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Originally Posted by daepp
A quick get-away to NOLA for a nearby annual family reunion and then the Gulf Coast.
First stop, the National WWII Museum. I’ve been trying to get here for several years. And I don’t know why it’s in the Big Easy, but many of the famous landing craft - so crucial to our invasion of Europe - were built here by a guy who’d been successful building shallow draft boats for the swamps.
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And they were built because a US Marine named Victor "Brute" Krulak, had witnessed the Japanese landings in China, took pictures with telephoto lense.. they got filed as "sent in by some Nut in China"
Krulak built a model of the Japanese boat design and discussed the retractable ramp approach with boat builder Andrew Higgins who then took the ramp idea into the Higgins boat.
good book called Brute
And after WW2 he was instrumental in doing early adoption of Helictopers to hte USMC
Chesty Puller gave the Marines Infantry training, motivation and inspiration, Krulak gave them the Amphibious and Air Assault capabilities they have today.
His son later became USMC Commandant.