World War II Veteran
Llewellyn F Sprague
1924 - 2013

Interviewed by:

Brenna Treese & Madison LeBlanc

"We never knew what we were going to get until we were alongside the ship."
~ Llewellyn Sprague (00:04:25)

Llewelynn Sprague's Story:

"Llewelynn 'Skee' Sprague." When someone says this name, they're talking about a hero. Skee was born in Readsboro, Vermont, on July 18, 1924. When he was 17, he made the brave decision to enlist in the U.S. Navy. His High School had a program, allowing Skee to enlist under the age of 18. After going through boot camp in New York, he was assigned to a warship called a Destroyer. He traveled to Norfolk, Virginia to get on the USS Cooper, but got the measles. When he got out of the hospital after 2 weeks, he was told the war ship was gone. He was then sent to the OGU, outgoing unit, and was told he would be in the amphibious force. The new boat Skee was assigned to was the an LCT. He was a quartermaster signalman. It was his job to take the wheel of the ship and steer it into the beach. The ship would hold cargo, but they didn't know what type of cargo it was until it got to the boat. During his service, his ship was hit on the beach in Iwo Jima, which Skee describes as his most vivid memory of the war. He watched one of his friends get blown up when they were attacked. Something else the Skee really disliked was having to drive over all the dead bodies in his ship while trying to get to shore. When he told someone about this, they said, the men in the water are dead, they don't care anymore.

While Skee was on a LSD, the ship was caught on fire, and his foot was injured. Everyday his foot would get blacker, and the color traveled up his leg. When he went to the hospital, he thought the doctor was going to have to cut his foot off. His doctor fixed him up though, allowing Skee to go home to his family, who he hadn't seen in 3 years. Once home, Skee did not want to see or talk to anyone, he was sick and weak. When he was finally better and no longer bed-ridden his parents made him go out to see people. He didn't want to but when he did, he met a girl to whom which he had not seen in almost 5 years. They started to talk and soon became inseparable. About a year and a half later they got married.