Thanks Indiangoldeagle. Never new what they were. That's interesting. My Dad served on an LST during the time of the Okinawa landing. He never talked about it much except that he had a lot of respect for the Marines that went ashore. Oh yea he did say that he got to spar with Joe Lewis on one.
Semper Fi
Art
And here is a little extra information on that LST: pick when the photo was taken, . . .
"Underway on 22 January 1968 with a cargo of two pontoon causeway sections, the vehicles and men of BMU-1, and a CH-46 helicopter, with its accompanying Sea Van — an experimental housing seeing its first operational test and evaluation aboard Whitfield County — the ship headed for Vietnam. Touching at Naha en route, Whitfield County reached Danang on 31 January 1968, transferred the Sea Van to USS Vernon County, and relieved Vernon County as support landing ship tank for Amphibious Ready Group Bravo. With the relief and transfer of the Marines and equipment completed, Whitfield County took on board the men and mail to be transported to Amphibious Ready Group Bravo and got underway on 2 February 1968
Over the ensuing month and a half, Whitfield County operated with Amphibious Ready Group Bravo within various operating areas off the DMZ, occasionally returning to Danang for mail, fleet freight, and passengers for delivery to the other units of the ready group. Whitfield County also sailed to Subic Bay as part of the task force for upkeep between 21 February 1968 and 28 February 1968 before she returned to Vietnamese waters. Landing ship tank USS Terrell County (LST-1157) relieved Whitfield County as support landing ship tank at Danang on 14 March 1968.
After a subsequent port call at Hong Kong and a quick run to Yokosuka for restricted availability, Whitfield County returned to Vietnamese waters for a resumption of operations with the Mobile Riverine Force in mid-July 1968 at Dong Tarn, again relieving Vernon County. During her deployment with Task Force 117 in ensuing months, Whitfield County operated on a nearly non-stop, 24-hour-a-day basis, supporting the U.S. Army's 4th Battalion, 47th Infantry Regiment), 9th Division, and three helicopters of a U.S. Army aviation detachment, as well as the boats and men of River Assault Division 92. By the time landing ship tank Westchester County relieved Whitfield County on 23 September 1968, Whitfield County had travelled over 900 nautical miles (1,667 kilomters) within the Mekong Delta, processed over 25,000 hot rations, and handled roughly 4,000 tons of cargo.
Subsequently visiting Bangkok, Thailand, for rest and recreation and R, Whitfield County then headed for Danang, where she side-loaded tow causeway sections for transportation to Okinawa. She then returned to Yokosuka for repairs before again heading for Vietnam toward the end of November 1968. Touching at Subic Bay en route, she reputedly became the first landing ship tank to use water-filled causeway sections to serve as armor along the thinly-armored sides of the ship. The causeway sections were intended provide a water-filled barrier against recoilless rifle projectiles and rockets.
After relieving landing ship tank USS Washtenaw County (LST-1166) at Dong Tarn on 30 November 1968, Whitfield County spent the rest of 1968 as support landing ship tank for Mobile Riverine Group Alfa, Task Group 117.1, one of the two task groups that made up Mobile Riverine Flotilla 1. Other ships of Mobile Riverine Group Alfa were the barracks ships USS Benewah (APB-35) and USS Colleton (APB-36), the landing craft repair ship USS Sphinx (ARL-24), and the barracks craft USS APL-26 and USS APL-80 . Embarked in Whitfield County were elements of the Army's 9th Infantry Regiment and a Cyclops aviation detachment, equipped with Hughes CH-6 Cayuse helicopters. The ship herself performed a fivefold role: (1) maintaining a round-the-clock, air- and water-mobile resupply readiness to provide field units with ammunition, rations, fresh water, and fuel; (2) serving as a mobile base for helicopter operations; (3) providing harassment and on-call gunfire support when necessary; (4) supplying boat service among the ships of the Mobile Riverine Group; and (5) providing subsistence, berthing, and services for embarked personnel." (preceeding information compliments of Wikipedia and a squid)USNA
May God bless,
Dwight
