My dad's LCI was shot to rags at Iwo Jima. They pulled alongside the battleship Tennessee to transfer dead and wounded. Their pumps couldn't keep up with the flooding, so pumps and damage control crew from the Tennessee joined in to keep the LCI from sinking.
LCI-457 re-provisioning off Saipan before heading to Iwo Jima. The LCI's in Flotilla 3, group 8 had been converted from landing craft to gunboats. Five single-mount 40mm Bofors replaced the 20mm Oerlikons, and the side ramps were replaced with racks of electrically fired 5" rockets.
Two days before the Iwo Jima landing they were sent in to cover UDT swimmers. My dad's boat is in the lead.
LCI-457 re-provisioning off Saipan before heading to Iwo Jima. The LCI's in Flotilla 3, group 8 had been converted from landing craft to gunboats. Five single-mount 40mm Bofors replaced the 20mm Oerlikons, and the side ramps were replaced with racks of electrically fired 5" rockets.
Two days before the Iwo Jima landing they were sent in to cover UDT swimmers. My dad's boat is in the lead.
