With each Veterans Day, there are fewer vets left to honor

As an octogenarian, the first things I read in The Vindicator each morning are the obituaries. I look for people that I know as well as count the World War II veterans who are dying. Several weeks ago I found four of these veterans in one week who had been co-workers of mine. Two from Republic Rubber and two from Commercial Intertech. It is a sobering thought, because I know we all have to die.

A best estimate is that at least 1,000 World War II veterans die each day and only about 20 percent of us are still alive.

Researching this column on the Internet, something interesting popped up. Over 1,000 LSTs (Landing Ship Tank) were in service during World War II. I served on U.S.S. (United States Ship) LST 494 and U.S.S. LST 582. They had no names, just numbers. In the 1950s, the U.S. Navy started to assign names of counties to them. The U.S.S. LST 914 became U.S.S. LST Mahoning County. Many of our other ships did have names. Battleships were named after states, cruisers after cities, destroyers after people. Aircraft carriers were given various names, and, last but not least, submarines were assigned names of fish.

Speaking of submarines, in August of 1945 just before V-J Day (Sept. 2, 1945) I witnessed an awesome sight. A pack of 27 of our U.S. Navy submarines were in the harbor of Subic Bay in the Philippine Islands. I didn’t know their names, but they were like a school of fish. Some of the subs had names of many of our popular fish such as Bluegill, Catfish, Cod, Flounder, Haddock, Perch, etc. A most appropriate name for one of our subs was Piranha. We had a mighty fleet and I am proud to have served in it.

I have been wearing my baseball caps, proclaiming U.S.S. LST 582, U.S. Navy, WWII for years. They are attention getters and I have received many comments, including: “Thank you for your service.”

X Michael J. LaCivita, a Youngstown retiree, in an inductee in the Ohio Senior Citizens Hall of Fame and Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame.