Through his journal entries, von der Osten takes us with him to war, from his training days in the newly created amphibious force, to practice beachings on the Chesapeake Bay; from the ports of North Africa and the United Kingdom, to the hostile shores of Sicily, Salerno, and Normandy. All the while serving as a radioman aboard this new kind of ship, the landing ship, tank.

Yet LST 388 is not just a sailor's story but the story of a great landing ship, a ship that would sail with the largest armada in history during the invasion of Sicily. A ship that would take three tries to beach at the hostile shore at Salerno, under heavy gunfire. A ship that would land troops on both Omaha Beach and Utah Beach at Normandy.

LST 388 is one man's honest accounting of the days leading up to war and what he experienced and witnessed while there. Part narrative, part journal entries, this is an account of history as it was being made.