A Slow Moving Target, The LST of World War II

In a small home in Queens, New York, on December 7, 1941, a young Italian-American boy, Johnny Maroni, was looking over the help wanted ads in the Long Island Daily Press. Jobs were scarce during those depression years and he was hoping to find employment to help the family make ends meet. His sister was also present doing her homework. At the family dinning room table they were listening to the Glenn Miller Orchestra from a small table radio that was playing Moonlight Serenade when suddenly, and for no apparent reason, the music was suspended.

After a short pause an announcer came on and said, "Flash! We interrupt this program to bring you the following bulletin. Today, the Japanese government suddenly and without warning attacked and bombed Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Tomorrow the president of the United States will be making a statement to congress about the attack which will be aired over this station."

As the music came back on Johnny turned to his sixteen year old sister, Angela, and said, "Did you hear that, Ann?" Angela was engrossed in her homework at the time and wasn't paying much attention to the radio.

Angela looked up, somewhat preoccupied and said, "Hear what?"

Johnny repeated the announcement, "The Japs just bombed Pearl Harbor in the Pacific."

She didn't seem at all surprised, "So what? They've been bombing Pacific islands for years. So what's another harbor?"

Johnny was a bit disturbed by now and said, "You don't understand, Ann. Pearl Harbor belongs to the United States. It's in Hawaii. We are being attacked! This is war against our country!"

They stared at each other in bewildered silence waiting for additional news. An unpleasant thought went racing through Angela's mind. If there's a war, she realized, her brother will be drafted and he might be killed.

She finally said, "Maybe you made a mistake, Johnny. Maybe you heard it wrong."

The next day, at the dinning room table, the music stopped once again and the radio announcer said, "America, here is the president of the United States, President Roosevelt."

"Ladies and gentleman of America, yesterday, Sunday, December 7, 1941, a date which will live in infamy--the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan..." His continued announcement was strange and baffling to them and to the entire country.

The latest announcement said, "All men whose ages are between 18 and 38 must register for the draft."

The Selective Service Bill became a law on Sept. 16, 1940, and in two weeks 16,313,240 men between the ages of 21 and 35 registered for the draft and were given lottery numbers. The draft board had now extended both ends of the age limits by three years. Those drafted were summoned by induction notices that cheerfully began, "Greetings."

The first lottery number called was 158 which was held by Robert Bell, a 21-year-old fireman in the District of Columbia. His mother wept at hearing the announcement. She was proud, but fearful of sending her son to war.

Every one of the 6,175 draft boards in the country had at least one number 158 drafted. In New York, he was a Chinese laundryman who couldn't wait to get his hands on "the dirty Japs" for what they were doing to his homeland. In San Diego, he was a zookeeper; in Trenton N.J., a midget who'd been a Munchkin in The Wizard of Oz; in Cleveland, a newspaper reporter; and in San Francisco, a meteorologist.

Col. D,J. Renneisen (Ret.) of Jasper, Ind., said that being number 158 was "the only lottery I've ever won." After reporting he said, "Our first issue of uniforms included some leftovers from World War I and from the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) outfit. We were ashamed to be seen in town in those garbs."

In January 1944, Generals Mark Clark and Frank Lowry were setting up the amphibious assault on Anzio in Italy. The problem Clark had was that he was given orders from the Allied Chiefs in England to transfer many of the needed amphibious forces to England to support Overload, the invasion of France. If he did that there wouldn't be enough amphibious craft to make an assault on Anzio which is the stepping stone to Rome. The code name for this assault was called 'Shingle' which, of course, was still being pushed by Churchill.

Mr. Churchill had to use all his charm and his great influence with President Roosevelt in order to have 'Shingle' accepted. "How can we take Rome if we don't assault Anzio first," was his argument. "Montgomery's troops are too slow coming up from the south. Rome must be taken as a moral victory."

Churchill new that one of the most important ingenuity for the success of an invasion was the invention of the LST. They were designed to carry large cargo ashore right after the initial assault were made with small craft and to supply the troops with ammunition, tanks, and artillery to repel a possible counterattack.

Without enough LSTs, there could be no invasion and no landing in Anzio. These ships were in great demand but were in short supply in Europe. Every commander tended to hoard these "Slow Moving Targets" like they were made of precious gold. They would use whatever scheme they could come up with to keep them and hide them. Before each assault the distribution of LSTs were argued over, and jealously guarded before a commander would give them up because he knew once he released them he may never get them back. Churchill complained that the whole business of LSTs had become an obsession by some military leaders. When he addressed Eisenhower he said, "The truth of the matter is, Anzio cannot be taken without these prize ships."

Selecting which LSTs should go where became a strain on the war machine. The European commanders felt that too many LSTs were in the Pacific and not enough were allocated for the Atlantic theater which they felt was more important. Memorandums were being sent in all directions for LSTs, and finally Churchill convinced Roosevelt by saying, "Mr. President. If many of the LSTs that are now in the Atlantic were made available there would be a sufficient number of them to assault Anzio."

Eisenhower finally agreed and gave General Clark permission to keep 68 LSTs in the Anzio theater until January 25, 1944. The original plan presumed that the British 5th Army Division, that is marching overland north in Italy under Montgomery, would be close enough to Rome to support the Anzio assault. But, as it turned out, the 5th Army was again being delayed by a strong and stubborn German forces and could not advance close enough to Rome.

Clark then advised Eisenhower to cancel the invasion, but Churchill intervened again and pressed for the plan to continue on Anzio. Eisenhower's reaction was that he didn't want to jeopardize Overlord by not having enough LSTs available. Even Churchill recognized that the LSTs had to leave the Mediterranean by January 25, or endanger the Overlord schedule.