Dominican Republic
Luzerne County recommissioned in reserve at Stockton, California on 29 March 1963 for activation prior to service with the Atlantic Fleet. She joined the active list on 15 April with Lieutenant D. W. Moore in command; and, following shakedown and type training out of San Diego, she departed for the east coast on 24 May and reached Little Creek, Virginia on 19 June. Assigned to ResLSTRon 2, Luzerne County trained Naval Reserve units out of Little Creek during the rest of 1963 and throughout 1964. This important duty sent the LST on training and readiness cruises along the Atlantic coast from Long Island Sound to the Straits of Florida.
After completing a run to Florida waters and back early in 1965, she joined naval forces operating to stabilize a crisis in the Dominican Republic. On 10 May Luzerne County steamed to Norfolk where she embarked troops and loaded equipment for shipment to the Dominican Republic. Departing 12 May, she reached Puerto de Andres on 19 May and debarked units of peacekeeping force. She returned to Little Creek, on 26 May. During the remainder of the year she made numerous runs between the United States and the Dominican Republic, shuttling troops, support equipment, and military cargo from Southport, North Carolina, to Santo Domingo and to San Juan, Puerto Rico. She completed her final run from Santo Domingo to Southport on 14 December and reached Little Creek two days later.
Read more about this topic: USS Luzerne County (LST-902)
Famous quotes containing the word republic:
“Royalty is a government in which the attention of the nation is concentrated on one person doing interesting actions. A Republic is a government in which that attention is divided between many, who are all doing uninteresting actions. Accordingly, so long as the human heart is strong and the human reason weak, Royalty will be strong because it appeals to diffused feeling, and Republics weak because they appeal to the understanding.”
—Walter Bagehot (18261877)