Godert enjoys working on LST-325

When the LST-325 World War II ship was docked in Hannibal during the summer of 2008, Larry Godert’s wife, Phyllis, knew he would enjoy working on it and signed him up for a work week.
“I spent a week working to repair the ship, welding new water lines in and changing pipes for the fire system,” Godert said. This was in Evansville, Ind., where the ship is home-ported.
During that trip, Godert said, “I talked to the men, and they invited me on the shakedown cruise the following week to Paducah, Ky. Later we took another cruise to Jeffersonville, Ind.
“On the ship it’s a lot of fun, talking to people,” he said. “I like to talk.”
Godert also is a member of the LST-325 Ship Memorial Inc., explaining that “everybody who joins the memorial owns part of the ship. We have dues every year. That helps maintain the ship.”
After working as an electrician and welder at the Continental Cement plant for 20 years, Godert retired in November 2008. This left him free to join the LST-325 crew, where he is now a tour guide and also is a member of the ship’s operating crew.
As the ship travels and gives tours, he said, it attracts the most people on weekends. “During the weekends, we put about 1,500 a day through.”
This week Godert is on board, helping prepare the ship for winter. Godert has taken several trips this year.
“Once you are crew member if you want to go, you are eligible,” he said. “It takes 80 hours of work on the ship to become a crew member.” Wives sometimes travel on the ship, but his wife, Phyllis, has not been on a trip yet, although she hopes to in the future.
“It’s a wonderful experience,” Godert said. “And you do not have to be a veteran to get on. You have to be willing to work. And on a cruise we get our meals and a place to sleep.”
He would recommend this lifestyle to anyone interested in these historic ships, regardless of their skills, noting, “it takes people of all kinds of work experience to run this ship.”

Ship built in 1942
The LST-325 was built in Pittsburgh, Pa., in 1942, and there were 1,052 LSTs built during World War II, Godert said. It is a landing vessel, built to carry tanks. The largest part holds 20 Sherman tanks.
It landed at Normandy on D-Day, June 12, 1944. This was one of 45 trips from England to France it made during the war. The ship carried 400 men, plus their equipment. It was equipped with guns to defend it against aircraft attacks, including side by side 40 millimeter guns to shoot at aircraft.
The ship is powered by two General Motors 12 cylinder 900 HP locomotive diesel engines, which Godert said are like train engines - 328 feet long and 50 feet wide.
After World War II the LST-325 was used at Greenland, and later was given to the Greek Navy, Godert explained. “The Greek navy owned it for 30 years, then in about  2001,” it was brought back. The crew that was returning it had to repair the ship before they could bring it back, then on the way back they had to stop and repair it again. “When it was brought back it was to Mobile, but the people of Evansville built it a million dollar docking,” which gave the ship a permanent home.
Godert, who is very happy to be part of the ship’s crew, said, “what we are trying to do is promote and keep alive the spirit of the guys that served on LSTs and worked on them, and the men and women that built them.”
Godert also is a military veteran. A native of hannibal, He joined Naval Reserve in 1964 as a high school student. In 1966, he began two years of active duty. First he was aboard the USS Albany CG10, a guided missile cruiser, then he was transferred to the USS Springfield, a CLG7, a lighter guided missile cruiser.
During the Vietnam War, he was stationed in the Mediterranean. He was discharged in 1970.
In addition to his career as an electrician and welder, he has been doing chair caning since 1981, traveling to fairs and participating in local festivals.
He describes his craft as hand caning, “using natural rattan, a natural cane from the Orient. I also use hickory for old style hickory chairs, like the pioneers did when they went west.”