Flat-Bottom Odyssey

Seneca Shipyard Days 2012

admin — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 01:37:55 +0000

The Seneca Shipyard Days Festival is a yearly gathering to celebrate the city’s contributions to the World War II effort. In 1942, Seneca was chosen by Congress as one of a few places in the US that had access to a major waterway and had a solid sandstone base that was strong enough to hold the great weight of the steel. During the entirety of the war, 157 LST’s were manufactured in Seneca, making it one of the top five cities in America for LST production.

The festival will run from Wednesday, June 22nd through Sunday, June 26th and will include live bands, history exhibits, carnivals, a bean bag tournament, and an LST manufacturing presentation.

Gene and Florence will be at the festival on Friday June 24th, Gene to say hi and sign books and Florence to display pictures, maps and books.

Round Table Discussion

admin — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 02:32:02 +0000

Flat-Bottom Odyssey will be the subject of a round table discussion at the Geneva History Center on Thursday, November 7th at 7PM. Gene will be there to meet with everyone and will be signing the book. More information can be found at the Geneva Patch.

Labor Day 2011

admin — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 20:24:54 +0000

The last LST in operation made a special trip from its home of Evansville, IN to make a stop in Henry, IL for Labor Day weekend. The LST 325 made dozens of trips between England and France carrying soldiers and supplies and tanks across the channel.

Gene and his wife Florence and their family made the trip a couple of blocks from their home to where it was docked and enjoyed a tour of the boat and the Labor Day festivities.

A more detailed history of the LST can be found at www.lstmemorial.org

A Talk with the Geneva Republican

admin — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 03:38:27 +0000

Gene sat down with Renee Tomell from mysuburbanlife.com and the Geneva Republican to talk about the book. Here is an excerpt from that interview:

How did you approach the book?

It’s not about the glamour of battle. It’s about a bunch of civilians being handed a dirty job, and it’s approached from that point of view. (There’s a) certain level of humor. It isn’t a grisly thing.

You originally planned to be a flier?

I went in to join the Navy Air Force. Due to a problem with depth perception, I was turned down. Being a college graduate, I was eligible for officer training (and was) put into a special class for men training for office jobs and public relations. Through a quirk, I ended up on the deck of the LST (Landing Ship, Tanks) as a watch officer.

You can read the interview in its entirety here.