It is hard to think there are only so few of these left in the world. I have a lot of experience driving the LCVP and have seen them tied up in huge nests in Japan during the occupation there.
The VP was how all the landing troops got ashore in every island assault that I know of and no telling how many were present in either the Pacific or the Atlantic.
I’ve recently become friends of an older couple. The husband sports a navy tattoo and I mentioned that my dad had been on a Mine Sweeper in the Pacific during WWII. The gentleman said that he had been a Higgins Boat driver - on D-Day. Wow. I mentioned that he didn’t seem old enough. His wife replied “He signed up the day after Pearl Harbor. He was only sixteen but lied about his age”. Wow again. I started to ask another question but his wife said he doesn’t like to talk about it.
I was born in ‘46. I remember going to Miami Beach when I was about 6. There was one beached and rusting away on the beach in front of the hotels. As a kid, I was fascinated by it.