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1457 hrs., Wednesday, 13 December 1944, four miles off the southern tip of Negros Island in the Philippine chain: USS LCI(G)-64 was steaming alongside
USS Nashville (CL-43) when a Val single engine plane bent on a Kamikaze mission appeared at 5,000 feet just over
the island off the starboard side of Nashville. As with every other vessel in the convoy LCI(G)-64 was at Condition 2 (half the crew on watch, half off). From the
angle of dive, it seemed the target was to be the ship directly behind Nashville but at the last possible moment, however, the plane, traveling in excess of 400 mph, veered left
and smashed into her. From the first sighting to the explosion, time could be measured in seconds. There was no LCI(G)-64 could get off a single round without the possibility of
hitting other ships. It is, in fact true, no one in the convoy got off a round. In a time period almost too small to measure, 133 men died and another 190 were wounded - almost a third of the
entire crew of Nashville
Original Image Source: Collection of James D. Robertson, LCI 64 (Official U.S. Navy photograph originally published in Steven George Bustin’s, Humble Heroes: How the USS Nashville
CL43 Fought WWII) |
Zach Morris. Author, When the Beaches Trembled, Editor in Chief, LST Scuttlebutt Magazine U.S. Landing Ship Tank Association |
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USS LCI(G)-64 and USS LCI(R)-337 in dry dock at Subic Bay in August 1945 for repairs
"USS LCI(G)-64 was dry docked in preparation for the Seventh Amphibious Force's 8 September 1945 landing at Jinsen, Korea. The landing force gathered at Okinawa and was forced to leave there early because of an oncoming typhoon. We sailed into the storm and the 64 lost her mast and radar antenna when one of the 70 ft waves broke over the ship. All the LSTs in the convoy had to tie welders out on deck to weld the deck plates that were splitting when, at the top of a wave, the ship's bow would extend out without any water under it. We reached Jinsen at night and the LSTs and LCIs anchored close to shore while the heavy ships all anchored much further out. That night all the ships anchored close to shore ended up high-and-dry because of the 28 ft tide fall. Good thing the Japs were surrendering and not shooting or we would have been in serious trouble" Frank LeTarte |
Frank M. LeTarte S1/c USNR USS LCI(G)-64 |
