Landing Ship, Tank - Literature

Literature

The Ninety and Nine by William Brinkley, author of Don't Go Near the Water, portrays an LST running supplies to Anzio during World War II. The title refers to the ship's company of ninety enlisted men and nine officers. The book opens with a quotation attributed to Winston Churchill - "The destinies of two great empires ... seemed to be tied by some god-damned things called LST's."

In the biography Man In Motion: Michigan's Legendary Senate Majority Leader, Emil Lockwood by Stanley C. Fedewa and Marilyn H. Fedewa, Lockwood colorfully describes his World War II service aboard LST-478. "We were always in the thick of it," Emil said, "because it was our job on the LSTs to carry personnel-operated tanks, artillery, supplies—anything, you name it—into the heart of a war zone."

The novel Warm Bodies by Donald R. Morris portrays life on an LST in the 1950s. The title refers to the use of any available body in port during overhaul for any duty necessary. "A Warm Body is man with at least one arm and two fingers who can pick up something when he is told to." Although a work of fiction, the novel is based on Morris' experience as an officer aboard an LST.

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