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The Crew

From "The Mad Hooligan Story" by Brooks Hamilton

In 1944 when LST 832 was commissioned in Pittsburgh, there stretched ahead for her crew of 124, months and even years away from everything familiar in a strange and unnatural life with no women, save one nondescript female mongrel dog-mascot beloved by all. And all of this on a little bottle 328 feet long, 50 feet wide and about 50 feet in depth from main deck to the bottom of the keel. L.S.T. 832, called various names by her crew, some harsh, some fond, would take them wherever the whims of war and strategy might dictate. (Whim or strategy? Hard to tell sometimes!) She was, indeed, a small container for all those men to have to stay in or on for weeks on end, most of the time at sea with no other place to go. One thing is sure, in that kind of situation men have to learn to live with one another or else fight a second war aboard ship along with the one outside! There were good times and bad, as this sorting out happened in the first months of the ship's life; and the terror that came with the outside war always seemed the worst, so we learned to get along with those in the same boat. The bad times were aggravated by the uncertainty of life in war and the irritable, abrasive nature of togetherness under those circumstances, along with the absence of familiar and normal things: girls, home, school. There was the knowledge out on the broad briny deep that none of those things were at hand. The good part of life aboard the 832 turned out to be what was, with great irony, sometimes the bad. It was for each man his fellow crewmen, these other bits and pieces of humanity one could see and hear and talk to about fears, hopes, dreams and anxieties. This, the fact of others close in the same spot, more than country, common enemy, service tradition, or anything else, made life bearable for those long months.

Commissioning Day 1944, Pittsburgh, PA

Current Crew Roster

  • Robert Allen, Nashua, NH
  • Allen O. Blumer, Davenport, IA
  • Harry J. Brown, Minneapolis, MN
  • Hobart W. Browne, Pekin, IL
  • John Carris, Vestal,NY ouzojtc@clarityconnect.com
  • Dee Cloninger, Columbus, NC
  • Arthur Damico, Youngstown, OH
  • Frank Drake, Parma, OH
  • Art Dumas, Big Pine, CA
  • Jack Farrell, Homossassa, FL
  • Bernard Frankllin, New York, NY
  • Robert Franzago, Brewster, MA dobofran@gis.net
  • Thomas Gill, Daly City, CA
  • John Gorman, Valley Stream, NY
  • J. A. Gregg, Oxford, PA
  • Julius Haslego, Harleigh, PA
  • James Helms, Peoria Heights, IL
  • Chester Hill, Arcadia, OK
  • Clifford Houser, Flint, MI
  • Roy Hult, Venice, FL 46boats@gte.net
  • William Jacobe, Houston, TX
  • John L. Jones, Collingdale, PA
  • Donald Kaepplinger, Park Ridge, IL
  • Elbert E. Kelsey, Arcola, IL
  • Pennington Kemp, Marblehead, OH
  • Walter G. Kennedy, Lancaster, OH
  • Irving Kirman, Scottsdale AZ
  • Lawrence Kliment, St. Louis, Mo
  • Eugend Lang, Gloucester, MA
  • George Lehman, Kensington, MD
  • Joseph Lorig, Munster, IN
  • George I. Lowe, Texas City, TX
  • Raymond Luiten, Sunnyvale, CA
  • William MacCall, Media, PA
  • Norman Mayo, Millburn, NJ
  • Stanley Miritello, Seattle, WA
  • Frank Nitz, Cincinnati, OH
  • Richard M. Romans, Spring Hill, FL
  • Frank Rotondi, San Antonio, TX
  • Harry Rymer, Milford, CT
  • Robert Sammartino, Okemos, MI
  • William Sapp, Pinellas Park, FL
  • E. F. Sauter, Trussville, AL
  • Jon Shellenberger, Philadelphia, PA
  • S. J. Sirgany, Miami, FL
  • Russell Smeal, Havertown, PA
  • Robert Southworth, Columbus, OH
  • George Spering, Billerica, MA coco@mediaone.net
  • James Stevens, Copoake, NY
  • Carroll Thornes, Bloxam, VA
  • Joseph Tudis, Gibbstown, NJ
  • Richard O. Van Burkleo, Los Angeles, CA
  • Homer Walker, Peachtree City, GA
  • Howard E. Weedle, Covington, KY
  • Leonard N. Westphal, Placentia, CA
  • Martin Wetzel, Cape Coral, FL ccwetz@aol.com
  • Thomas Woolridge, Cincinnati, OH


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