In this issue of Naval History we commemorate the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II in an unorthodox way. Instead of concentrating on the final climactic events of the Pacific War, we are using the occasion to reflect, from a Sea Services perspective, on certain aspects of the entire conflict.
We were fortunate to get historian Richard B. Frank, author of Guadalcanal and Downfall, to write on short notice our World War II package's centerpiece article, which focuses on an underappreciated aspect of the war. Led by the U.S. sea services, amphibious warfare came of age during World War II and, according to Frank, was the Western Allies' key to victory. To lend a Marine private's "hitting-the-beach" perspective to his sweeping article, we include an account by the late Eugene Sledge of his D-day landing on Peleliu. Sledge, of course, wrote the classic combat book With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa, but this recollection was excerpted from his 1994 Proceedings article.
Private Sledge's article leads into a second feature of our World War II coverage: the experiences of U.S. sea servicemen—specifically seven accounts that each focus on a veteran's enduring recollection, an event that he clearly recalled decades after the war. While most of these accounts were culled from Naval Institute or Marine Corps Historical Center oral histories, Alvin Kernan and Henry Pyzdrowski provided us with their recollections.
By coincidence, I had a personal brush with amphibious warfare and World War II veterans shortly before finishing this issue of Naval History. The LST-325 was visiting nearby Alexandria, Va., and I toured her. Revolutionary amphibious vessels, LSTs (Landing Ships, Tank) could land on enemy beaches, open their great bow doors, and disgorge up to 20 Sherman tanks or 600 tons of supplies. As you may recall, the LST-325 was in Greek service when the USS Ship Memorial acquired her in 2000 and a group of veterans sailed her back to the United States. She now serves as a museum dedicated to the men who served on LSTs. (For information about how you can help keep the LST-325 afloat, visit www.lstmemorial.org.)
I met one of those veterans when I stepped aboard the ship. My guide, Bruce Palmer, was a Coast Guard seaman in the LST-782 during World War II. After we toured the 325, Bruce shared some of his war recollections with me. He vividly recalled a kamikaze diving toward his LST off Iwo Jima and fireworks over Pearl Harbor when the Japanese surrender was announced. But Bruce's clearest recollection is more personal—learning that he was being transferred to the Coast Guard Radio Station in Alexandria, where his beloved identical twin, Bill, was stationed.
We also mark two other anniversaries in this issue. The wrap-up of our Barbary War bicentennial coverage gives us the chance to welcome to the pages of Naval History Dr. William M. Fowler Jr., who provides a reflective overview of the U.S. Navy's war against Tripoli. Commander Tyrone G. Martin, who is well known to Naval History readers, also contributes a history of the United States' oldest military memorial—the Tripoli Monument. Commander Henry J. Hendrix II, meanwhile, marks the centennial of the Portsmouth Navy Yard peace talks that resulted in the end of the Russo-Japanese War with his insightful article about President Theodore Roosevelt's role in the proceedings.
Lastly, I would like to extend sincere best wishes to Fred L. Schultz, Naval History's former editor. Fred and founding editor Paul Stillwell are largely responsible for building the magazine into the premier outlet for great naval writing and research. I look forward to continuing the tradition of excellence that they established.
—Richard G. Latture, Editor-in-Chief