Beaching Exercise Pictures

Donated by Dr. Erwin Samuelson

In the hold of the Wexford on the beaching exercises

Wexford on the beach off-loading troops

Wexford on the beach off-loading a tank

Wexford on the beach off-loading trucks

Dr. Samuelson joined the Wexford County in January of 1960 and left Long Beach, CA about 
1 February for Hawaii, Japan, and Korea.   He was the Medical Officer for Landing Ship Squadron 7.  
There were about six ships, each with a corpsman  He said those guys ran the show.

In March 1960, at Kaohsiung, Formosa, they participated in the largest amphibious landing since 
WWII.  Operation BLUE STAR was a five-day amphibious exercise on the southern part 
of Formosa. Under the protective cover of Marine and Chinese aircraft, joint forces of 
combat-ready U. S. and Chinese Nationalist Marines assaulted the beaches of Formosa in one 
of the largest ship-to-shore war games in the Western Pacific area since World War II.  
[See link:  http://www.grunts.net/usmc/9thmarines4.html]  
The pictures posted here are from this operation.

Although he served on the Wexford County for only eight months, he ultimately served our country 
in the US Navy for 6 years, 8 months, and 23 days, from 1954 to 1960.  You can reach him
 at this email address:  DrErwin@aol.com  

He has many more photos from his tour that don't include the ship and he is always full of stories.

Thank you, Dr. Samuelson, for submitting these pictures!