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LST 338


Phil Swift
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Phil Swift

I was wondering if anyone had any information about what the role LST 338 would have had on Omaha beach during D-Day? My great uncle Raymond L Malone was on the ship and was wounded. I have no idea what his job would have been on the ship during the invasion and would like to know the possible reason he might've gotten injured. I am not sure if he was actually on the beach or if he was possibly injured on a higgins boat ferrying men to the beach. Any help is appreciated; also I am not asking about the history of the ship, just the role they played during D-Day

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Salvage Sailor

Aloha Phil,

 

Your Uncle enlisted in the USN in March of 1942 and after training was assigned to the commissioning crew of the USS LST-388.  He was present at the commissioning ceremony in December of 1942 and is surely in this photograph of the crew from George Zearott's webpage.  He was trained as an Electrician's Mate and is on the muster roll on 18 December 1942 as an EM3/c (Electrician's Mate Petty Officer Third Class)

 

lst 388 001.jpg

 

By the muster rolls he was present not only at the Normandy invasion, but also the landings at Red Beach, Gela, Sicily and then at Salerno on the Italian mainland.  As an Electrician's Mate, he would have been an in an Engineering Division aboard the ship and maintained the AC & DC electrical motors, switchboards and generators.  By June of 1944 he was a Electrician's Mate First class (EM1/c) and he was still maintained on the muster roll on June 25th, 1944 when LST-388 left the beach head.  No mention of any injuries.

 

I would suggest that you read through the two links above from fellow crewmen to read their first hand accounts of the Normandy landing.

 

A deeper dive into the D-Day archives will reveal which units LST-388 transferred to the Far Shore and at which beach(es) she was deployed.

 

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Salvage Sailor

EM1/c Raymond L. Malone - USS LST 338 (He has a tribute page set up here with photos and his discharge, most likely posted by a close family member)

 

Raymond-L.-Malone.jpg

 

 

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Phil,


"fold3" has a 45 page Action Report for LST-338 from 5 June 1944 to 20/21? June 1944 which provides detailed information regarding operations for that period.  


Beaches specifically mentioned are 'Easy Red Beach - Omaha', 'Jig Green Beach - Gold', and 'Easy Green - Omaha'.  It also references the area of 'Utah Beach' and 'Gold Beach'.


The following are extracts of the report -  

 

lst338a.jpg.06e13ed05eb495308121c762fda2e03a.jpg

 

lst338b.jpg.d40a0c6017daafdee1ae69aab83df191.jpg

lst338c.jpg.5cd6b6b18d99f2bc9a267b860a5e6767.jpg

 

Noteworthy is the comment on the last page, PART IV, which indicates no injuries to any crew member during this period.

 

This indicates that the 'wounded at Omaha Beach' notation in the obituary is in error for this period.


**documents from "fold3"


Additionally, his name does not appear on the list of World War 2 Rhode Island casualties on the NARA site:

 

https://nara-media-001.s3.amazonaws.com/arcmedia/media/images/27/30/27-2932a.gif


Larry

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Phil Swift
7 minutes ago, US82Bravo said:

Phil,


"fold3" has a 45 page Action Report for LST-338 from 5 June 1944 to 20/21? June 1944 which provides detailed information regarding operations for that period.  


Beaches specifically mentioned are 'Easy Red Beach - Omaha', 'Jig Green Beach - Gold', and 'Easy Green - Omaha'.  It also references the area of 'Utah Beach' and 'Gold Beach'.


The following are extracts of the report -  

 

lst338a.jpg.06e13ed05eb495308121c762fda2e03a.jpg

 

lst338b.jpg.d40a0c6017daafdee1ae69aab83df191.jpg

lst338c.jpg.5cd6b6b18d99f2bc9a267b860a5e6767.jpg

 

Noteworthy is the comment on the last page, PART IV, which indicates no injuries to any crew member during this period.

 

This indicates that the 'wounded at Omaha Beach' notation in the obituary is in error for this period.


**documents from "fold3"


Additionally, his name does not appear on the list of World War 2 Rhode Island casualties on the NARA site:

 

https://nara-media-001.s3.amazonaws.com/arcmedia/media/images/27/30/27-2932a.gif


Larry

Thank you very much for the information 

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Phil Swift

After having my mom's uncle remember some information, he was on a landing craft. So he wasn't on the ship during the actual invasion. Supposedly he was on landing craft 447 ferrying men back and forth. My mom's uncle is the only one Raymond spoke to about the war

Screenshot_20210515-203642_Messages.jpg

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