LST 920
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons, Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - Combat Action - Second Row - Japanese Occupation, China Liberation, WW II Victory - Bottom Row - Pacific Theatre - 1 Star, European Theatre, American Theatre
July 24, 2008, Website Major Update:
It's been a little over 15 years since the first incarnation of the LST 920 web site appeared as a one page article on my personal web site. Since then the amount of content has increased dramatically due to the efforts of the people mentioned in our acknowledgements page (on the right of the screen). My only regret is that we have had input from less than 5% of the over 200 men who served on 920 during the 2 years of her service in WWII.
The purpose of this revision to the website is to clean-up and validate the code and clean out the dead wood, allowing 920 to cruise the internet in style. Although photos take up a lot of bandwidth and are hard on those using a dial-up connection, I could not resist adding all my favorite photos to the home page. They bring back memories of those long gone days that words can not. I have tried to organize the content of the site following a a chain-of-command format, and that is finally falling in place nicely.
A few years back when I posted a request for help constructing a page for Captain Schultz, the only response was a few sentences from Harold Dunagan and a Photo from Mike Botula. The Photo was captioned "Captain Schultz and Son". The son's name is Mike. Mike's younger brother Tim, informed me of this and much more in an email a few days ago. I have updated the photo and the Captain's page with quotes from Tim's email. Click on the Captain Link for more information about our unassuming leader.
The LST 920: was one of over a thousand LSTs build at shipyards throughout the nation during World War II. LST 920 was built at Bethlehem-Hingham yard. Top Speed was about 10-12 miles mph, so it seems amazing that 85, including the LST 920, served in both the European and Pacific Theaters of war. These ships usually had a crew of 110 enlisted men and 10 officers. During 920's active service, June 1944 to July 1946, over 200 served aboard. A small group of about 30 hardy souls took the long cruise from commissioning at Hingham, Mass. to decommissioning in San Francisco.
The officers: were all 90-day wonders none had ever been to sea before.
The Captain: was the oldest man aboard, a career regular navy man, he was a chief Quartermaster with about 16 years service when the war started. He was given a war-time commission as Lt. and command of LST 920. Captain Schultz commanded the 920 throughout the war, in both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters of war. He molded a motley crew of civilians into first class seamen. All who served on 920 are indebted to this man for his seamanship and leadership that saw the 920 safely through 2 perilous war-years. He retired with 20 years service in April 1957, his final rank was Lieutenant Commander.
The enlisted men: were mostly very young enlistees or draftees, just out of boot camp or service school. Only 3 regular navy enlisted men with prior sea-duty were aboard.
The crew list: you see on the rignt-side navigation bar is a compilation of all muster sheets, June, 1944 through July, 1946. It contains the original crew aboard LST 920 and those who transferred on and off during her period of service. Ranks shown are relative to the period of service while on board LST 920 and may not be the actual rank obtained before departing the United States Navy.
All links to LST 920 Crew members are on the right hand side of the screen, text in Blue.
All off site links to LST's and related amphibious craft are on the right side, bottom, text in Black.
If you have an interest in the design, construction, and function of the LST, our off-site links have what you want! Beware, it may be difficult to return if you browse off site, bookmark the 920 site to accommodate a safe return.
After you have browsed the off-site links and become an expert in LST history, design, and function, it is now time to read Harry's Call.
The 920 was a microcosm of America at war. We were a motley crew of war time enlistees, draftees, and a few regular navy men. Our generation, in three years, defeated the Germans, the Japs, the Italians, saved central Europe, and the British Islands. Then most of us returned to civilian life and never looked back, except for a few old codgers like myself who lived long enough to have the luxury of free time to reminisce of those sea going days.
If man must go to war, he is fortunate if it is a just war, many of our later wars have been questionable at best, most especially the fiasco in Iraq, five years and three TRILLION dollars down the drain, 4,000+ men and women dead and tens of thousands with long-term physical and mental disorders and no resolution in sight. Each year we are given a different reason for being in Iraq. Bush and his puppet master, the instigators of the war were both draft dodgers during the Viet Nam war, and neither have any relatives serving in the present one. Contrast that with President Roosevelt, who had 3 sons serving in WWII. Many of our most respected politicians served with distinction in WWII, Bush's father as a decorated airman.
America was victorious, because almost everyone believed in the cause,and was involved, the young in the service, the women, old and infirm men in the shipyards and aircraft factories, they served as air raid wardens, USO hostesses, everyone lived with food, gas and clothing rationing, recycling was a fact of everyday life. The Draft spread the pain and suffering of war to every level of society equally. Every family had someone in service, and they keep the politicians honest. The incompetents running this show would not have survived 2 terms in office if a draft was in effect.
All was not perfect, Jim Crow still reigned supreme in the south, and in the U.S. Navy, the only rating a black man could hold on the LST 920 was stewards mate which was basically a servant for officers, serve their food, wash their clothes, etc.. 99% of men holding the stewards rating were black or Filipino or homosexual, sometimes 2 out of three. New York city, where I grew up in the 30's, the schools were integrated and public facilities were accessible to everyone. Not until my naval service in the south did I come across the segregated toilets, water fountains etc.. When we traveled in the south it was usually by train, all the stations had signs on the toilets and water fountains. A time I always remember is when a trainload of servicemen, of whom I was one, pulled into Rocky Mount, North Carolina, and being greeted by a bevy of gracious southern women serving us free coffee, sandwiches and home made cakes, then the inevitable trip to the rest room and those signs! We were equal opportunity haters in those days, West Coast Japanese American citizens who had lived and worked in this country for many years, were rounded up and relocated to concentration camps in the desert southwest. Many of them lost their homes, farms, businesses etc.. Then of course there were the homosexuals, who were considered deviates by the navy and not fit for enlistment. Don't ask, don't tell was and is the policy.
Happily, we've made improvements in the ensuing years, we'll probably have a black president come November, unfortunately, the previous white one leaves the country in such shape,( what was that old WWII acronym, FUBAR?) that the black man is screwed as usual. The American citizens of Japanese ancestry who were put in concentration camps in the Arizona desert, have received reparation payments for their lost property and an apology for their confinement. As for the homosexuals, we now elect congressmen who perform homosexual mating rituals in public rest rooms, you've come a long way baby?
It is almost sunrise and the ship is at "general quarters" as it is every sunrise and sunset when we are carrying troops into harm's way. My station is "gun captain" on the forward port side 40mm anti-aircraft gun. My 3-man gun crew and I are a mangy lot. Our supply of fresh water is limited; there is only salt water for showers and laundry. When we are not at this gun, we stand our regular watches, 4 hours on, 4 off. In between we have our duty stations. Four hours sleep a day, is the most we get! The heat below decks is oppressive; our crotches devoured by jungle rot, our stores of flour have become infested with weevils, so now we eat "raisin bread." We haven't been ashore for 4 months and then only to a lonely pacific island to drink beer and swim. None of this bothers us. We 4 are all teen-agers , as is 90% of Ships Company on LST-920. ....Ah! Sweet bird of youth.
