The rusting shell of the 80-year-old Higgins boat, a type of landing craft from the conflict, resurfaced at Shastra Lake, the US Forest Service said on Sunday in a Facebook post.
Officials discovered that the craft has “31-17” marked on its side, which confirmed it was assigned to the transport ship USS Monrovia during World War II.
The ship was the headquarters for famous American General George S. Patton during the 1943 invasion of Sicily, the US Forest Service said.
“(Former President Dwight D.) Eisenhower also was on this ship at that time, and it went on to a further 6 D-Day invasions in the Pacific.”
“It really is quite remarkable how it emerged from the lake with so many stories to tell,” officials said.
“Any ‘restoration’ will be done to preserve as much of the integrity of the boat as possible and will hopefully preserve it in a weathered ‘combat fatigue’ look, and that is how it is intended to be displayed at a museum in Nebraska.”
The cause of the Higgins boat sinking remains unknown.
Severe drought conditions in the western US states have led to other discoveries.
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In July, another Higgins boat surfaced on Nevada’s Lake Mead after waters receded.
The vessel had been so far under the waters that in 2006 the National Park Service sent divers to find it.
In Lake Mead, the biggest reservoir in the US, receding waters led to the discovery of five human remains this year.
The past three years have been the driest such period on record in California, state officials said.
The state is now preparing for the increasing probability that it will see a fourth consecutive dry year after the California water year ended in September.
- Reported with CNN
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