Taipei, March 16 (CNA) A decommissioning ceremony for a navy Landing Ship Tank (LST) class vessel will take place on the island county of Kinmen in August and will serve as a new tourist attraction for visitors, according to the Ministry of National Defense Navy Headquarters deputy commander and county magistrate Thursday.

Navy deputy commander Chen Tzu-feng (陳子鳳) and Kinmen County Magistrate Chen Fu-hai (陳福海) announced the decision after a meeting held in Kinmen on the same day.

The ceremony is scheduled to be held Aug. 23, the 60th anniversary of the 823 Artillery Bombardment, said the officials.

For an older generation of Kinmen residents, the LST class vessels are very familiar. More than 30 years ago, prior to commercial services being available, LSTs transported Kinmen residents to and from Taiwan.

After consultation between the military and the county government, the LST class vessel is scheduled to set sail for Kinmen Aug. 13 and arrive at noon the same day.

Chen Tzu-feng said he visited Kinmen when he was still a naval academy cadet and on multiple occasions afterwards, adding that certain areas of the county look familiar and bring back many memories.

The navy has yet to decide which LST class vessel it will send to Kinmen.

The ties between LST vessels and Kinmen run deep and so it does not matter which vessel comes to the county, said Chen Fu-hai, adding that it will become a tourist attraction cherished by local residents.

Aug. 23 marks the 60th anniversary of the start of an artillery bombardment by China in 1958. Within 44 days, 475,000 artillery shells were fired at Kinmen, according to the Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica website.

(By Huang Huei-min and William Yen)Enditem/AW