoffdungarees and cut-down boots - period. Well, occasionallywe wore under shorts.My brush cut isn't visible, nor is the star earring in my right ear- we didn't know back then which side it should be on! You cansee my Fu Manchu mustache, and just barely visible is the anchortattoo on my left shoulder. Obviously, this beats the uniformof the day formality of a battlewagon!Just behind my head is the edge of our 3-inch gun tub, and behindme is the only black man aboard. Although he was a bigcut above many of the crew members that came to us right outof the brig, the only thing he was allowed to do was to serve theofficers. And he had to live by himself down in an empty troophold. Talk about the Dark Ages!20

Our diet dictated the flat belly, now a distant memory. We werenever located where we could order up good supplies, so largelylived on fresh whole wheat bread and peanut butter - fortunatelya very nutritional combination. Occasionally I would get on thesignal light and beg larger ships for a few goodies.The recent Christmas season reminded me of a very unhappyDecember at Espiritu Santo. A few ofus were called in and toldwe hadjust become part ofsomething called "amphibious." Ourpresent was a complete Marine outfitting, minus the dress uniform,but including rifle and bayonet. That was not what I hadjoined the Navy for!I had trouble enough carrying a full sea bag, without adding awhole Marine pack. Although I had been in the South Pacificonly a short time, I'd already figured out that no one knew whatthey were doing. While traveling up the slot aboard a supplyship, I gave away everything but the rifle. Of course, no oneever questioned me about the missing material.After the invasion force was ashore at Borneo, our ship was senton a nightly special mission that made it eertain that eventuallywe would hit a mine. When it happened, everything aboard wasknocked out ofcommission and our pumps couldn't keep aheadof the flooding. We would have sunk had not a "Queen Mary"come alongside to add their pumps. If they had minded theirown business, we might have been sent to Hawaii for reassignment!After emergency repairs we were towed to Hollandia, NewGuinea, where we were being refitted for the invasion of Japanwhen the atomic bomb was dropped. If you care for your life,don't get in my face about how barbaric it was for the U. S. todrop those bombs that stopped the war.LeI Model to be Presented to WestPoint Museum Through the negotiations of Leroy Langer, LCI7 41,of New Windsor, NY, approval has been granted forthe presentation of an LCI Model to the Museum atthe U.S. Military Academy, West Point, NY. Attheir suggestion, it will be an LCI that was involvedin the landings of one of the American Beaches atNormandy. Tentative plans have been made toselect USS LCI(L)553 which was lost to enemyaction on that occasion.Watch for future announcement ofplans for this Presentation!The Greatest Battle that Never Was; The Typhoon and the Kamikaze by Dr. Paul Nielsen[Editor s Note: The following article was submitted byGlen M Majors, CmoMM. USS LCI(M) 362, now a resident ofresident ofNorthern California. Glen has received Dr. Nielsen spermission to re-print the article and we do so because we feel itwill be ofreal interest to LCIers who were in the Pacific.During WWII. Dr. Nielsen, after serving as a Chief Petty Offleer, was promoted to the rank ofLieutenant and served aboardan LCMduring the Normandy Invasion. Following that he servedin staffpositions in the Pacific Area during the occupation. Incivilian life he taught school in Montana, Colorado, Washingtonand California, retiring as Superintendent ofSouth San FranciscoPublic Schools.Glen tracked down D/: Nielsen in 1998 while attending the 5(Jhreunion ofhis class at the University ofMichigan.The name Kamikaze will never leave us. There is too muchcoincidence that for some reason has gone unnoticed. Now weare at war again, but 55 years ago we came very close to anArmageddon. Perhaps the word is even too mild. Had eventsgone ahead as planned, it would have been the greatest disasterin American history.In June 1945 the battle of Okinawa had been wrapped up.110,000 Japanese lay dead in Okinawa defending the last bastionbefore the home islands 400 miles away. 12,000 Americanshad also met death in the battle that was to secure the main basefor the last battle for the home islands. Now, in the summer of1945, the task ofinvading and conquering the home islands laybefore the American Armed Forces.Six and a halfcenturies before, in 1281 A.D., the Emperor KublaiKhan had attempted to invade and conquer Japan. The Chinesehad put together a huge invasion force of3,500 ships and morethan 100,000 soldiers. In addition, 900 ships containing 42,000Mongol fighters were sailing from ports in Korea. The Mongolforce landed with superior numbers and equipment, but weremet at the beaches and fought for days before a smaller Japaneseforce prevailed and the Chinese were forced to retreat totheir ships in Hagata Bay. The Mongol fleet sailed out to seawhere they joined the main force of the second fleet comingfrom China in preparation for the second assault on the mainlandof Kyushu. During the summer of 1281, there were21

elaborate Shinto ceremonies all over Japan praying for divineintervention and the defeat of these Mongol hordes that weresailing offtheir shores. Millions ofJapanese voices called upongods to save them.Like a miracle ofold, a Kamikazi, or powerful divine wind, cameup the coast and struck the invasion fleet with such force that theMongol fleet was devastated. After the typhoon had passed,4,000 invasion ships had been lost and over 100,000 people werecasualties.The Japanese now held a nation-wide celebration in thankfulnessfor the Kamakazi that they now believed would foreverprotect them. Now, in 1945, the question in the minds of theJapanese was whether another divine wind would again savethem from invasion of the hated enemy.The American plan was named Operation Downfall and it wasto come in two segments. One segment was named OperationOlympic and the other was dubbed Operation Coronet.In all, Operation Downfall was to include 14 combat divisions.The 550,000 man force was to be brought to Kyushu in 3,000ships including 66 carriers and 2,600 combat planes and craft ofevery size necessary to invade. The Third Fleet ofAdmiral "Bull"Halsey was to stand in the way ofreinforcements from the south.The island of Okinawa was the giant aircraft carrier with 4,000Army, Navy, and Marine aircraft to support the landing forces.Operation Olympic was scheduled to proceed in October of 1945to assault the beaches of southern Honshu with the Sixth Armyspearheading the landings. The force consisted of II Army and3 Marine combat divisions. Rubber mats, complete with colorand with contoured relief 4 feet by 6 feet showing all the cliffsand beaches were in the hands ofthe commanders. The Koshikiislands ofTen ega, Make, Take and 10, off the southern coast ofKyushu were to be taken on October 27. The Alamo Scoutswere scheduled to land prior to the invasion and reconnoiter thebeaches and possibly capture prisoners for interrogation. Thetask seemed monstrous and the Alamo Scouts were "all scaredto death".The 2 nd , 3 rd and 5 th Marine divisions were to invade Kushikinoand split into two segments. At the same time the 25'\ 33 rd , and41 st infantry divisions would land on the southeast coast andcapture Miyasaki and its airfield. Three days later the 71 st, 77'11,and 98'h infantry divisions would assault the southern coast. The11 th Airborne Division was to stand in reserve, and, ifnot needed,would link up with the Marines at Kagoshima.Operation CoronetThe ships and landing craft that were to be part ofthe operationwere stationed at Okinawa in early October. The sea was growinginto a stormy situation. In a few days, a typhoon came throughthe Saipan area and into the Philippine Sea. By the morning ofthe 8 th of October, the waves were 60 feet high and winds of 80miles per hour were coming north. It came so suddenly thatships did not have enough warning to get underway and out tosea. Twenty hours of torrential downpour wiped out the roads,tore down the tent cities of the 150,000 troops stationed there.The storm went out to sea, but came back. Aircraft were pickedup by the wind and catapulted into the air and demolished. Whenthe storm finally subsided countless aircraft had been destroyed.There was no power. Rations had been completely lost andemergency rations had to be flown in. Buckner Bay was useless.There were many bodies in the surf. Two hundred seventyships were sunk, grounded or damaged. Many were beyondrepair. Fifty three ships were in such bad shape that they had tobe decommissioned and abandoned. Ninety ships were in needof major repairs, but the Navy decided only ten were worthy ofrepair and scrapped the remaining eighty. Hundreds ofAmericanswere killed or injured. Okinawa, the island which was toserve as the center of Operation Downfall, was in chaos.The coincidence ofthe storm and the invasion ofHonshu seemsto have been forgotten and few paid attention to the events in thePacific. World War Two was over and some members of thearmed forces has already been discharged.The atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August6 th and 9 th had resulted in surrender and a negotiated peacethat ended the war on September 2, 1945, on the Battleship USSMissouri. Those bombs had, beyond a doubt, prevented the worstdefeat of the American armed forces in history. For the Japanese,the Divine Wind came too late, but the idea of Japanesepreservation from invasion remains forever.The "Divine Wind" Typhoon that came through the area whichwas to be the place of the final battle saved an estimated millionsof lives as both the anned forces of Japan and the UnitedStates plus millions ofJapanese civilians were scheduled to meetin the greatest battle that fortunately did not happen.California LCIers to Meet in Eureka, June 5 - 8, 2002 Plans have just been announced for the California LClersto meet in Eureka, CA June 5 - 8,2002. Highlight of themeetings will be the opportunity to visit LCI 1091, whichowner/skipper Doc Davis will bring to the meeting.For further information and registration materials,contactJim McCarthy 349 Idlewild Lane Oceanside, CA 92054 Telephone: 760/439-5418 22

Pete Gagliardi Experiences the Great Typhoon [Editor sNote: Almost immediately after surviving the great typhoonof October, 1945, Pete Gagliardi, Electrician:~ Mate,and Radioman Jim Webster, of uss LCI (L) 617, sat down togetherand composed the following account ofthose experiences.Recently, Pete dug it out ofhis files, re-typed it and sent it in toshare with other LCIers.it san impressive account that gives immediacy to what it meantto be caught up in that great "Kamikaze" or "Divine Wind"that Dr. Nielsen writes ofabove and we thought it would be agood companion piece to nm alongside it.There is actually no need to write this for the memory of whathappened will always be so deeply instilled in my mind thateven a lapse ofmemory would fail to remove it. Maybe seeingit in print will help in some way to remove a part of it from mymind.We were underway in a convoy from Leyte to Okinawa. Hadbeen underway for about ten days. En route we stopped in adeserted bay along the coast of Luzon for some of the smallerships to refuel. Here it was that we received storm warnings andthe escort vessels refused to leave until the storm had playedout, three days later. When we left Luzon, where the ships hadrefueled, there was no visible indication of bad weather for theskies were perfectly clear and the moon at night kept the skiesup almost like daylight. The only indication of any story wasthat it was unusually hot and still. There was hardly the slightestmovement of air.We were within a scant 300 miles ofOkinawa when the barometerbegan dropping rapidly and we commenced receiving stormwarnings by radio. It rapidly got rougher and the seas weresoon foaming and running. The LeTs that were with us soonbegan taking on water over their bow doors. I think possiblyhad it not been for them, we would have turned back and reachedOkinawa safely the first time. As it happened, we received ordersby radio to tum in the opposite direction and head back inorder that the LeTs could weather the storm. Even at this timethe sea was not unduly rough or frightening.So, only a short distance from our destination, we were forcedto tum back and ride with the waves until the storm abated. Themain force of the typhoon was reported to be ahead of us. Forthe remainder ofthe day and night we continued on this course.It did not appear to be getting any rougher and we were hopingthat we would soon be able to return to our original course. Latethe following afternoon it began getting more violent by leapsand bounds. By night the wind was a shrieking demon and thesea was like something alive. I was impressed by the fact thatthe sea took on the characteristics ofa human being and seemedangry at all mankind. Perhaps this in a way made it seem morefrightening. To add to the genera) discomfort, the wind broughtwith it sheets upon sheets of biting rain; rain that cut like somany pebbles.When I came up for watch at midnight, I nearly fainted. Theytold me that it was raging outside and that we were caught in themidst of a storm but I was prepared for nothing like this. Thewaves were like thirty to forty feet high; the winds were blowingat a force of about fifty knots, and the rain and salt spraybreaking over the ship in thick sheets. To say that you wouldsee nothing would be exaggerating. We would go over the topof a large wave and down into a deep valley until we would belifted into the air by another wave. We were riding the waves;our only chance of survival. Had we ever gotten caught in atrough, our goose would have been cooked and the helmsmanknew this as well as did anyone and, taking every possible precaution,kept the ship's heading.About 2 A.M. it got worse, if that was possible, and I thoughtsurely this was it. What a hopeless feeling! I had experiencedno such feeling upon the knowledge ofan invasion coming or ofbeing fired upon; that was something that two could play at andstand a chance. This was something that we were powerless tofight against. I thought: I don't want to die. I haven't reallylived yet and it is much too soon to die. Also rapidly runningthrough my mind were all the misdemeanors and a recollectionofthings left undone that should have been accomplished. AlsoI remembered those fellows on the destroyers that were sunk inthe typhoon near here and thought what it must have felt like forthem before it was all over. Even now we didn't know whatship might be near and where the rest were.To my mind came the thought ofwhat the Ruler ofthe seas oncesaid under a like circumstance: "Peace, Be Still!" I thought ofsaying this and only the thought that it might be blasphemy preventedme, so instead I prayed. Immediately it came to me howvery weak was my faith. Surely God cannot be pleased with ageneration that must be in dire distress before they need Him.How unworthy we are to ask God to spare our lives when wehave done so little to deserve life.I know the rest were afraid, though some tried to hide it. Mostadmitted it, and those that did not were fooling themselves. Eventhe old salts broke down and admitted that in all their vast seaexperiences they had seen nothing to equal this and didn't thinkit possible that a lonely LeI would be able to weather it. I don'tknow what the thoughts ofthe rest were ... some ofthem did noteven go topside during the entire period of the storm.All the following day and night the storm raged. It was not untilthe third day that it began to wear itself out. We had been carriedalong with it for three days and were hundreds ofmiles off23

course. We even thought ofheading for Guam at one time for itseemed that we would be blown almost there.During the course ofthe storm, the fantail was often completelycovered with water running over the edge and the bow dippedinto the water. Water was constantly pouring across the decksand it was very dangerous to be topside. For three days I wasunable to sleep; instead I spent most of my time in the Connwhere I could see for myself what was happening. This wasbetter that staying below and imagining conditions that wereeven more terrifYing. I didn't like the idea of being trappedbelow if the ship capsized, either, although the results wouldhave been the same either place. We all felt pity for the LCTs,for it seemed impossible that they would be able to come throughsafely. Our DE escort promptly shoved off, perhaps for calmerwaters. Maybe they were ordered to do so, but we felt evenmore forsaken.On the fourth day, with the aid of radar on the Flagship and theradios aboard ship, the convoy began to assemble once moreand a count was made ofthe ships. On the fifth day half of theLCTs and two LCIs were not with us. They were contacted byradio and now contact was established with all ships except oneLCT. That night we fired rockets and flares in order to show theother ships our position. It was dangerous, for the Japs still hadfew ships and plenty of subs in those waters, but it was alsodangerous for the ships to be separated. The following day allthe ships were back in position with the exception of the oneLCT and it was generally believed to be lost. That afternoon thelone LCT crept inconspicuously into position. This made theconvoy complete. Relieved and dazed. Yes, dazed that we wereall alive.The LCTs were short on fuel, water and food for the trip fromLuzon to Okinawa had been expected to take only eight daysand now we had been underway almost twice that time. Ourconvoy, joined once more by the escort vessels, headed for Luzonafter dispatching a radio message to Leyte for a fuel ship andanother to Okinawa to let them know we were still alive.We held rendezvous with a fast tanker the following day and allthe LCTs received fuel, water and food. We took on water. Theseas were still rough enough to make this a hazardous undertaking.By late afternoon we had completed fueling and had relievedthe "Mercy Ship" of most of her food and water. Weproceeded on course for Okinawa.[Writing immediately after the storm, Jim and Peter concludedtheir account as follows.}It is now five days later and we should reach Okinawatomorrow afternoon, nothing preventing. Upon arrivingat Okinawa tomorrow, we will have traveled better than two thousandmiles a round about route to Okinawa from Leyte.Several times in the course of this typhoon the advantages ofshore duty have occurred to me and I resolved to waste no timein applying for same upon reaching land; but now that the sea iscalm and Japan is nearing, the idea is beginning to fade. Thewords of commendation and praise which we received for stayingalive and battling the storm helped some too. Now my strongestdesire is to witness the rapid downfall of Japan and findmyself once more a civilian. I am left with a strong distaste fortyphoons and tropical storms.The LeIer and the Keebler Elfby Hank Henderson, USS LCI(R) 765At 8 A.M. on January 6, 2002, Stanley Walter Mastalski,CmoMM on the LCI(R) 765 died in a nursing home in Chicago,IL. Stanley, also known as "Murph", had been in poor healthfor a number of years.Stan was working for a small two-man bakery in Chicago whenhe joined the navy in 1942. After the war he returned to the considerablylarger bakery. It had prospered during thc war. Thesmall bakery, through acquisitions, eventually became knownas Keebler's Inc., a world-wide producer ofmany types ofsnackfood. As the company grew, Stan grcw with it and retircd asVice President in 1983.Stan was always interested in the welfare ofchildren. At somepoint he instituted the "Keebler Ell' program. The Elf visitedchildren's hospitals, schools and orphan homes all over the U.S.Stan was short in stature and, in keeping with his love of children,took on the volunteer role of the "Keebler Ell' in additionto his other duties and responsibilities as Vice President of anever-growing multinational corporation.In 1984 when the USS LCI(L) 765 crew gathered in Warroad,Minnesota, for their first ever reunion on the occasion ofthe 40 thalmiversary ofcommissioning the ship, Keeblers sent a UPS truckload of Keebler's snacks for the crew to enjoy. As long as thecrew was able to continue holding reunions, Keeblers stayedwith them. There was always far more snack cookies the crewcould use. The Keebler's Elf, even in retirement, always tried tofind a suitable group of children to entertain with their snacks.24

PICTURE GALLERY This one is just to bring back memories ofliberties you pulled with your buddies!I'll bet lots ofyou guys had pictures just like this taken. Cocky! Young! Ready fora good time!We're indebted to Lester Humphrey ofIndianapolis, IN, who served on LCI(L)598 for sending this one along with several others which, unfortunately, were notclear enough for printing.Lester writes:"This picture was printed by our Engineering Officer, Mr. Newman who was theonly one on board who had a camera. He did the developing on cardboard paper(believe it!) The picture with the three sailors in Hawaii was taken August 7,1944, left to right, Hiler, Pappy and me ".We haven't seen many pictures of the landings on the southcoast of France, Here's one sent in by Ben Chiancola ofGloucester, MA, taken from the conn ofhis ship, USS LCl(L)583. Ben says:"This was taken in St. Tropez Bay, France, maneuveringforposition to land troops HSnuggling up for warmth?Robert M. Norris of Santa Barbara, CA, who served on USS LCI(L)631, sent this picture ofUSS LCI(l) 632 moored next to USS Kinzerin the ice at Chingwangtao, China, February, 194625

Alex Bosmony, ofSoddy Daisy, TN, who served on USSLCI(L) 87, the Flagship for Flotilla 35, sent a great setof pictures and writes:"These photos were taken by me or my camera whichwas an ICA-A 9x12 CM. which was the only camera onthe LCl(L) 87. These were taken 57 years ago and werenot developed and printed until a few years later when Icould get a darkroom and an enlarger"Alex worked as a high speed photographer for 34 yearsat the Space Center, Cape Canaveral, FL.Alex Bosmeny on the beach at Guam with LCI 87 in the backgroundMay, 1945The crew of the 87 somewhere in the Pacific. May, 1945.''Names were too many to be remembered", writes Alex"Running inteiference for UDTswimmers at IwoJima, 17 February 1945, LClOG) 469 comesunder heavy fire"Submitted by Bob Norris, Santa Barbara, CA,who served on USS LCI(M) 63126

~n ~£moriam The bell has tolled for more ofour shipmates. Again, we remember the bonds offriendship forged in our youth when we shareddanger and purpose. We remember, too, their enduring friendship through the years. Our prayers and sympathies go out to thefamilies and friends of each ofthese, our departed shipmates. (N.B. Our treasurer, Tiny Clarkson, recently suffered the loss ofhis brother who served on an AKA Out of our love and respect for Tiny, we are including his name in this list.)LCI23 Snook, Vaughn L.23 Tichenor, Le Roy C.23 Mayer, Witt23 Curtis, Edward23 Wells, Mackie40 Wanzer, William G.68 Jackson, Thomas E.80 Revheim, Palmer86 Rollins, Murray J.88 Lechich, Harold192 Pimental, Manuel T.212 Butor, Frank J.213 Mc Coy, John E.214 Lind, Joseph G.216 Fraker, Richard L.221 Ropier, HaroldLCI487511511527542556558565568578601631642644644652Ct"'OFisher, James Trimble, Joseph J. Hose, Edward J. Waldron, Lawrence R. Roberts, John W. Caputo, Francis Sherer, Robert L Mac Dougall, Ernest J. McCarthy, Thomas B. Williams, Henry R. Stafford, Richard L. Newsom, Warren R. O'Malley, Michael J. Erngren, James Roseberry, William B. Micklich, John R.

HAVE YOU ORDERED YOlJR LCI CALENDAR YET? The LCI Calendar consists of 28 pages measuring 11 by 17 inches. There are back and frontillustrations and an 8 by 10 illustration mostly of WWII LCI pictures for each month. Dates of alllandings, major naval sea battles, and dates important to LCI veterans are printed by year on thecalendar dates on which they occur or occurred. There are two pages dedicated to the restoration ofthe 1091 and 713. The calendar will remind you ofthe day and year you made the Attu Landing, theZamboango Landing, the Sant' Agate Landing, the Peleliu Landing, etc. Essentially, it's an amphibioushistory ofWWII.The calendars sell for $5.00 each including tax and shipping.Here's what some LCIers are saying:"Sure appreciate your efforts. Jim and Leroy Olson have done a wonderful job producing thiscalendar" (from LCI 64)"Please send Tom a calendar. After 58 years we met on the web site and I wanted to make sure hehad a copy" (from LCI 655)"Thank you for your service and the calendar. I'm ordering four additional copies, two for crewmembers and to for my sons." (from LCI 365)"My son, 52 years ofage, is always asking me for pictures ofLCIs. These are excellent"(from LCI 424)"I'm putting together a package ofLCI memorabilia for the offspring. Send me four more. "(from LCI 804)"I'm ordering ten more copies ofthe LCI Calendarfor my crew mates andfriends. " (From LCI 707)

Comings and Goings: LClers on the Move Gordon Carlson, Chicago,IL, who served in USS LCI(G) 455had a special reason for visiting the USS Missouri in Hawaii ­he wanted to see the model ofhis ship that was placed there bythe USS LCI National Association.It took some doing, but he finally found it! Had to get downon his hands and knees to see it in the display case, but there itwas!(Maybe we should say something to those people on the Missouri!)USS LCI National Association Director Sam Rizzo andhis wife Shirley recently enjoyed a Pacific cruise - andthe LCI Cap came in for some attention! Sam writes:"At China Beach [Viet Nam] there were several "stalls"with vendors, where one could shop for souvenirs. Severalofthe men came up to me and asked ifthey couldbuy my hat . •. offering as much as $25.00, and beforewe left to return to our bus, the offer was up to $50.00US. If Tiny was there, he could have sold a hundredfor that price!"Tiny, get on that boat!!Ernie Williams, who served on USS LST 510 and isPresident of the Missouri Amphibious Navy, poses infront of a VFW monument in Centennial Plaza, KansasCity, MO, entitled "Citizen Soldier" which wasdedicated October 5, 2001. Ernie poses here withsculptor Jim Brothers.. Ernie writes:"A large number ofLeI crew members living in Missouribelong to the Missouri Amphibious Navy group.Our objective is to bring shipmates together. ,.29

NEW E-MAIL ADDRESSES LCINAME/e-maiJ ADDRESS4 Brady, Donley L., rodeo1751@aol.com26 Kempton, L. Lavar, lavarkempton@aol.com59 Reid, J. Keith, keithreid@juno.com67 Higgens, Jack, jackhiggins02@yahoo.com70 Ortiz, Gilbert V., lcig70@hotmail.com79 Oglesby, Gayle A., oglesby@hsnp.com87 Bosmeny, Alex, bosmeny@juno.com88 Davey, Kenneth c., dtreefarm@aol.com196 Swaim, Chester, fron1cts@aol.com223 Baxter, John R. , jerbee@uslink.net209 Grover, Arvid, arvidgrover@cs.com223 Cardwell, Barney B., bcardwell@pdq.net231 Johnson, Christopher, csjohnson@aol.com235 Daniels, Dudley G., dudnj31@juno.com330 Savary, Charles E., savaryce@msn.com332 Hogan, Harold, thehogans67913@aol.com340 Savard, Charles E., csavard@lsol.net348 Wayman, Elwin, elwin w 2001@juno.com348 Gaunt, Bob, rgaunt@tri-county.main.nc.us360 Martin, Jim F., kophe@juno.com372 Giessler, Mrs Patrica, rethtcs@bendcable.com372 VanDerLinden, Camilla. camillavan@usa.net407 Mason, Lewis (Chick), chickmason@earthlink.net419 Gardner, Herman, marknherm@aol.com420 Besse, Steve, besses@onid.orst.edu436 McLain, Robert, usn@aol.com437 Arquit, Gordon J., I,!ja@ciarityconnect.com438 Thornburg, Joe M., mjs45@aol.com450 Hampton, Vaughn, vehampton@attbi.com450 Ripka, Mrs Trudy, trudy ripka@yahoo.com455 Armstrong, William, wla@preferred.com455 Baker, James F., jimbaker455@aol.com455 Cooper, Ken, coops@tetontel.com455 Martin, Robert J., arjaymart@webtv.net455 Turley, Joe, ace7839@shawneelink.net456 Satterfield, Garel C., satterfields@backroads.net492 Claiborne, Jack B., jneclai@bellsouth.net467 Leverone, Joseph, nanpa@strato.net497 Lockert, Norman A., lockert@chorus.net516 Smith, William c., wcs121321@webtv.net541 Berg, Walter, bbtlgrynk@aol.com545 Levandoski, Eugene J., glevando@ix.netcom.com554 May, Derek, ufr@cyberzone.net561 Barmann, Gerald W., bomp74@yahoo.com561 Mulherin, Connie, hcmulherin@aol.com598 Rifenburgh, Donald, rifey@earthlink.net606 Levine, Hank, dihen67@vahoo.com612 Lees, Lewis W., lIees@io2.com628 Snider, Numa L., numasnide@aol.comLCINAME/e-mail ADDRESS654 DiGirolamo, Joseph, joedi801@webtv.com679 Avila, Robert B., crock1016@juno.com684 Kinney, Hollis F., edkin@juno.com704 Griesemer, Walter A., waI,!1923@earthlink.net710 Ruxlow, Frank, firuxlowjr@aol.com742 Tomaschko, Frank, atlci742@smil,!.net754 Sanchez, George, cjrchez1@msn.com763 Spencer, Edward, edandjune@adelphia.net773 Hlebechuk, Walter, whranch@pop.ctctel.com801 Allen, Max J., maxjallen24@aol.com805 Bowen, James F., horsechu@aol.com808 Roath, Paul, pjroa26@aol.com813 Rice, Patrick F., ricegreeoport@yahoo.com870 Yuellig, Donald, buddymild@yahoo.com950 Meeler, Jesse A., jam@,halijax.com992 Semmes, Allison, msemmes@hotmail.com1020 Laut, Bernard R., blauti953@aol.com1001 Haxall, Jerry D., pathaxall@earthlink.net1026 Giarrusso, John, mh:@aol.com1032 Williams, Richard, dicklotte@webtv.net1053 Norvell, John, jnorve1l9@cox.net1056 Rogers, John M., loro9123@aol.com1063 Farmer, Raymond K., rayfarmer@lycos.comIf you were a "kid" in themilitary ­you might enjoy hooking up withVETERANS OF UNDERAGE MILITARY SERVICE This organization is looking for thosefew men and women who served in theU.S. Military before reaching legalenlistment age.For information call, toll free1-888-0LD VUMS (1-888-653-8867)OR VISIT THEIR WEBSITE:www.oldvums.comInformation courtesy of B. W. "Jack" Lawson (LeI 355), Dallas, GA 30

THE OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS OF THE USS LCI NATIONAL ASSOCIATIONNeed help or information? Call on us!Officers:James E. Talbert, President (618)147 Colburn DriveDebary, FL 32713(386) 775-1521 jet310@earthlink.net John Cummer, Vice President (502) 20 Lucerne Circle Apt. 615 Orlando, FL 32801 (407) 843-3675 Cummjhn@aol.com Robert Mc Lain (436) 1829 Hemlock Road Lancaster,PA 17603-4437 (717) 392-4558 maxeyusn@juno,com Howard B. Clarkson, Treasurer (537) 73 Grange Road Troy, NY 12180-6662 (518) 279-3846 Lcitiny@juno.com Earl Henshaw, Chaplain (537) POBox781 Bainbridge, GA 31718-0781 (912) 246-3350 Da,,1d Cox, Chaplain (633) 413 Tupilo Way NW Birmingham, AL 35215 (205) 854-6229 Board of DirectorsRobert V. Weisser, (456)Chairman of the Board134 Lancaster Ave.Columbia, PA 17512(717) 684-4785lcipres@aol.comShelby Smith (464)2009 N. WinthropMuncie, IN 47304(765) 289-3762sdsbats@juno.comSam Rizzo (687)1700 Vernier RoadGrosse Pointe Wood, MI 48236(313) 886-5374lcisam@aol.comJames McCarthy (685)349 Idlewild LaneOceanside, CA 92054-5418(760) 439-5598Mccarthyjemac@aol.comWilliam E. Hedger (614)227 San Juan DriveSequim, WA 98382(360) 681-3821gnhedger@olypen.comOverseer:Roy E. Age (802)412 Silver Streak LaneValrico, FL 33594(813) 689-510276235.656@compuserve.comDUES NOTICEYour 2002 Dues are Due June 1st Please Send Your $10.00 Annual Or $75.00 Life Member Payment to Howard "Tiny" Clarkson, Treasurer 73 Grange Road Troy, NY 12180·6662 31

USS Lei NATIONAL ASSN. REUNION APRIL 17-21, 2002 FOUR POINTS RIVERWALK NORTH HOTEL, SAN ANTONIO 12:00pm12:00pm--Wednesday. April 176:00pm Reunion Registration openHospitality Room open throughout the reunion (cash bar available)7:30am8:15am9:00am3:00pm6:30pm-----8:30am5:00pm3:00pm5:00pm11:oopmThursday, April 18Reunion Registration openFREDERICKSBURG TOUR (description follows)CITY TOUR (description follows)Reunion Registration openCASA RIO RESTAURANT (description follows)8:00am8:15am9:00am4:00pm5:45pm-----8:30am5:15pm3:00pm5:00pm10:00pmFriday, April 19Reunion Registration openFREDERICKSBURG TOUR (description follows)CITY TOUR (description follows)Reunion Registration open. Additional hours will be posted atthe reunion, if necessary.DIAMOND W RANCH (description follows)9:00am9:00am5:00pm6:30pm----12:00pmSaturday, April 20Business Meeting for the menLADIES TOUR (description follows)Pictures & Cash BarBanquet, followed by entertainmentSunday, April 21Farewells & DeparturesTOUR DESCRIPTIONSFREDERICKSBURG Thursday, April 18 and Friday, April 19 Board bus for a daytrip to Fredericksburg. Upon arrival at the Lyndon B. Johnson State and National Historic Park, browse through the Visitors Center before boarding the park service tram for a guided tour of the ranch. The tour includes the Old Junction School, the Texas White House, and LBJ Ranchlands, with stops at the Birthplace and the Johnson Family cemetery. After a short ride to Fredericksburg, erijoy lunch at one of several restaurants or delis located on Fredericksburg's downtown Main Street. After lunch, tour the AdmiralNimitz Museum, dedicated to everyone who served in the Pacific under Admiral Nimitz. Walk through theGarden of Peace, a gift from the people of Japan, and stroll down the History Walk of Tanks. The Museumhas just completed a 3.5 acre expansion featuring a Pacific Combat Zone with a PT boat and more! There isshopping nearby on Main Street for those interested. Note: Due to space restrictions, this tour is limited to 100people on Thursday and 200 people on Friday. Reservations will be accepted on a first come, first serve basis.Thursday: 8:15am board bus, 5:00pm back at hotelFriday: 8:15am board bus, 5:15pm back at hotel$43/Person includes bus, guide, and admissions. Lunch on your own.32

USS LeI NATIONAL ASSOCIATIONlVIElVIBERSHIP INFORlVlATION FORl\1If you are not a member of the USS LCI National Association and would like to join, please complete this form and mail itwith your first year's dues as indicated below:Served'________ RanklRate:_______Address: __________________________________________.________ Zip Code: ____Date of.__________ Telephone: ___._______ E-Mail Address: ___________OccupationIFormerWife'sDues are $10.00 per year, June 1 through May 31. Life Membership: $75.00Make Check payable to:Send to:LSS LCI NATIONAL ASSOCIATIONHoward Clarbol1. Trca~urern Gr;mge RoadTrn\. NY I ') 1XO