LST-713 (Ship)
Biography
According to Naval History and Heritage Command: LST-713 was laid down on 3 June 1944 at Jeffersonville, Ind., by the Jeffersonville Boat and Machine Co.; launched on 11 July 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Barbara A. Lawson; and commissioned on 7 August 1944.
During World War II, LST-713 was assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific theater and participated in the following operations:
Assault and occupation of Iwo Jima-February 1945
Assault and occupation of Okinawa Gunto-April through June 1945
Following the war, LST-713 performed occupation duty in the Far East until mid-February 1946. She returned to the United States and was decommissioned on 20 June 1946 and struck from the Navy list on 31 July that same year. On 21 May 1948, the ship was sold to the Bethlehem Steel Co., of Bethlehem, Pa., and subsequently scrapped.
LST-713 earned two battle stars for World War II service.
Found in 40 Collections and/or Records:
Letter from "Pete" to his mother, 1945-03-01
"...Instead of getting closer to home we are only going farther away...As to my whereabouts I"d like very much to tell you--also what has taken place--but if you paid close attention to what I have said in my previous letters and from the latest developments in the Pacific from your newspapers you should know...The climate has been nrather cool--so cool that they issued each man a suit of long, heavy underwear...."
Letter from "Pete" to his mother, 1945-03-02
"...Seems like I am broke and ready to be paid at the paying periods every month. If I didn't get into those darn poker games, I'd always have plenty of dough. I never started that until I came aboard ship...Lewis and Carl are certainly fortunate if they don't have to go in service and go overseas and so on like I've done. You just can't tell people in so many words how really a 'rugged' life we lead out here on an LST...."
Letter from "Pete" to his mother, 1945-03-02
"...Today I have been scrubbing the bulkheads getting all dirt from them in the starboard troop lobby as we are having both personnel and ship's inspection by the captain and officers tomorrow. Back on 'mess cooking' well as I don't know, too much about the Navy I'd just as soon be on that as anything...." [Censored areas have been excised from page 1 and page 2 of the letter]
Letter from "Pete" to his mother, 1945-03-07
Letter from "Pete" to his mother, 1945-03-23
V-mail from "Pete" to his mother, 1944-12-11
"Season's Greetings. My love, Pete."
V-mail from "Pete" to his mother, 1944-12-11
"Merry Christmas from...the blue Pacific."
V-mail from "Pete" to his mother, 1945-03-21
"2 Mar 1945. I now have some more V-mail stationery so from now on, for awhile at least, you can expect to receive them from me. That is I'll write you every chance I get, but goodness knows when you will receive them...."
V-mail from "Pete" to his mother, 1945-03-21
"3 Mar 1945. This morning I washed my tables off real good then cleaned and swabbed the starboard troop galley as captain's inspection of the ship was held at 9.30 AM...."
V-mail from "Pete" to his mother, 1945-03-21
"4 Mar 1945...I started reading a pocket size edition of Mrs. Miniver. It is entirely unlike the movie. In the movie a Nazi paratrooper lands in her garden and forces her into the house. The book doesn't hardly mention anything about the war...."