World War II Veteran–Melvin Troutman
D-Days in the South Pacific Article and Photos by Linda B. Wilson
Photos: Left–WWII Veteran Melvin Troutman with his watercolor painting of an LCT
Above–A photo of Melvin in his uniform
Melvin Troutman did not storm the Normandy beach in 1944; however, every island landing in the South Pacific was a D-Day, and Melvin was present for many of them. In the spring of 1943, Melvin Troutman was a recent Cool Spring High School graduate. “I was drafted into the military, but I was ready to go anyway. I wanted to do my part, so I would have enlisted,” Melvin says. “I was just a kid who had hardly been out of Iredell County, so to me, it was an adventure. They gave me a choice between the Marines and the Navy. I thought to be a Marine you had to be a big strong boy, and I was just a skinny little kid, so I chose the Navy,” Melvin laughs. “Not knowing how to swim was a little concern, but I learned in boot camp.” Boot camp took Melvin to Bainbridge, Maryland; after that to Norfolk, and then west to Mare Island near San Francisco. In those days, Melvin says it took seven days by train from the east coast to San Francisco. “When we got to Brisbane, Australia, we had to assemble the LCT, the landing craft tank. That tank was my home for almost three years,” he recalls. “I 22
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went from Australia to New Guinea and other islands in the South Pacific. To an Iredell County boy, all this was a shock. I saw General McArthur in the Philippines. These ships provided everything from food and medical supplies to tanks and equipment. Many times, we were the first to land on the beach. We were the support men, but we were attacked a few times, too.” The LCT, as Melvin knew it during World War II, was initially developed for the British Royal Navy and first called TLC, for tank landing craft. In 1940, Winston Churchill demanded an amphibious vessel capable of landing heavy tanks on the beach. “Let there be built great ships which can cast upon a beach, in any weather, large numbers of the heaviest tanks.” Initially designed to transport tanks in Europe, the United States later used them to transport everything. The all-welded, 372-ton steel-hulled vessel could transport up to 136 tons of cargo. While they were mostly used during World War II, the U.S. referred to them as LCTs and continued with their use in Korea and Vietnam under different designations.