|
According to the www.history.navy.mil website, the LST 32 was sold
to the Italian Navy and renamed the "Anteo" (A5306) in late 1962, and served with the Italian Navy until the mid
1980's. In the mid 1980's the Anteo may have been sold to an Italian company. Bruce Carter, the son of Billy Carter
( a World War II combat veteran of the 32), was a Naval Officer on active duty in Somalia in 1988, and while in the town of
Kismayo in southern Somalia, Bruce came across an LST on the beach with its bow doors open and noticed that it was the
same class of ship as that which his father served on in WWII. With the smooth beach and tropical setting, it looked
like a WWII movie set. Upon questioning locals, he found out it was the "banana boat" which regularly took
the Italian-owned Somali Banana Co. product from Southern Somalia back to Italy. In 1988 Somalia was already involved
in a bloody civil war, although it wasn't big news in America until the tragic events of 1993 unfolded. Thus the LST
32, based on circumstantial and speculative evidence, was the last WWII LST to be involved in a war zone.
|
 |
|