Saturday Night Genealogy Fun -- Describe An Ancestor/Relative's Activities

 Calling all Genea-Musings Fans: 

It's Saturday Night again - 

Time for some more Genealogy Fun!!

Come on, everybody, join in and accept the mission and execute it with precision. 

1)  Do you know what activities one of your ancestors/relatives engaged in?  How much detail do you know about those activities?

2)  Use the FREE artificial intelligence tool Google Gemini 3 to describe what your ancestor or relative experienced in his/her activities (e.g., military service, a ship they migrated on, an occupation, an office they held, etc.). 

3)  Share your ancestor/relative's activity of interest and description of their experiences in your own blog post, or in a Facebook, SubStack, BlueSky or other social media post.  Leave a link to your post on this blog post to help us find your post.

Here's mine:

My uncle, Edward R. Seaver (1913-2004) served in the United States Navy during World War II.  I found information about his service on a landing craft in the Pacific, and wondered what he experienced.  I knew nothing about him except he was in San Diego in early 1944 and was in charge of  LCI 728 in 1944-1945.

I asked Google Gemini 3 "What activities did LCI 728 participate in during World War II?"

The response from Gemini 3 was:

The USS LCI(L)-728 (later converted to the gunboat LCI(G)-728) was a "Landing Craft Infantry" vessel that served primarily in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Unlike many other LCIs that were famous for the D-Day landings in Normandy, the 728’s legacy is tied to the "Island Hopping" campaign against Japan.

Here is the breakdown of its service and eventual fate:

1. Conversion to a Gunboat

Originally built as a troop carrier designed to beach itself and offload soldiers via side ramps, the vessel was reclassified as LCI(G)-728 (the "G" standing for Gunboat) in mid-1944.

• The Upgrade: Its troop-carrying space was reduced to make room for heavy armament, including 40mm and 20mm anti-aircraft guns, .50-caliber machine guns, and ten Mk 7 rocket launchers.

• The Mission: Instead of just carrying troops, its job was to provide "close-in" fire support, screaming toward the shore just ahead of the first wave of landing craft to blast enemy beach defenses with rockets and shells.

2. Major Operations (1944–1945)

The LCI(G)-728 earned one battle star for its service. Its most notable activities included:

• Palau Islands Campaign (September – October 1944): The 728 operated in the Western Caroline Islands during the capture of the Southern Palau Islands. It provided fire support and patrolled the waters near islands like Peleliu and Angaur, which saw some of the most brutal fighting in the Pacific.

• Rescue and Assistance: On January 18, 1945, the 728 was recorded in the Western Carolines rushing to assist its sister ship, the LCI(G)-396, which had been heavily damaged.

3. Final Fate: Typhoon Louise

The ship survived the war but met a tragic end shortly after the Japanese surrender. In October 1945, while stationed near Iwo Jima, the 728 was caught in Typhoon Louise.

• The massive storm, which featured winds over 100 mph and 60-foot waves, wreaked havoc on the fleet anchored in the Pacific.

• The LCI(G)-728 ran aground on a reef and was subsequently sunk by the storm.

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Needless to say, I didn't know these details.  Ed's children, my cousins, knew about some of his military experiences, and he had shared some of it with me, but I had no written summary of it. Uncle Ed met some of the LCI(G) 396 crew members that LCI 728 had saved at a reunion in the 1980s.

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Copyright (c) 2026, Randall J. Seaver

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