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Asiatic-Pacific Campaign |
| Campaign and Dates |
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| Iwo Jima operation
Assault and occupation of Iwo Jima, 19 February 16 March 1945 |
| Click On Image For Full Size Image |
Size | Image Description | Contributed By |
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52k | USS LSM-206 side launching at Dravo Corporation, Wilmington, DE., 22 April 1944. | USS LSM / LSMR Association | |
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386k | Commemorative envelope issued for the launching USS LSM-206 at Dravo Corporation, Wilmington, DE., 22 April 1944. | Richard Hoffner and Greg Ciesielski Assistant Curator, Naval Cover Museum | |
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128k | USS LSM-145, USS LSM-206 and USS LSM-126 dash for the beach at Iwo Jima on H-Hour, 19 February 1945. The LSMs were landing the 5th Marine Amphibious Corps. Note Mount Suribachi in the background. USMC photo |
Tommy Trampp | |
101420608 |
79k | USS LSM-206 beached at Iwo Jima, 19 February 1945, while landing the elements of the 4th Marine Division, 5th
Marine Amphibious Corps. "Pinned Down. 4th Division Marines are briefly pinned down by enemy fire as they hit the beach at Iwo Jima on D-Day. Making their fourth
amphibious assault in thirteen months, the veteran fighters are preparing to secure the right flank of the initial beachhead."
US Marine Corps Headquarters Photo No. 110,108. | Caption - David Upton, Photo - James Tusing Brian Miller |
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101420610 |
399k | Broaching landing craft, unattended pontoon barges, and sunken LVT’s, DUKW’s, tanks, and LCM’s smashed holes in the skin’s of LSM’s above and below their water lines. In addition, screws were fouled and bent, anchors lost and doors disabled. The carnage in the foreground is essential to understanding her story that day. On 19 FEB 1945, D-Day on Iwo, LSM 206 was assigned to LSM Unit Baker (Task Unit 53.4.2), an 18 ship combat element of LSM Group 14 under the command of LCDR A.E. Lind, USNR. LSM Group 14 was under the command of LSM Flotilla FIVE commanded by CDR W. H. Carpenter, USN. Unit Baker was loaded with tanks and shore party equipment of the Fourth Marine Division. They entered LSM area NAN at Yellow Beach at 0730 to support a 0900 assault led by Commander Transport Group Baker aboard his flagship, LSM 60. Although carefully planned, loaded, and rehearsed in Hawaii weeks earlier, beaching was chaotic for the LSMs that morning on Iwo. The first LSMs to the beach were those carrying the assault tanks. They immediately drew heavy and effective enemy fire from artillery, mortar, and machine guns, which inflicted heavy casualties on the ships, personnel and vehicles struggling to move off the beach. The tanks themselves bogged down in the soft volcanic sand before they could even clear the LSM ramps, blocking the offloading of the men and equipment behind. As a result, the LSM’s were sent away after only partially unloading. By the time LSM 206 arrived at 1320 to offload, Iwo Jima’s landing beaches were a junkyard of destroyed LVTs, tanks, LCVPs (like this in the foreground), and Marines desperately trying to fight their way off the beach. This left very few openings for the LSM’s and the carefully constructed beaching plan was now entirely improvised. LSM 206 identified its new unmarked landing area by using a sunken Japanese Lugger as a reference. During the offload, they placed it about 20 yards to starboard and used it as cover for the 35 minutes it took to fully land their cargo and men and replace them with casualties for the hospital ships offshore. Much of the shore party equipment they and other LSM’s delivered was destroyed shortly after being landed. LSM 206 made several return trips back and forth to the Yellow Beach area over the next few days exchanging men and equipment for casualties. The LSMs maintained 24 hour operations throughout the Battle for Iwo Jima. The punishment to the ships was severe. It was reported that they received extensive damage to the hull and topside gear while alongside the larger vessels at sea, taking on their men and equipment from the transport ships. | Brian Miller | |
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76k | USS LSM-206 nested with six additional LSMs, date and location unknown. | USS LSM / LSMR Association | |
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74k | USS LSM-206 alongside USS Newberry (APA-158) while evacuating wounded Marines at Iwo Jima, between 17 and 27 February 1945. | Harold Jacobs and the USS LSM / LSMR Association | |
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64k | USS LSM-206 underway, date and location unknown. | USS LSM / LSMR Association | |
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51k | USS LSM-206 steaming outbound in San Francisco Bay toward the Golden Gate, in 1946. | Submitted by Roald Lokken for his father, Sigurd T. Lokken, (1926-1991), Petty Officer 2nd Class, Radio Electrician USS LSM-206 | |
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113k | USS LSM-206 in San Francisco Bay after passing under the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge in 1946 | Submitted by Roald Lokken for his father, Sigurd T. Lokken, (1926-1991), Petty Officer 2nd Class, Radio Electrician USS LSM-206 | |
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54k | USS LSM-206 underway in San Francisco Bay, 1945-46. US Navy photo # NH 79860 from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center, courtesy, D.M. McPherson, 1974. |
USS LSM / LSMR Association | |
101420611 |
347k | "Leapin Lena" adorns the conning tower USS LSM-206. Photo was taken while the ship was in San Francisco Bay, 1945-46. | Roald Lokken for his father, Sigurd T. Lokken, (1926-1991), Petty Officer 2nd Class, Radio Electrician USS LSM-206. | |
| Commanding Officers | ||
| 01 | LT. Mackenzie, Gordon C., USNR | 29 May 1944 - September 1945 |
| 02 | LTjg. Hanlon, Paul D., USNR | September 1945 - March 1946 |
| 03 | LTjg. Crosetti, Lawrence P., USNR | March 1946 - June 1946 |
| 04 | LT. Stanko, John, USN (USNA 1944) | June 1946 - December 1946 |
| 051 | LTjg. Scherrer, Robert Aloysius, USN (USNA 1945) | December 1946 - 29 July 1947 |
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