We are raising funds to give the last surviving WWII “Mighty Midget” — a small landing craft support ship that fought at Okinawa — a permanent home worthy of the roughly 10,000 American boys who crewed her class.

Eddie Desmond is 100 years old. His ship is the only one left.

Eddie was 19 when he served as a cook and 20mm anti-aircraft gunner aboard an LCS at the Battle of Okinawa. The Navy built 130 of those small landing craft support ships. Nearly 10,000 young Americans crewed them. 161 were killed in action. Twenty-six ships were sunk. The rest were scrapped after the war. Only one — USS LCS-102 — survives.

LCS-102 came home in 2007 after decades of service in the U.S., Japanese, and Thai navies, and spent nineteen years as a floating museum at Mare Island, California. In March 2026, when our lease there became untenable, the U.S. Maritime Administration welcomed her to a temporary safe berth at the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet. She is well cared for there — but she’s closed to the public, and Suisun is not the end of the story.

We’re the Landing Craft Support Museum Foundation, and we’re working to give her a permanent home — ideally a dry-berth on land, where she can stand for the next hundred years as a memorial to the men who served on her class.

Two ways to help

Donate. Your gift funds the work of finding, securing, and preparing her permanent home — site preparation, the move, restoration, and a memorial honor wall with the names of every LCS sailor we can identify.

Connect us to her future home. We’re exploring locations on the west coast, the east coast, and the Gulf coast. The right home for the last Mighty Midget may come from somewhere we haven’t looked yet. If you know a museum, port, city, veterans’ organization, or anyone who could help, please tell us.

Why donate

Your gift funds the only effort to save the last Mighty Midget. Donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by U.S. law. You’ll receive a receipt upon completion. FEIN: 45-3663429.

Who we are

The Landing Craft Support Museum Foundation is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to preserving USS LCS-102 and honoring the men who served on her class of ship. Learn more at www.usslcs102.org.