On the Road to See the Eagles-- Part 6

CLINTON HISTORICAL MUSEUM

I forgot to mention that before leaving Clinton, I had driven back downtown to check out this museum that I had seen yesterday. It is open 9 to 11 AM during the winter.

I asked to see what they had on the Lincoln Highway and was shown an original Boy Scout marker that was a bit short due to someone backing into it. It still had the original Lincoln "penny" on it and I was told many of these large pennies had been stolen over the for the metal content, but this was an original one.

There is also a market by the court house.

They also had two large packets of pictures, postcards, magazine articles and newspaper clips pertaining to the Lincoln.


WORLD WAR II AND LSTs

I saw a picture of an LST from World War II that had visited Clinton in September. They had made a DVD of it and were going to show it next month. The guy I was talking to said he'd been on one during the war so we got to talking about his experiences.

He said he'd been on two in preparations for landings in the Philippines toward the end of the war in the Pacific. They were shallow draft and somewhat flat-bottomed so wallowed badly in the ocean, causing many troops aboard to get sick. He said the smell below deck was powerful and he stayed up top as much as possible, even sleeping underneath trucks at night ( better smell and cool breezes).

The LST crews weren't much in the way of regular navy and wore cutoffs, socks and shoes as a uniform more often than not. They also had a penchant to take anything they could get their hands on, but not so much from the soldiers they were carrying, but the equipment.

I sure would have liked to have visited this ship. Along with Higgins boats and Liberty Ships, these were some of the unsung technologies that won the war. I have really gotten into World War II a lot in the last year with my http://cootershistorything.blogspot.com blog.

Well Worth a Visit. --RoadDog