Local author publishes tribute to unsung heroes
Cleaning out her father’s house after he died in 2005, Donna Hanson and her brother stumbled on the story of his life in the form of a battered briefcase under a table on the back deck.
Inside the briefcase they found lots of familiar items including the scrabble board they had used for many evening games and family photos. They also found an address book with contacts from all phases of her father’s varied career. Then they found an envelope with 64 black and white photographs of the crew of the LST 374 taken during World War II.
Hanson didn’t know too much about her father’s war-time service. Like many other WWII vets, he didn’t talk about it, so she sent for his military records and started a research project that ended with a book she titled “Heroes All.”
People don’t know about the battles that took place near north Africa and the sea around Italy, but ships like the LST 374 were essential, she said. Their work began before the United States was actually in the war.
LST stands for landing ship, tank. An LST is about as long as a football field and about 50 feet wide, Hanson explained. They were used to haul equipment as big as tanks and were nicknamed “large slow target” and sometimes, if the landing didn’t go well, “large stranded target.”
Donald Richard Hanson was among the original crew of LST 374 which makes him a “plank owner” according to naval terminology.
He had enlisted at 16 by lying about his age. By the time the LST 374 was launched he was 19 years old and trained as a signalman. The ship and it’s crew saw battle several times during that first voyage in 1943.
On June 6, 1944, the LST 374 left Port Smith, England, with the first load of troops headed for Omaha
Beach and the D-Day Invasion.
While she was researching her father’s time in the service, she was struck by the idea that the crews of ships like the LST’s never got much recognition, even though their work was dangerous and their contribution was essential.
Eventually Hanson’s research took her to the only LST that is still functional. LST 325 is now open for tours in it’s home port of Evansville, Ind. It goes out every year in the early fall and travels rivers to West Virginia. Hanson has dedicated the proceeds of her book to two nonprofits, a veterans group made up of LST crew members and the LST museum.
Hanson’s book reads like fiction. She didn’t want to use the names of the actual plank owners because there’s no way to get their permission and she doesn’t know for sure what actually happened on LST 374. But it’s based on extensive research about the ships and the crews of that era.
There’s no romance, she explained. Ships like the LST did not offer privacy for their crew which was all male. But there are strong bonds and affection between the crew mates who rely on each other for everything, including
their safety.
“I wanted to tell the story about life on the ship. The interaction of sailors during day to day activities and the little bits of heroism,” she explained.
Hanson retired to Bella Vista after a career that included aviation and marketing. She decided to self publish “Heroes All,” because it was faster than finding an agent and publisher. She knew she could do the marketing herself.
She minted her own “challenge coin” to go with the book. A challenge coin is a military tradition that can reward special achievement or prove membership in a specific organization, according to Wikipedia. She explained that sailors sometimes slapped their challenge coins down on a bar when they were off the ship and any sailor who couldn’t produce their own coin had to buy a round of drinks.
It is her first book of fiction, but she’s always been a writer and has published in some professional journals. She has also done some editing. She’s a member of Village Lake Writers and Poets.
The book is available on Amazon, Walmart books and Barnes and Noble. It can be purchased as an audible book, an E book or a regular paper book.