The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Theron MacKay. MacKay was born in Providence, Rhode Island 13 July 1924 and joined the Navy in June 1943. After completing boot camp at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center, Illinois, he was sent to Solomons, Maryland for amphibious training. He received four weeks of training in the duties of each member of a boat crew in various types of large landing craft and graduated as a qualified Coxswain. He then went aboard the USS Samuel Chase (APA-26) for more training. Upon completion, he was assigned to the USS Dorothea L. Dix (AP-67) and participated in the landing in North Africa on 8 November 1942. Upon returning to the US, MacKay reported aboard USS LST-342. After being outfitted with various guns, they departed in March 1943, along with twelve other LSTs, for the Solomon Islands. USS LST-342 was torpedoed by Japanese submarine Ro-106. The explosion blew the ship in half and only five of the 86-man crew survived. Over fifty of the soldiers on board were killed. MacKay was wounded and taken to a field hospital on Guadalcanal for emergency treatment and then to the Noumea, New Caledonia …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Theron MacKay. MacKay was born in Providence, Rhode Island 13 July 1924 and joined the Navy in June 1943. After completing boot camp at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center, Illinois, he was sent to Solomons, Maryland for amphibious training. He received four weeks of training in the duties of each member of a boat crew in various types of large landing craft and graduated as a qualified Coxswain. He then went aboard the USS Samuel Chase (APA-26) for more training. Upon completion, he was assigned to the USS Dorothea L. Dix (AP-67) and participated in the landing in North Africa on 8 November 1942. Upon returning to the US, MacKay reported aboard USS LST-342. After being outfitted with various guns, they departed in March 1943, along with twelve other LSTs, for the Solomon Islands. USS LST-342 was torpedoed by Japanese submarine Ro-106. The explosion blew the ship in half and only five of the 86-man crew survived. Over fifty of the soldiers on board were killed. MacKay was wounded and taken to a field hospital on Guadalcanal for emergency treatment and then to the Noumea, New Caledonia …