QM3 JAMES C. RICHARDS, USN   1944 - 1946

BRIEF HISTORY OF USS LST (Landing Ship, Tank) 720-SERVICE IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC WORLD WAR II

James C. Richards, QM3C, served aboard the USS LST 720 from its launching, in Jeffersonville, Indiana, until it was mothballed following World War II.

The crew boarded LST 720 on August 29, 1944 and on the 30th began the trip down the Ohio for New Orleans. After a shakedown cruise the ship left the continental limits of the USA on October 6, manned by a crew of 125 sailors and officers.

On October 20, after passing through the Panama Canal and  while enroute to Brisbane, Australia, King Neptune and his Royal Party boarded LST 720. All Pollywogs, including Jim Richards, were initiated into the Solemn Mysteries of the Ancient Order of the Deep, a ceremony, honored by the Navy, for those sailors who are passing over the Equator for the first time. They arrived at Espirito Santo in the New Hebrides on November 18.

While at Hollandia, New Guinea the ship prepared for combat and the invasion of Lingayen Gulf

On the 26th of December, they arrived in Biak and began loading aviation engineer personnel who were veterans of thirty months in the Pacific and set sail for the Lingayen Gulf on January 4, 1945. On the 12th of January, just off Manila, the convoy was attacked by twelve Japanese planes-eight were shot down. A single suicide plane crashed into a liberty ship in the convoy. On January 13, the ship arrived in Lingayen Gulf under an air raid. On the following night the ship beached and unloaded troops.

On January 18, the ship set sail for Leyte. It arrived in San Pedro Bay, Philippines on .January 23 under fire. On Wednesday, February 7, 1945, the ship left for Lingayen Gulf and while in route was attacked by enemy submarines. LST 577 was hit amidships by two Japanese torpedoes and sunk in minutes. While lying in San Pedro Bay, Navy men were boarded and an LCT (Landing Craft, Tank) 698 was taken in tow and cast off before the ship anchored in Lingayen Gulf. The Army and Navy personnel were unloaded and a group of Army troops were taken aboard who were homeward bound.

While underway to Leyte the ship again came under numerous submarine attacks. The ship arrived in Leyte on February 27. On March 2nd they went to Bulusao Waterhole, Samar then returned to Leyte anchoring off White Beach, where we unloaded the Army troops. During the rest of March LST 720 sailed between San Pedro Bay, Manila, and Leyte transporting an Army Engineer Company, a Naval Beach Party, Photo Squadron, Service Squad, Signal Company, and a Photo Reconnaissance Group.

On April 13, the National Ensign was lowered to half-mast in mourning for President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

LST 720 was involved in numerous sailings and landings throughout the Philippines and New Guinea areas of operations from April through July 1945.

On August 8 the first atomic bomb was dropped on Japan. The Russians declared war two days later and the Japanese offered to sign a peace treaty. On Wednesday, August 14, the Japanese accepted the Allied Nations surrender terms and San Pedro Bay ships celebrated as if the 4th of July. On August 20, the first four men were transferred for discharge on the Navy point system.

On September 2, 1945, the peace treaty was signed on the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. There was another celebration that night. On September 13 the ship was back in Manila Bay.

After the war, LST 720 participated in the occupation of Jinsen (Inchon), Korea from September 27 to November 24, 1945. The ship repatriated civilians from Japan to Korea and from Japan to China. The ship participated in repatriating Japanese from Taka and Tsingtao, China from December to February, 1946. The ship also trained Chinese to take over the LSTs. This entire time was spent in the China Sea.

On May 16 the ship began the return trip to the United States, manned by a crew of 17, docking at Bremerton, Washington. LST 720 had served for 19 continuous months outside the continental United States.

QM3c James C. Richards was honorably discharged on June 5, 1946 having received the Asiatic Pacific Area Campaign Medal, the American Area Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal, and the Philippine Liberation Medal.