Journey of LST 840 - Kenneth M Holtzclaw - Bog

This is an intriguing story which was written in a setting of over sixty years ago, during the Korean War by a sailor who was serving there on LST 840. Memories sometimes are short, however, during this journey, this sailor, the author of this story, kept a meticulously oriented journal, including many important facts and events throughout his cruise. This helped immensely in the writing. Fortunately, the author was an amateur photographer and was able to present and enlighten the text with numerous related pictures of engaging activities at that time. One of the chief duties of LST 840 during this cruise was in the evacuation of both North and South Koreans southward, away from the flight of the North Korean battle forces, an onslaught that often killed many civilians in their path, as well as destroying their homes. LST 840 evacuated thousands of civilians from their homes during this time. One picture in this text portrays hundreds of evacuees on the upper deck of the ship, and the closed lower deck held hundreds more. They were taken to safe islands below the 38th Parallel, which were under control of the United Nations. Here they were supplied with tents, supplies and food. The author remembers seeing rows of tents and stacks of wheat on the island of Paengnyong-do where many evacuees were brought. LST 840 helped evacuate islands of Sunwi-do and Cho-do. During one evacuation run, childbirth aboard ship was accomplished, perhaps the first birth ever aboard a LST. And a South Korean man whose leg was blown off at the knee was cared for by a corpsman aboard ship, as no doctors were aboard small ships like LSTs. The book is an interesting read and quite enlightening of some of the trials and tribulations of the Korean War era.