This is a Landing Craft, Vehicle and Personnel, short LCVP, or “Higgins Boat” named after its designer Andrew Higgins. The LCVP landing craft was used to its full potential and in large numbers during the many Allied amphibious landings throughout all the theaters of World War Two. Constructed from plywood the boot had a very shallow draft and could carry 36 soldiers and gear to shore at a speed of 17 km/h (9 knots). During the landing the men could exit the boat by charging down the lowered ramp on the bow.
More than 23,358 were built, by Higgins Industries and licensees and only a few are left today.
In the late 1980s former workers from Higgins built at leas 8 of these boats the same way the originals were made. The wood used was mahogany. Two or more were used in the movie Saving Private Ryan.
During 1943, the last months, my grandparents who lived in Jackson, Mississippi, moved to New Orleans to work at the Higgins company. My Grandfather, Norman Arnold McKinnon, who had been a submarine sonar operator, one of the first in history aboard the submarine K2, an American submarine. I note the K Class of which there were 6, as American because the British had their own, different K Class submarines at the same time. Because of his prior service in the Navy, he was made and officer in the Volunteer Merchant Marine. His job was commanding officer on the night watch over the many piers that were necessary to Higgins Industries. My Grandmother, Rhue Nolan McKinnon, was the chief stenographer to Mr. Higgins until the war ended. Then they moved back to Jackson.
When I was born and until I was four, nearly five, my parents lived with my grandparents. When we moved we only moved a mile away, but then after three years we moved to a town 80 miles away. Then we moved back into my grandparents house while she was in the last stages of terminal cancer. After her death my dad bought the house and I lived there until I went away to college. During all this time, there were photos on the walls of my grandfather’s drawing room of Higgins, his boats and of the battleship ship New Hampshire that my grandfather had served on before going into the submarine corps. In addition there were PT boat lapel pins, WW2 volunteer Red Cross lapel pens, other lapel pins for Higgins and for the Navy, plus several publications from Higgins. In one of the books printed by Higgins, I learned that for every PT boat, there was a non military short wave radio donated by Mr. Higgins so that the crew could listen to radio news and music without interfering with the military radios.