Archives September, 2006 through December, 2006

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Progress Report Archives - January, 2007 - March, 2007

Progress Report Update Posted Mar 21, 2007
Another great maintenace report from Don Hardesty


#1. Bing Bingemer has taken on the project of needlegunning the several rollers that are on each side of the ship. #2. Don Carnahan leads a tour through the pilot house. Tours are increasing with the improving weather. #3. Dorris holds the rusted out base of an air vent. As you can see there was not much left of it.


#4. Shows the new vent base that Dorris constructed. This is a nice example of the welding that goes on aboard LST 325. #5. George and Jim have removed the magnetic starter for the number four davit motor. This is no longer needed since that davit no longer exists. #6. Harry is still working in the port shaft alley replacing and repairing lighting fixtures.


#7. Doug and Ray are working on a project for LST week. These are jobs that can be done during bad weather. #8. Jim took a break from tour guide duties to put a coat of primer on part of the elevator. #9. Ken takes a tour through the ship.


#10. Our neighbors at the tobacco shop are getting a new building. It's a quonset type building that will be painted Army green. This should fit it well with the general theme of the area. #11. It seems that we sometimes forget the hard work that goes on in the office. Here Sandy and Debbie are unpacking a shipment of books just received. Thanks for the hard work ladies. #12 Maintenance foreman Pete takes a hand with the paint brush on the elevator.


#13. Ray and Pete are seen here welding a new section into the forward port life line. #14. After the elevator has been primed Susie and Bob are putting on a finish coat of paint. #15. All of the brass fittings have been refurbished by Ed Duncan. He makes them look like new.


#16. Dorris cutting out old rusty metal with a cutting torch. #17. I know this is the shot that a lot of people have been waiting for. Here Doug is seen with the finished product. The final shot of the stern wench. Doug looked like a new father when it was done. Well Done, Doug. #18 This may not be exactly what you would think should go in the progress report but I thought it was interesting. These are some of Rays welding tools. Well worn but with the ability to make something out of nothing.


#19. Ray down on his hands and knees cutting a drain hole to move rain water along and off the ship.

Progress Report Update Posted Mar 10, 2007

Once again we are providing some photographs to give you an idea about what's going on aboard LST 325. The weather is just now moderating. Prior to this week it has been just plain cold. Too cold to work out on deck except when it is absolutely necessary. I am numbering the notes and photos to make it a little easier to keep track of whats going on. (I hope)


(1). Bob Baldwin has been aboard for a week and has been air lancing the overhead on the tank deck. In other words he's using high pressure air to knock a lot of the flaking paint off. What you see in #1 is after air lancing. (2) This and (3) are examples of what the overhead looks like before it is blasted with air.


Up on the main deck (4) Pete and Dorris are preparing to cut one of the ammunitions boxes loose so it can be refurbished. (5) Dorris is cleaning rust out from under the box so a cutting torch can be utilized. (6) For a ships carpenter Doug is becoming a master painter. Here he primes a small deck plate.


(7) Doug moved on to a larger project and is seen priming the stern wench. This after much needle gunning. (8) And speaking of needle gunning Harold Morgan has taken on the project of chipping the paint off the port doghouse. And he's doing a bang up job. I believe this is Harold's first up close and personal experience with said needle gun. (9)Harry Manor, ships electrician, is constantly chasing circuits and redoing wireing and lighting throughout the ship. Next report will give an update on his work in the port shaft alley.


(10) Pete, Ray and Doug can quite often be found discussing the best way to attack a project. And lots of them do require an ATTACK. (11)The ongoing project of the stbd crews head is coming along nicely. Here you can see that it has been cleaned and primed. (12)And Roy Lee is beginning to apply the first finish coat of paint. Roy is always working.


(13) The chasing down of water leaks is a never ending process. Here Ray cuts a stanchion out of the way so that a leak in a deck plate can be properly repaired. (14) Once again Roy is attacking the demon rust on the elevator. (15) And last but not least, the stern wench has a complete coat of primer and Doug will soon start to put the finish coats on it. It is truly a thing of beauty. Hope you enjoy the Progress Reports. Any comments you have would be appreciated.........Don (Ayrdale)

Progress Report Update Posted Feb 24, 2007
And the maintenance continues!
We have several areas of progress this week. The weather is moderating and allowing some outside work. Our maintenance guys, Ray and Dorris, are continuing to search out and repair water leaks around the deck plates. Some outside painting is beginning again. The port side crews head drain has been replaced and should last forever. Needle gunning is an ongoing effort and will continue forever. The electricians are continueing to upgrade lighting and electric circuits. Pete, our maintenance foreman has even started to scrape some of the flaking paint of the tank deck overhead but what he does best is look down from above while munching on a bag of carmel corn! Tours are picking up a little and we had a group of over 20 go through. Jim Voelker and Charlie Lawrence are seen escorting the tours. With the mild weather our deck chief can be found sunning himself. He is thinking every minute though. Stay tuned for more! . . . . . . (Click on any photo for a larger image)

Progress Report Update Posted Feb 17, 2007
Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels Boards LST 325
On Thursday, February 15th, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels boarded the LST 325. After being piped aboard, the Governor and the many verternas who were in attendance proceeded to the tank deck where the Governor spoke about current legislation that affects Indiana veterans and the families of active duty military personnel. After his talk and a brief questions and answer session with the audience and media, the Governor was given a tour of the ship by Charlie Lawrence, Bob Cerling and Keith Mosby. It was a grand event. (Click on any photo for a larger image)


















Thanks to the LST 325 Archives Chief and Ship Photographer, Don Hardesty, for these and many other Progress Report photos.

Progress Report Update Posted Feb 8, 2007
More Maintenance!
Leaking fitting removed from drain line in port side storage area. Is it any wonder they leaked.	Another view of fittings. Note the size of the hole in the elbow on the right.	Newly installed pipe to replace the bad section. No more leaks for a while.

Roy Lee and Alan Springer have been working diligently with needle guns to clean the bulkheads in the starboard passageway to the crews berthing spaces.	Starbord crews head. Most of the bulkheads have been needle gunned in preparation for painting. This for the most part has been Roy Lee's project.	Our maintenance crew is seen here laying out gratings to be installed on the berthing spaces deck on the port side.

Doug Myers cuts the grating to size.	Doug and Ray Cashen lay out another grating.	Dorris Stone is preparing the surface below the hatch so braces can be welded onto hold the grating.

This hatch is directly on the tour route. The hatch can now be left open without fear of someone falling into it.	Altogether there where three of these hatch grating installed. Not only will they make the ship safer but they will allow for better ventilation on the ship.	More and better lighting is being installed on thetank deck. Here Harry Manor installa new fixture.

Even though the maint. crew is always busy they found time to construct a portable work bench. With a very nice wooden shelf thanks to the ships carpenter.	While working on one repair job in the tank storage area a deck drain from the deck above literally fell out of the deck. Here Dorris welds a plate to the deck to reattach the drain. Our maint. people can do anything. But not only that, they do it right.	Tours are continuing even through this bitter cold. Pictured here are a couple from Michigan and another from Downers Grove, Il. The gentleman on the left served on LST 801 during WW II. Clyde Johnson is the tour guide.

Progress Report Update Posted Feb 1, 2007
The Maintenance Crew is at it again
Dorris Stone is seen here using a cutting torch to resize tank deck ladder. This project has been completed.	The new deck has been installed in the starboard crews head and is looking much better, not to mention safer.	Roy Lee is seen here with his trusty needle gun working on the starboard crews head bulkhead. Roy has to be the most persistent needle gun operator on the planet. This is an ongoing project.
The head in the office is coming along nicely. Ray Cashen and Doug Myers are seen framing it up as Sandy Wicker, office manager, looks on to make sure they are doing it right.	Sometimes close supervision gets to be too much of a good thing.	A new door has been cut into the tank deck port bulkhead allowing access to the storage areas on that side of the ship. The photos give an idea of the progression of the door.
Dorris Stone does the welding on the door. Ray Cashen and Doug Myers assisted in the fitting of the door.	Here the new primed door is ready to be fitted into place.	Looking at the finished product, except for the new paint you would not know that this door was not installed at the shipyard. Larry Hahn added the finishing touches with several coats of paint
Ray Cashen using a grinder to remove parts of the old deck in the starboard crews head.	Gene Krohn is shown here trying to nurse more heat out of the new water heater that is hooked up to the heat pump in officers country.	Harry Manor, ships electrician, works on the never ending job of renewing and redoing the wiring on the ship. Most of the wiring goes back to the original building of the ship and much of the newer wiring was done by the Greeks. It appears to be greek to most of us.
The starboard engine had to have a piston replaced and that has been completed.	Pete Crasher, Maint. Foreman, takes a turn on a needle gun to clean up the wench system for the ships elevator. This was taken while the weather was still tolerable. In the last couple of weeks there has been very little outside work done because of the frigid temperatures.	Doug Myers is seen here installing new door knobs and hardware on the doors leading to the passageways in officers country. We all agree that the doorknobs are quite fashionable.....

Progress Report Update Posted Jan 29, 2007
LST Featured at the Evansille Gun Show
The Centre, Evansville's largest convention center and exhibit hall, was the venue for a popular gun show on the weekend of January 27-28. The promotor of the show, Steve Elliot of C&N Gun Shows out of Florida, donated two display tables to the USS LST Ship Memorial. The Memorial's display was one of the most popular ones at the show. By the way, the room in the photos will be the venue for the LST USO Show Extravaganza on Saturday, September, 29, to cap off LST Week 2007.

Progress Report Update Posted Jan 20, 2007
Floating Office/Gift Shop
Due to high water in the Ohio River, the LST office/gift shop floated off its base at 1648 hours Monday 15 JAN for the first time since the LST arrived in Evansville! The office/gift shop was designed to float and the connecting gangway on the ship side of the building is longer, therefore much heavier than the gangway that runs from the building to the high ground. The engineers calculated for this with extra flotation devices on the ship side gangway. The building listed 3 degrees to the LST side, but all is well. When a barge passes the hanging plants in the shop sway nicely, and the ladies in the office have acquired sea legs. The first photo was taken last summer and shows the Ohio River at Marina Pointe in Evansville at normal "pool" level. Notice the mooring cells towering over the ship. The rest of the photos were taken on Friday, January 19, 2007. The gift shop is now floating, and one can stand on the ship and look down on the top of the mooring cells. (Click on any photo for larger image)

Progress Report Update Posted Jan 15, 2007
Magnificent Photos
These photos were brought back from Iceland by Kenny and Anna Adams. The photos are of our Higgins boats taking part in the filming of the blockbuster movie Flags of Our Fathers

Progress Report Update Posted Jan 12, 2007
6th Anniversary Celebration
January10, 2001, the LST 325 returned to America. To celebrate, there was a lunch aboard the ship on January 10, 2007. Crewmembers and their spouses, local dignitaries and the press enjoyed Joe "Grumpy" Lewin’s Flagg Ranch stew, cornbread and coffee. Thanks to Don Hardesty for these great photos. (click on any picture for a larger image)

Ship’s cook Joe Lewin prepares the meat for his famous Flagg Ranch Stew. Joe made his stew for a celebration lunch aboard the LST to commemorate the January 10 anniversary of the ship’s return to America .		Ken Kramer mans the broom on the tank deck. Everything had to be ship-shape for January 10.

Galley crew! From left to right: Dick Scheller; with his back to the camera and pointing is head cook Joe Lewin telling Pete Crasher to leave the stew alone (no taste testing allowed!); and Larry Hahn		Sam Richey brings a table down to the tank deck.

Ken Kramer sweeps the quarter deck		The tank deck is ready!

Crew and invited guests enjoy Joe’s great cooking.		Left to right at the table: LST maintenance foreman Pete Crasher; LST Memorial board member Andy Clark; George Louden, one of the ship’s electricians; and Dan Adams who is on the board of directors of the Evansville Port Authority.

Ray and Betty Cashen – Ray is the assistant maintenance foreman and Betty works with the office on LST Week.		Left to right: Ed Ziemer, head of Evansville Public Works, and LST crewman Jim Roach.

More of the crowd.		Mike Whicker (right) talks to Evansville Courier & Press reporter Byron Rohrig.

Left to right: a newspaper photographer (back to camera) shares a laugh with Nelson Bailes and Dan Adams		Lois and Bob Jornlin.

Lois and the captain.		Sitting are (l to r) Tom Lonnberg, the curator of history at the Evansville Museum and a Evansville LST Shipyard expert; Mike Whicker; standing is Evansville Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel.

Captain Jornlin answers a question asked by reporter Byron Rohrig.		Left to right: Mayor Weinzapfel; Joe Lewin (back to camera); Mike Whicker; Captain Jornlin.

Progress Report Update Posted Jan 6, 2007
Terry Tull has been tapped by the USS LST Ship Memorial board of directors to replace James Edwards who resigned from the board in December. Terry was next in line as far as "votes cast for" at the election last November. For the complete list of directors, click on Crewmembers from the Home page.

Progress Report Update Posted Jan 2, 2007 Maintainance Update - Photos Taken December 30, 2006


Original tank deck platform ladder. This took up too much space on the tank deck.	New tank deck platform ladder thanks to Ray Cashen, Doug Myers, and Dorris Stone.	Another view of the new ladder.

Pete Crasher, Fred Kerstein, Ed Duncan, and Carl Crasher lower an LCVP to the dock and install a new special order tarpthe ship had manufactured just for the LCVPs.	This was a tough job. The tarp is extremely heavy and difficult to work with.	Pete Crasher and his grandson Carl work on the tarp. That's Ed Duncan in the blue jacket.

	The job is done and the boat raised back into place.

Progress Report Update Posted Sept 14
LST WEEK STORY
Here is an example of some of the really great things that happened here in Evansville during LST week. While we were having our reception aboard the T, Lee Andrus bit into something and broke some teeth in his dentures. He looked kinda funny when he smiled. He put his tooth in a baggie and came to me to see if I knew of any dentists in the area. I've only been here for a year and I have a dentist but could not remember his name. Jim Roach, one of our tour guides (he also was one of the guides on the busses that went to the museum) was standing there and I looked to him for help. Here is what he did. The next morning he called his dentist, Dr David Hubert. It was normally a day off for Dr Hubert but he said that he had to go in anyway and that Jim could bring Lee in and he would have a look. Jim's wife picked Lee up at the hotel and took him over to Dr. Huberts office where the Doctor proceeded to make the necessary repairs. Total charge.. zip, nada, zero dollars! Want to see how Lee felt about it all afterwards? V V V V V V V Here:

Progress Report Update Posted Sept 30
MORE LST WEEK 2006 PHOTOS

20 mm	After a hard day	Aft gun

Ad Mumford	Emil Kolar	Bing

The Banquet

Check-In Day	Evansville Museum	LST Display at the Hotel

Aft Fire Control	Gangway	Bailey Wrinkle

Clutch	Galley	A Glowing Sunset

Progress Report Update Posted Oct 19
An Essay by Susie Bloom
"Driving home from Cincinnati after the Tall Stacks visit, I thought about the many veterans that visited the ship, those who came to learn and those who came to experience history firsthand. I began to think of the ship itself. And wondered what our Grey Lady would say... " If Ships Could Speak I am the grey lady... and a lady in every sense of the word. I was born in the United States, but much of my life has been spent abroad. My majestic lines once graced the shores of Salerno, Normandy and England with many other visits to many other places. Those times are past, but remain dear. In my youth there were so many I held in my arms, trying to keep them safe, escorting them to far away shores. For a while it seemed as if I was forgotten. Later, with a foreign country to call home, I worked and toiled as I was bidden. Often I did without things I might have needed, and failures of my body were compensated for with adjustments in routine. After years of toil, I was visited by a number from my home. It was so wonderful to see them again! It wasn't long before we went on a brief sail... I believe that they were testing my strength. They found that this old gal had some life in her yet! After some minor 'surgery', they took me on a voyage. How wonderful it was to be at sea again! Accompanied by so many friends from home, we made the voyage with few problems. I was amazed at the reception in Mobile. I could have wept with joy, seeing so many of my own come to greet me. I must admit that with the help of some of my dear friends, my mighty voice sounded once more in greeting to those waiting on shore. Over the next few years, many came to visit me. I was given a new lease on life. Some major repairs were made. Movement and experiences that had been dormant for years were coaxed back to full range of motion. Cosmetics were applied. I received attention that I had not experienced for years. Although I felt that I could undertake a journey on my own after two years of recuperation, I sailed to visit friends up and down the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers with help. How glad they were to see me and how wonderful it was to visit with all of them! It was easy for them to see that I had a great deal of recuperation still ahead of me, but they didn't mind my aged state. I believe that they saw me with the eyes of yesterday, remembering my youthful beauty. I too soon returned to Mobile, to undergo some additional 'surgeries' which were extensive in nature. All the while, people still came to visit me. I began to feel a renewed sense of pride for all of those I had held dear. They were going to such great efforts to restore me to good physical condition. I soon learned that I was to undergo a longer voyage.. after almost two years of quiet recuperation. I had to undergo a series of tests to make sure I was fit and able, but it was well worth it. I felt alive again. It was a wonderful day when I set sail on the open seas... this time up the East Coast of the United States. Those with me can relate to the joy of being on the open sea. I couldn't help it - I leapt with joy into the waves and swells. I felt fully alive for the first time in years. I was alone on a voyage.. accompanied by friends... but under my own power for the first long voyage since I returned to my homeland. It was a re-awakening. Since that time, I have moved to a new home in Indiana, not far from where I was born. It is so very good to be home again. Friends and neighbors are visiting me in abundance. Very often we shed tears of joy at the sight of each other, particularly during the recent homecoming week we celebrated together. Most of those that came to Greece to bring me back home were there and how good it was to see them all together again! They brought friends and family. It was a grand time, and I was so pleased to show them how well I was doing. Those friends who care for me each day - now and in the recent past - received so many thanks for helping me maintain my health. It was a pleasure to receive them and I'm sure they felt the contented rumble of my heart and heard my voice as I saluted them in thanks. A recent trip, of short duration was undertaken. I ventured up the Ohio River to Cincinnati. Many from this area of the Country also came to visit me and it was wonderful! I haven't received crowds like this since the 2003 River Voyage! I was moved to my depths to have so many interested in my welfare and my history. This is the purpose that I came back to the United States to fulfill. So many have helped me on the road to achieve the dream of sharing my story, my history. I am here today, in renewed vigor, to travel the rivers and seas, sharing my experiences with others. That is the purpose and the reason my dear ones brought me back to the United States in 2001. It is the reason so many friends have toiled to help me be restored to what I once was. Dear friends from all over the Country - the original Crew that I forever deem Gold, those I call the Blue Crew who worked hard to help me once I arrived. Volunteers who traveled to Mobile when I was in the very early stages of restoration and those in Evansville who continue to do so. I am very indebted to all of them for their love of history... their love of myself. I am indeed the "luckiest ship alive".... my name is LST 325.
Progress Report Update Posted Oct 12
THE LST WOWS THEM AT CINCINNATI'S TALL STACKS 2006 LST 325 set a record at this year’s Tall Stacks event held October 4-9 in Cincinnati . More people toured LST 325 than any other ship in the history of the event according to some organizers and longtime supporters of the event. Over 8000 people paid to walk through the ship on Saturday and Sunday, and the total for the week is estimated at 10,000 people. All this despite being forced to be closed because of a supposed high water problem in the eyes of the mayor and fire chief of Covington , Kentucky , where the LST was tied up. This proves what we all know to be true: nothing can stop the LST from accomplishing her mission. What fond memories everyone will have of Tall Stacks. The people of the greater Cincinnati area were wonderful, the media was very helpful and supportive, the weather perfect, and the men and women who crew and care for the ship as outstanding as ever. We all thank Gold Crew member Ron Maranto for these photos.