Big, Big Boat

Pittsburgh had a visitor over Labor Day weekend. The Point hosted a WWII-era Landing Ship-Tank for five days, and it was open to visitors all weekend. It so happens that my Grandpa Bish served on an LST during WWII both in the invasion of Normandy and in the Pacific through the end of the war.

In the past ten years or so my Grandpa has started talking more about his WWII experiences, so we had heard some LST stories (although, I'm SURE we haven't heard the best ones). My brother, Willis, had wanted to go see the boat, and it turns out that my Aunt Pat and her kids arranged to bring my Grandpa and Grandma down for the day. My Grandpa's health and memory haven't been good lately, but they borrowed a wheelchair for him and they safely made the two hour trip to Pittsburgh. Michael and I took C&G into town on Labor Day to meet Uncle Willis, Grandma, Grandpa, my aunt and cousins. I think there were 13 of us in total.

We got there a bit before the traveling contingent, and this is what we saw:


A big, big boat with a big, big line! The line stretched WAY beyond the end of the boat and down towards the casino. Ugg. This wasn't going to be good. So, Michael and Uncle Willis helped the kiddos explore while I was the place-holder in line.
Colin enjoyed playing under the pedestrian bridge:


And G enjoyed playing on the steps:


So, I finally met up with the rest of our party, and soon after a volunteer with the LST came down the line. He stopped and asked my Grandpa if he was a veteran. "Yes," we said. My aunt mentioned that he had served on an LST as well. This nice man then said, "Gather up your party, we'll take up right up to the front." WHAT? How nice is that? I mean, the youngest WWII vets are now in their 80's and their numbers dwindle by the day and it was just the nicest thing to let them go ahead (and save, literally, hours of waiting).

So, we got on board. It was pretty surreal. You could still smell diesel, grease, and dirt. It was hot, and in my opinion, cramped. It was hard to imagine the bottom of this ship filled with twenty tanks (TWENTY!), troops, and gear headed out across the ocean. It took my Grandpa a while to realize where we were and what was going on. He kept asking, "What kind of ship is this?" We'd tell him, and he would say, "Oh, I served on one of those for years." But, by the time we worked our way onto the upper decks, he seemed to adjust and started telling some stories.

Grandpa on the lower deck with my cousin Chris, her son, Adam, and her niece Lindsey.


While serving on active duty, Grandpa was a signalman. Meaning he used Morse code and signal flags to send and receive messages from other ships. Here he is telling Uncle Willis and my cousin John how that worked, and probably several other stories:


We thought the big compass on the bridge was pretty cool:


A view of the bridge looking back from the deck:


Oh, Gillian used the deck for some sunbathing:


It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience to be on this kind of ship with my grandfather. I hope it meant a lot to him, and I hope he remembers the day. It's events and experiences like this that remind how indebted this country is to the bravery, sacrifice, hard-work, and resilience of the Greatest Generation. It is amazing to realize what their daily lives were like during WWII, and how much of a difference they truly made.