Beaching Exercise Pictures
Donated by Dr. Erwin Samuelson
 |
In the hold of the
Wexford on the beaching exercises
 |
Wexford on the
beach off-loading troops
 |
Wexford on the
beach off-loading a tank
 |
Wexford on the
beach off-loading trucks
Dr.
Samuelson joined the Wexford County in January of 1960 and left Long Beach, CA
about
1 February for Hawaii, Japan, and Korea. He was the Medical Officer
for Landing Ship Squadron 7.
There were about six ships, each with a corpsman He said those guys ran
the show.
In March 1960, at Kaohsiung, Formosa, they participated in the largest
amphibious landing since
WWII. Operation BLUE STAR was a five-day amphibious exercise on the
southern part
of Formosa. Under the protective cover of Marine and Chinese aircraft, joint
forces of
combat-ready U. S. and Chinese Nationalist Marines assaulted the beaches of
Formosa in one
of the largest ship-to-shore war games in the Western Pacific area since World
War II.
[See link: http://www.grunts.net/usmc/9thmarines4.html]
The pictures posted here are from this operation.
Although he served on the Wexford County for only eight months, he ultimately
served our country
in the US Navy for 6 years, 8 months, and 23 days, from 1954 to 1960. You
can reach him
at this email address: DrErwin@aol.com
He has many more photos from his tour that don't include the ship and he is always full of stories.
Thank you, Dr. Samuelson, for submitting these pictures!