The story: Spring of 1995, I was at the Navy Memorial in Wash DC. There is an interactive display that lets you enter a ship's name or hull number, and it would display a photo and some history. When I typed in 1148, up popped a picture of the Sumner County. There was a couple in back of me, and the man said "I was on that ship." He was a Marine, Richard A. Cyr, on transit in 1957. His wife, Linda , told me she thought the ship was at the marina where she worked. When she got back, it was confirmed that it was the LST 1148. There was much publicity in the local press about the "blue boat" and I have copies of the photos and articles.
The LST is still at the marina, superstructure gone, now painted black. It has been used by Frank Ganter, owner and a local salvage operator, towing the ship to places like Haiti, full of old cars, trucks, motorcycles and bikes.
Dan Jeff, LTJG, '65 - '67
Submitted 5/13/00
Last updated on 04/14/04
