Today we observe Maritime Day! We have FREE Tours until 3:00 p.m. CST sponsored by the Evansville Propeller Club!

With all the fuss, the Tank Deck painting was forgotten.  This work has made a huge difference in the appearance of the Tank Deck and has helped highlight the Archival displays on the Tank Deck.  

During the Deck Work Week, several volunteers washed the Tank Deck bulkheads to ready it for painting.

It was necessary to block off the rest of the Tank Deck with plastic to protect all the displays and other items stored there.

It took most of the Deck Week crew to complete the Tank Deck.

Everything had to be covered up for spraying.

With so many helping hands the work goes by fast.

Over 25 gallons of paint were used on the forward area of the Tank Deck.

A base coat was applied on the Bow Door Ramp.

Finals coats were applied and the difference is amazing.  We are ready for Pittsburgh and Cincinnati this year!

This year we are fortunate to again have IVY Tech students donating their time to weld on ship.

The elevator has been a source of leaks when it rains.

The weld along the angle iron and weather deck is what erodes the quickest.

They bring their own welder, ours has been unreliable.

There's a lot of supervision due to the odd properties of old and rusted metal.

We are open Memorial Day this year!  Come down and tour the USS LST 325  10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.  Last tour boards at 3:00 p.m. CST.  We have all types of characters on ship and would love to share a piece of history with you!

James "Sarge" Goodall as General George S. Patton

Picture courtesy of Jarrod Walker in Clarksville TN 2012 

The Deck Force has done a great job with the forward Gun Tubs.  We've had Steve Gooch working on repairs to the forward 40 MM to get it up to snuff.  With Deck Week done, the deck plates are a crowning touch.

Steve Gooch in the 40 MM tub and Herb Quick on deck.

Paul Heintz, Bob Chick, Joe Klein, and Jeff Gilbert work to remove the plates for needle gun work.

A large operation given the weight of the plates.

The gun tubs have really been neglected over the years.

Above Joe Klein works and below is Paul Heintz.  Opposing tubs on the bow.

Bob Chick enjoys his time painting on the LST!

Joe Klein is working hard to get rid of rust.

The hard fought battle is paying off!

The gun tubs are ready for our Fall Cruise to Pittsburgh and Cincinnati this year!

Many compartments on ship haven't been organized and contain not only parts from 2000 to now but also Greek parts, even WWII original parts have been found stored away.  This is just one of those compartments.

Ad and Greg Smith work to separate all the parts.

Work began before Work Week began with Ad Mumford getting a head start.

John Lindholm also started helping Ad sort through everything.

This is not a typical compartment, but a farely bad one.

The Galley Crew feeds us well!  

We show pictures but here's what it really looks like for the crew in the galley.

Mike Gill (right), Tom Diener, Darry Hosford, Pete Smith (left), and Pete Kish have been working to provide great meals for our volunteers.

This is only the salad/side spread of the meal!  See below for a typical meal provided by our wonderful Galley Crew!

Below is a picture of Dry Stores.  This area is below the Crew Mess Deck under the Galley.  This is a larger compartment with low overheads but it has a lot of good potential meals stored away.

Our volunteers enjoy some deserved time off after a meal.

As a Non-Profit organization, donations make it possible for us to preserve the USS LST 325 for later generations.  It's not easy finding individuals and companies who are able and willing to help further our cause.  We have been fortunate that Mike Kilgore at Cummins Crosspoint has heard our plight.  Last year, Cummins Crosspoint assisted with our Generator Replacement project.  We were able to save time, effort, and money by working one on one with Mike and his team at Cummins.  

We greatly appreciate the labor and time donated by Mike and Cummins Crosspoint.  John Hatton, our Chief Engineer presents Mike with a picture of the USS LST 325 sailing on the Tennessee River last year taken by Ron Hudson.  The USS LST Ship Memorial, Inc. thanks all of our donors, large and small.  With out your support, this ship would not be here!