Thanks for a wonderful tribute to the Marines.
This is a beautiful thread.
A keeper for sure.
Your friend
DUB
WWII Ship Lands at Camp Lejeune
July-August 2004
After traveling more than 3,000 miles and spending more than 30 days at sea, a WWII-era landing ship medium (the Marine Corps Museum of the Carolinas' newest artifact, is now safely moored at its temporary mooring in Mile Hammock Bay aboard Camp Lejeune. The LSM-45, 203 feet long and 35 feet wide, was pushed by tug boat from Freedom Park (outside Omaha, NE), 'In the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers to New Orleans, and then around the Florida Keys to Charleston, SC, where SgtMaj. Joe Houle and volunteers dressed the ship for the final leg of its journey to North Carolina. The ship was donated by the Amphibious Ship Museum, which paid the cost of the voyage.
The LSM-45, commissioned in 1944, carried a complement of 54 enlisted and 4 officers. She participated in the Okinawa campaign in 1945, shuttling equipment, supplies, and ammunition to shore. She was decommissioned in 1947 and sold to the Greek Navy. In 1998 the Amphibious Ship Museum purchased the M-45, refurbished it, and moved it to Freedom Park. Now, she has come full circle and is back home with the Marines and Navy, waiting to move into her permanent home with the planned (but unbuilt) museum. Like any ship, however, she will need constant upkeep. So when you come to Camp Lejeune the next time bring your paint chipper and brush.