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Dave Stutesman-Family
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Stutesman, James Harold, PO3.
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Contact Info
Home Town New Market, Indiana
Last Address Dixon, Illinois
Date of Passing Oct 25, 1988
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
LST - 622 was laid down on 15 March 1944 at Seneca, Ill., by the Chicago Bridge & Iron Co.; launched on 8 June 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Ray Menefee; and commissioned on 26 June 1944. During World War II, LST-622 was assigned to the Asiatic- Pacific theater and participated in the Lingayen Gulf landing in January 1945 and the assault and occupation of Okinawa Gunto from March to June 1945. Following the war, LST- 622 was decommissioned on 14 March 1946 and struck from the Navy list on 12 April that same year. On 13 April 1948, the ship was sold to Kaiser Co., Inc., Seattle, Wash., for scrapping. LST-622 earned two battle stars for World War II
World War II/Asiatic-Pacific Theater/Luzon Campaign (1944-45)
From Month/Year
December / 1944
To Month/Year
April / 1945
Description On December 15, 1944, landings against minimal resistance were made on the southern beaches of the island of Mindoro, a key location in the planned Lingayen Gulf operations, in support of major landings scheduled on Luzon. On January 9, 1945, on the south shore of Lingayen Gulf on the western coast of Luzon, General Krueger's Sixth Army landed his first units. Almost 175,000 men followed across the twenty-mile (32 km) beachhead within a few days. With heavy air support, Army units pushed inland, taking Clark Field, 40 miles (64 km) northwest of Manila, in the last week of January.
Two more major landings followed, one to cut off the Bataan Peninsula, and another, that included a parachute drop, south of Manila. Pincers closed on the city and, on February 3, 1945, elements of the U.S. 1st Cavalry Division pushed into the northern outskirts of Manila and the 8th Cavalry Regiment (organized as infantry) passed through the northern suburbs and into the city itself.
As the advance on Manila continued from the north and the south, the Bataan Peninsula was rapidly secured. On February 16, paratroopers and amphibious units simultaneously assaulted the islet of Corregidor. It was necessary to take this stronghold because troops there can block the entrance of Manila Bay. The Americans needed to establish a major harbor base at Manila Bay to support the expected invasion of Japan, planned to begin on November 1, 1945. Resistance on Corregidor ended on February 27, and then all resistance by the Japanese Empire ceased on August 15, 1945, obviating the need for an invasion of the Japanese Home Islands.
Despite initial optimism, fighting in Manila was harsh. It took until March 3 to clear the city of all Japanese troops, and the Japanese Marines, who fought on stubbornly and refused to either surrender or to evacuate as the Japanese Army had done. Fort Drum, a fortified island in Manila Bay near Corregidor, held out until 13 April, when a team of Army troops went ashore and pumped 3,000 gallons of diesel fuel into the fort, then set off incendiary charges. No Japanese soldiers in Fort Drum survived the blast and fire.
In all, ten U.S. divisions and five independent regiments battled on Luzon, making it the largest American campaign of the Pacific war, involving more troops than the United States had used in North Africa, Italy, or southern France.
