LST 1061

Shipmates from the World War II landing ship LST 1061 (pictured above) have been holding reunions since 1987. This past weekend, the reunion was held at the Gaffney home of Roy Bradley. In bottom photo, from left, are: Wayne Smith of Winston-Salem, N.C., Bradley, Glenn Hoffner of Salisbury, N.C., and William Field, of Carrier Mills, Ill. Absent from photo was shipmate Paul Lyke, who traveled to the reunion from Kalamazoo, Mich. Leafing through a binder of photographs, Roy Bradley and his shipmates all smiled at how they once looked.

They were all just young men when their ship, LST 1061, made its way across the Pacific Ocean in 1945. Every one of the black and white photos showed sailors with thick hair and thin waistlines, full of vim and vigor.

While they may look a little different today, their memories of their service aboard LST 1061 remain vivid despite the passage of 64 years.

On Saturday, Bradley hosted the annual reunion of LST 1061 shipmates at his Gaffney home.

After decades without contact with each other, a former shipmate of Bradley took it upon himself to organize a reunion and they've been doing it ever since for the past 24 years.

The event has not only become a cherished one for the former shipmates, but also for their families who often accompany them.

William Field drove 610 miles with his family from their home in Carrier Mills, Ill.

Paul Lyke, 91, who hadn't attended an LST 1061 reunion before, came the farthest, traveling from Kalamazoo, Mich.

As expected with the passage of time, however, the ranks of reunion attendees has been thinning over the years. Fifteen men and their families showed up for the first reunion in 1987 and subsequent events have attracted more than 20. This year, however, there were only five crew members who could make the trip.

Many crew members were represented, however, if only in spirit. Inez McClure, of Marion, N.C., started attending the reunions with her husband, Carl, and still attends them on his behalf.

LST 1061 was a landing ship commissioned in 1945. While it never had a name, it has never been forgotten by those who served aboard.

It's ultimate job would have been to land equipment onto the beaches during the planned invasion of Japan during World War II.

Crew members referred to LST-type ships as "long, slow targets."

Luckily for LST 1061, her crew, and all the men fighting the war in the Pacific theater, a bloody invasion of Japan was never needed after two atomic bombs brought an end to the war.

LST 1061 didn't escape from the war unscathed. In October 1945, the relatively small vessel with a crew of about 112 rode out a typhoon with 120- knot winds and 50 feethigh waves. It lost one of its bow doors in the storm and took on water, but stayed afloat.

The ship was decommissioned in 1946 and was later used to transport oil. The crew members are unsure what happened to their ship after that.

While the reunion gives old friends an opportunity to reunite, share some laughs and good food, it also gives them an opportunity to share great stories.

"My wife used to say I told a lot of lies until I got to meeting with these boys," Bradley said with a smile.

His wife learned, he said, that all of the shipmates shared the same stories of their service in World War II.