Today, I salute Navy Veteran Lawrence Dukes. Lawrence is a retired U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr, former reactor operator aboard the Dwight D. Eisenhower, and a U.S. Coast Guard licensed Master. However, it is his most recent accomplishment that is getting him all the attention these days. He is the owner of Dubuque, a 36-foot surplus U.S. Navy Landing Craft Personnel Light that once served aboard the Dubuque (LPD-8), which was decommissioned in 2006. Back in 2018, he found it on eBay, covered in rust in a surplus yard in Del Rio, Texas, along the Rio Grande. It was in bad shape — most of the engine missing, no windows, no cleats, no railing. It had been stripped, and he and his friends were making bets, wondering if he’d ever get it in the water. Whoever took those bets lost because after years of painstaking, loving restoration, Dubuque is back in the water at Green Cove Springs Marina in Florida. Thank you for restoring history, Lawrence, and THANK YOU for your service.
