LST-325 Visits Dubuque-- Part 3: Training and His Ship

As he walked through the LST-325, he recalled his days on the identical LST-806.

"We slid down those stairs," he said of a steep set of stairs leading down to the ship's living quarters,.  "Sometimes the seas were so rough the deck with ripple."

Roger Klauer entered Navy service on May 11, 1944.  His LST crew was assembled  shortly after that in Libertyville, Illinois.  "from there, we trained at Navy Pier (Chicago), then we were sent to Evansville, Indiana."

The Navy launched Klauer's LST-806 from the shipyards in Evansville (which is the LST-325's home port).  With him and the rest of the crew of 123 on board,  the USS LST-806 traveled down the Ohio River to Cairo, Illinois, where it went into the Mississippi River and eventually to New Orleans.

--GreGen