Part eight

This is the crew of the LST 1009,
the ship I served on in World War 11
1943-1946

Well most of those salts got sea sick. Very few went through the chow line that day. They were feeding the fish. I never did get sea sick.

In Norfolk we were a training ship. We would take a crew of sailors out in the ocean for two weeks and train them to run an LST. If I would had a different rate I would have no doubt been on a different ship.

If I was on a different ship I could have been killed in action in the war. Therefore I would not be writing this biography. So God answered my prayers and brought me back without me being blown apart or dead.

We were a training ship till Germany surrendered. We got our orders to go to Pearl Harbor. We left Norfolk and went through the Panama Canal. it sure was hot there. We were all dressed in our white uniforms. We must have looked real elegant. When we got to Pearl Harbor. Our ship was anchored in the bay. They opened the bow doors on the ship and we went swimming. The water was nice and warm. Well I was not a very good swimmer and the tide swept me away from the ship. So they had to come after me in a small boot. I guess the rest of the sailors had a good laugh at me. The war was still going on with Japan. We got a load of equipment and we went to the Marshall Islands, Eniwetok. Off in the distance it looked like a large Island but when got close it was a very small Island what made it look so big was the ships around it. We unloaded our ship and went back to Peal Harbor . We were getting another load. Over the loud speaker came the news Japan has surrendered. We got our orders to go to Japan. We left immediately for Japan.

We were at Sasebo, Japan. There was no barbers aboard our ship. I decided to get a haircut. I went out in the country and there was a barbershop. Just one barber and no one was around.

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