2018 USS LST 325 Fall Mississippi River Tour

[54reo]

The USS LST 325 has set sail on the 2018 Fall River Tour and will be headed up the Mississippi to Dubuque and Bettendorf Iowa, then to Chester Illinois.

She will be arriving in Chester on Sept 6th, and opening up for tours on Sept 7, 8, and 9. We have a sizable group of WWII reenactors joining us that will be camped out along the riverfront all three days. They plan to have a couple of skirmishes as a contingent of German troops will be there as well.

Recruiters and personnel from the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Coast Guard, Corps of Engineers and the National Guard will be on site as well. At least two National Guard Units will be present with a couple of trucks. The Southern Illinois Honor Flight folks will be there too.

It is setting up to be a decent event this year, and if there is anyone that can make it, we would be glad to have you come out and stay; whether it is for a day or the whole time.

We will have our MKT set up cooking breakfast and supper for the reenactors on Saturday and Sunday, and i will be camped out in a GP small.

If you've never had the opportunity to tour the "T", it is an experience you wont regret! The last time she visited, we had upwards of 10K visitors, and this visit will coincide with our towns' annual picnic.

If there is anyone interested in it, let me know.

 

[cucvmule]

Has the USS LST 325 left to cruise the Mississippi as of yet? I would Absolutely Enjoy Watching it go by Crystal City Mo. And then to Chester Ill. to visit the Tour with Family and Friends! I MUST Spread the Scuttlebutt.

 

[54reo]

It went past Chester this last Saturday on the way up the river (Aug 18th) and it is currently in Dubuque.

You can follow the ship's location while underway through this link: https://aprs.fi/#!call=a%2FWW2LST&timerange=3600&tail=3600

 

[54reo]

Some pics from the last time.

 

[54reo]

 

[cucvmule]

Awesome, Yep Thanks for the Photo's. I went to the USS 325 Web site last night. Spent a couple hours reading all the ships logs and assorted information. Seems that I do quite a bit of reading. Right now reading combat action reports of B-17 flights over Europe,
and Aircraft Crash Reports from the German Luftwaffe.

I hope that I get to Watch the LST as 325 Cruises downriver. The current will give me maybe 5 minutes to view from riverside. Going up river, more viewing.

I would like to see the engine room if all possible.

In St. Louis there used to be a Minesweeper, the USS Inaugural until the flood of 93' broke the mooring lines, hit some barges and sank the vessel. The vessel was in good condition and for a for 530 tons had quite the armament.

 

[54reo]

The LST will be arriving in Chester tomorrow.

Over 400 WWII vets have visited the ship in the last two stops.

16,620 toured the ship in Dubuque the weekend before last; I don’t yet know the numbers for last weekend at Bettendorf/Quad Cities.

Anyone interested in coming down to see it?

 

[cucvmule]

Gee Wiz I wanted to see the LST underway and missed the chance.

 

[cucvmule]

Will be down to see the LST 325 this weekend. Good thing I decided to check in, with my health taking a dive these last couple weeks, it has been trying to say the least.

Thanks for the reminder 54reo.

 

[cucvmule]

Wow have we had some RAIN here in Missouri. I am sure that Chester has had some also 54reo? The Mississippi I am sure is on the Rise. I will get an early start to get to Chester to see the LST, and Camp Chester on Sunday.

Hope to see some members there!