Historic military ship at Ross's Landing - Sept. 17

IF YOU GO• What: USS LST 325 tours• When: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday, Sept. 12-Wednesday, Sept. 17 (arrival is expected between 8 and 8:30 a.m. today, Sept. 11, with a ceremony at 2 p.m on board)• Where: Ross's Landing, 100 Riverfront Parkway• Admission: $10 adults, $5 children 6-17; $20 family of two adults and two children• Phone: 423-265-2212 (to arrange tours for groups of 10 or more)• Website: lstmemorial.org• Note: The Tri-State Military Club will provide a free display of military vehicles 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Sept. 12-13, at Ross's Landing. Call 423-645-7014 for more information.

photo The sun sets over the USS LST 325.

The World War II-era USS LST 325, the last surviving ship of its kind, is expected to arrive in Chattanooga this morning, Sept. 11, for a week of tours at Ross's Landing, 100 Riverfront Parkway.

The LST - shorthand for landing ship, tank - is an amphibious vessel designed to land battle-ready tanks, troops and supplies directly onto enemy shores. More than 1,000 such ships were built for World War II. Many more were built for the Korean and Vietnam wars for their ability to navigate inland waterways.

Launched in October 1942, the LST 325 made 43 trips between England and France between June 1944 and April 1945. Most notably, it landed on Omaha Beach in Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944.

"The ship actually participated and landed troops and battle-ready equipment right there on Omaha Beach," Mickey McCamish of the Southeast Tennessee Veterans Coalition told the Times Free Press earlier this week. "To have this piece of history visiting our city is just a tremendous opportunity for all of us, young and old."

In addition, two days during its Chattanooga port of call, Friday and Saturday, Sept. 12-13, the Tri-State Military Club will be at the waterfront with a display of the military vehicles that would have been carried on and off an LST.

According to Capt. Robert Jornlin, this ship originally was known as LST-325 during World War II, as USNS LST-325 during Arctic operations in the 1950s and later as L-144 (A/G Syros) while it was in the service of the Greek Navy. In 2000, it was acquired by USS LST Ship Memorial Inc. and garnered considerable attention when a veteran crew brought it on a 6,500-mile journey from the Greek island of Crete to Mobile, Ala., and began its restoration from rusty hulk to warship. It is now fully operational.

Since October 2005, its home port has been Evansville, Ind. Each summer, its sets sail on a cruise to two cities. This year, Chattanooga's stop follows Decatur, Ala.

Jornlin says the mission of the memorial organization, which is funded solely through private donations, is to educate visitors to the role of the LST in World War II, Korea and Vietnam. The names of all who died while serving on LSTs are displayed on the ship. Artifacts, books, photographs, oral histories and archival material relating to the service of LSTs in general and the USS LST 325 in particular are also collected and displayed. The main focus of the museum's acquisitions, exhibits and programs is 1941-1978 with special emphasis on 1941-1945.

"It is our desire to preserve the memory of these ships and all the countless heroic men who died in battle during the service to their country," he says. ... "By preserving this priceless piece of American history, we will bring honor to the American ship building industries that produced them, the crews who served and defended them and those who were carried onto the invasion shores by them."

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