French Lick IN: WWII Landing Ships and Bluegrass Music

Ever since Dave’s and my first day in French Lick, visiting Evansville has been at the top of my list.  We both are fascinated by World War II, and Evansville has a WWII troop landing ship (LST). 

Evansville is a port on the Ohio River, near the confluence with the Mississippi.  During WWII, when the whole country mobilized to support the war effort, Evansville built LSTs.

LSTs typically transported 300 to 400 soldiers onto foreign beaches to fight, although they were often over-loaded and sometimes carried up to 700 soldiers.  This LST, which has returned to Evansville as a ship museum, was used during the invasion of Sicily during 1943, and it also carried soldiers from England to the shores of Normandy for D-Day in 1944. 

LSTs were heavily loaded with jeeps, trucks, and tanks, as well as soldiers.  They emptied their cargo right onto the beach

Our guide led us through the bunk areas, mess, and top deck.  He then took us down into the belly of the ship, where military vehicles  were squeezed together, bumper to bumper, ready to roll off onto the sand.

The LST hold was filled with exhibits.

Our guide pointed out this LST on a photo of the armada of ships landing on the Normandy beaches during D-day.
 

Soldiers could ride out of the hold on a truck or jeep, or else climb over the side on a rope ladder.

This display shows a WWII tank, with signs showing major towns in Normandy,

The displays also showed the workers at the Evansville shipyard, including women covering the jobs of the men who were off to war.

We then crossed the Ohio River to visit the Bluegrass Hall of Fame at Owensboro, Kentucky. 

I am fascinated by the development of popular music, and what it says about a country’s culture.  Bluegrass music arose out of Appalachian folk songs.  Bill Walton, once of the founders of bluegrass music, lived near Owensboro.  There is now a major bluegrass music festival in Owensboro each year.

We stopped for dinner at Owensboro’s main barbecue restaurant, the Moonlite Bar-B-Q Inn, which is renowned for its buffet of 20 barbecue “sides”, as well as for its barbecued mutton.  Dave and I passed on the mutton and the buffet wasn’t open when we stopped for supper at 3:30.  We just ordered plates of ribs and brisket.  No problem.  Any barbecue, any time, is a treat for me.