April 23, 1944 Charleston, South Carolina
LST 34, 242 and 243 followed a wooden hull minesweeper through the sanitized channel. Just east of Fort Sumter, another half dozen LSTs took station. An hour outside the harbor, a pair of gunboats as well as a trio of subchasers joined the small sub-convoy. By nightfall the fifteen ships had returned to the harbor after embarkation and assault training had revealed flaws in the combat loading of the equipment.
The quartermasters and bosuns aboard the assault and cargo ships engaged in complex negotiations and re-arrangements with the sergeants and majors of the infantry division that was a follow-on division and part of the army's floating reserve. They needed some items to be the first things off any ship. Those alterations were simple and straightforward. The challenge was prioritizing cargo, supplies and vehicles that needed to be on the beach by the fifth day. These crates and boxes could sometimes just be switched with other boxes. Other challenges emerged as the balance of the expedient landing craft could soon be off and the bow would dig too deeply into the water if the waves were greater than those of a bathtub. More than a few chiefs shouted down majors, more than a few sergeants threatened violence against ensigns. By mid-morning most of the disputes had been resolved and the arduous labor of moving cargo around could begin.