By John France, Historian, USS Landing Craft Infantry National Association On June 6, 1944, U.S.S. LCI(L) 85 sailed through rough waters towards the Normandy Coast of France. LCI 85 was [ … ]
Category: LCI(L)
Whatever Will Float Our Boat
Rick Holmes, AFMM President The AFMM is having another excellent year; visits and tours to the ship are up and the ship is really looking good. Our troop 2 and [ … ]
LCI Veterans Recall D-Day
By Jeff Veesenmeyer “Okay, let’s go.” Those three simple words from General Dwight D. Eisenhower set into motion the largest amphibious invasion in history. An armada of 5,300 ships would [ … ]
My Grandfather’s Sacrifice
William J. Gunter Royal Canadian Navy, Able Seaman. HMCS LCI(L) 249 had twin 20mm Orelikons on the bow By Danika Gagnon When I was younger, my grandfather never talked about [ … ]
Vampire Volunteers
By J. Wandres (Intrepid Explorer of the South Pacific) My wife and I were fortunate to be part of a small-group tour of New Zealand and Australia. Whilst in Sydney [ … ]
Not All LCI Casualties Occurred During the Landings
When you are doing research, something on a page may jump out and seize your attention. This was the case when I was reviewing the WWII Missing in Action files [ … ]
AFMM Meets the Fleet at Bremerton
By Jerry Gilmartin, Chief Machinists Mate, USN, Ret; AFMM Board member I represented Amphibious Forces Memorial Museum at the 2018 conference of HNSA, the Historic Naval Ships Association, at the [ … ]
Witness to Invasions, Surrenders and Occupation
By Jeff Veesenmeyer When Chicagoan, Bill Simmons joined the Navy in July of 1944, he had no idea what he would see. At age 17 he wanted to serve and [ … ]
Excerpt from “USS LCI(L) 419…Its Story”
Memoir of Robert Roderick, QM U.S.N.R Submitted by Lisa Bittle Tancredi There were few people who guessed how nearly England had lost the war. If Germany had continued her blitz [ … ]
Voices from the Pacific
By Dominick Maurone LCI(G) 440 A few days after the Landings at Normandy France the United States Navy along with Marine and Army Divisions launched Operation Forager on the other [ … ]
Saluting Our Coast Guard Shipmates – Flotilla Ten at Normandy and the loss of LCIs 85, 91, 92 and 93
This article first appeared in the January 2007 issue of the Elsie Item (No. 58) and offers details about the loss of four LCIs. In particular, it discusses the LCI(L)-85 [ … ]
The Greatest “Industrial” Generation
By Jeff Veesenmeyer The Greatest Generation put 16.1 million men and women in uniform during WWII. Those numbers are amazing. But the military needed more than uniforms to win the [ … ]
Memories of the LCI(L)-41
Story originally published in Elsie Item #25 June 1998. Submitted By Ken Stern LCI 41 started out as a regular square-conn in the l to 350 class of LCIs. The [ … ]
Fond Memories of LCI 35 and a Dance Floor in Brighton, England
By Jeff Veesenmeyer There was a strange silence on board the LCI 35…and on the streets of Brighton too. The Normandy invasion had begun. Over 280,000 men were crossing the [ … ]
David’s Journey
by John France 02/17/2018 David Forman was born July 31, 1923. A native of Kings County, New York, he was the son of immigrants. His father Louis was from Latvia [ … ]