USS Freestone Memorial - Fairfield, TX - World War II Memorials / Monuments on Waymarking.com

A small monument dedicated to the crew of the USS Freestone (APA-167) can be found on the Southwest corner of the Freestone County Courthouse grounds in Fairfield, TX (the county seat of Freestone County). No additional details can be found about this small monument on the web, but it was likely set up as the ship's name coincided with that of the county. Per WarMemorial.us, Freestone County suffered 45 casualties during WWII.

Below are some pertinent facts about the USS Freestone, per Wikipedia:

"USS Freestone (APA-167) was a Haskell-class attack transport acquired by the U.S. Navy during World War II for the task of transporting troops to and from combat areas. It was launched 9 October 1944 by Oregon Shipbuilding Corp., Portland, Oregon; sponsored by Mrs. Arthur R. Ponto; and commissioned 9 November 1944, Captain C. L. Carpenter in command.

Landing troops on Saipan and on Okinawa: Freestone arrived at Pearl Harbor 14 January 1945 with passengers and cargo from the U.S. West Coast, and 6 days later sailed to land troops from Pearl Harbor on Saipan. Moving on to Ulithi, Freestone loaded U.S. Marines and their equipment and sailed to Leyte for intensive training in preparation for the Okinawa landings. She sortied from Leyte Gulf 27 March, remained in the outer transport area during the assault on 1 April, then moved close inshore to land her men in one of the later waves of landing craft. Next day she splashed a lone enemy aircraft, and on 7 April she was underway with casualties for Guam.

End-of-war operations: Continuing to San Francisco, California, Freestone arrived 11 May 1945 to embark soldiers and sailors for transportation to Manila, arriving 12 June. She voyaged to New Guinea to bring more soldiers to Manila, then sailed for the U.S. west coast with homeward bound servicemen. On two cruises to the western Pacific Ocean between 4 August and 23 December, she redeployed men and equipment in the Philippines and to Japan from various bases, returning from both cruises with servicemen eligible for discharge."

Property Permission: Public Access instructions: The Freesone County Courthouse square is open to the public 24x7 Location of waymark: 118 E Commerce Street Faifield, TX USA 75840 Commemoration: The crew of the USS Freestone (APA-167) Date of Dedication: Not listed Access times: Not listed Website for Waymark: Not listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   07/08/2017 WalksfarTX visited it 04/24/2015 Benchmark Blasterz visited it 12/10/2014 Raven visited it

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