Florida in World War II

Florida in World War II PDF Author: Nick Wynne
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 1614231427
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 250

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Book Description
Few realize what a vital role World War II and Florida played in each other's history. The war helped Florida move past its southern conservative mentality and emerge as a sophisticated society, and thousands of military men were trained under Florida's sunny skies. Here are stories from some of the one hundred military bases, including Tyndall Field, where Clark Gable trained, and Eglin Air Force Base, where Doolittle planned his raid on Tokyo. Read about Camp Gordon Johnston, referred to as "Hell by the Sea," built in a swampy, snake-infested subtropical jungle, and uncover the secrets of "Station J," a base that monitored the transmissions of German U-boats prowling off the coast. This fascinating collaboration between historians Nick Wynne and Richard Moorhead reveals the lasting impact of World War II on Florida as the United States heads into the seventieth anniversary of its entry into the war.

Florida in World War II

Florida in World War II PDF Author: Nick Wynne
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 1614231427
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 250

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Book Description
Few realize what a vital role World War II and Florida played in each other's history. The war helped Florida move past its southern conservative mentality and emerge as a sophisticated society, and thousands of military men were trained under Florida's sunny skies. Here are stories from some of the one hundred military bases, including Tyndall Field, where Clark Gable trained, and Eglin Air Force Base, where Doolittle planned his raid on Tokyo. Read about Camp Gordon Johnston, referred to as "Hell by the Sea," built in a swampy, snake-infested subtropical jungle, and uncover the secrets of "Station J," a base that monitored the transmissions of German U-boats prowling off the coast. This fascinating collaboration between historians Nick Wynne and Richard Moorhead reveals the lasting impact of World War II on Florida as the United States heads into the seventieth anniversary of its entry into the war.

US Naval Air Station, Melbourne Florida, World War II

US Naval Air Station, Melbourne Florida, World War II PDF Author: William R. Barnett
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 9780738856322
Category : Air bases
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Operational flight training in fighter aircraft in WW II was a highlight for young Navy pilots. The Naval Air Station, Melbourne, Florida was a specialized fighter training base that saw many of the young men become top gun fighter pilots. This book traces the training Navy cadets went through, the operational training they accomplished, and the history of NAS Melbourne from its grass roots through the war years. Activities and actions that went on at this Navy base are told along with stories about some of the people that ran the base. There are 60 images in the book along with a map of the base and close- up photos of the buildings. It is a history written in a way that takes the reader back in time and lets him "live" through those activities brought on by a war that no one wanted but had to cope with.

War in Paradise

War in Paradise PDF Author: Eliot Kleinberg
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : World War, 1939-1945
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description


Hitler's Soldiers in the Sunshine State

Hitler's Soldiers in the Sunshine State PDF Author: Robert D. Billinger
Publisher: University Press of Florida
ISBN: 0813072050
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 206

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Book Description
"They were Uncle Sam's smiling workers and they looked like all-American boys. There were at least 10,000 of them, deployed in 25 Florida camps between 1942 and 1946. They were also members of the Wehrmacht, Hitler's armed forces."--Forum "Most Americans were unaware their government was housing Hitler's soldiers on its shores. . . . Billinger weaves interviews with former prisoners, American soldiers who worked in the camps, newspaper accounts, and government documents into a stunning historical narrative."--Kansas City Star "A tropical paradise that for some became a tropical hell."--Sarasota Herald-Tribune "First came crewmen of destroyed U-boats, then thousands of Afrika Korps veterans who swamped the system in 1943. Pro-Nazi, arrogant, and tough, they defied U.S. authorities, terrorized anti-Nazi inmates, and rioted."--Choice "Filled with colorful personal accounts, this historical book packs the punch of fiction."--St. Petersburg Times "Billinger's first-rate history of this little-known chapter in American history teaches us that, in spite of wartime propaganda, our enemies are human, too."--Atlantic City Press "Hard to put down."--Daytona Beach News-Journal In the first book-length treatment of the German prisoner of war experience in Florida during World War II, Robert D. Billinger, Jr., tells the story of the 10,000 men who were "guests" of Uncle Sam in a tropical paradise that for some became a tropical hell. Having been captured while serving on U-boats off the Carolinas, with the Afrika Korps in Tunisia, with the paratroops in Italy, or with labor battalions in France, the POWs were among the 378,000 Germans held as prisoners in 45 states. Except for the servicemen who guarded them, the civilian pulp-cutters, citrus growers, and sugarcane foremen who worked them, and the FBI and local police who tracked the escapees among them, most people were--and still are--unaware of the German POWs who inhabited the 27 camps that dotted the Sunshine State. Billinger describes the experiences of the Germans and their captors as both sides came to the realization that, while the Germans’ worst enemies were often their own comrades-in-arms, wartime enemies might also become life-long friends. Concentrating especially on the story of Camp Blanding in North Florida, Billinger based his research on both American and German archives. His account mixes rare photos with interviews with former prisoners; reports by the International Red Cross, the YMCA, and the U.S. military; and local newspaper articles. This book will be of great value to scholars and historians, as well as all readers with an interest in World War II. Those with an interest in Florida history will also find much to admire in this engaging account of a barely known wartime episode. A volume in The Florida History and Culture Series, edited by Raymond Arsenault and Gary R. Mormino.

Embry-Riddle at War

Embry-Riddle at War PDF Author: Stephen G. Craft
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 344

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Book Description
"Stephen Craft mines archival sources and the rich treasure trove of personal memories of the men who fought the greatest air war in history. Interviews with those who graduated from wartime Embry-Riddle bring the story to life with rich and telling detail."--BOOK JACKET.

Military Installations in Florida During World War II

Military Installations in Florida During World War II PDF Author: David M. Ramsey
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Florida
Languages : en
Pages : 36

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Book Description


RAF Wings over Florida

RAF Wings over Florida PDF Author: Will Largent
Publisher: Purdue University Press
ISBN: 1557539936
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 170

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Book Description
From 1941 through 1945, British cadets in the Royal Air Force trained in the United States through the Lend-Lease Act, President Roosevelt’s ingenious plan to help beleaguered Great Britain while maintaining the semblance of neutrality. This book tells the saga of two Florida training fields during this turbulent time. In their own words, British pilots tell of their Florida experiences. Many of them still in their late teens, away from home for the first time, pale and thin from years of rationing, these young men encountered immense challenges and overwhelming generosity during their training in Florida. Now retired, these former pilots still smell the scent of orange blossoms when they glance through the log books they kept while flying their Stearmans and Harvards over Florida citrus groves. They fondly remember the times when they buzzed over the homes of their Florida “families” to let them know to expect them for Sunday dinner. More than fifty years later, their stories still resonate with universal emotions: fear of failure, love of country, camaraderie, romantic love, and the pain of tragic deaths. Their stories also remind the American reader of a unique time in our history, when, poised on the brink of war, the United States reached out to help a country in distress.

World War II Comes to Florida

World War II Comes to Florida PDF Author: Claudine Payne
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780964228955
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 12

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Book Description


CENTRAL FLORIDAS WWII VETERANS

CENTRAL FLORIDAS WWII VETERANS PDF Author: Bob Grenier
Publisher: History Press Library Editions
ISBN: 9781531698423
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 130

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Book Description


Florida and World War II

Florida and World War II PDF Author: Jim Wiggins
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780788445453
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
Jim Wiggins was a young boy of eleven when war was declared by President Roosevelt. In this narrative, he shares stories about watch towers, scrap drives, and rationing; about an everyday life that included squadrons flying practice maneuvers overhead, political posters everywhere, and convoys on highways. He also discusses Nazi sub attacks off of Florida's shores, prison camps, and "sniff kits." He attempts to detail the massive contribution that Florida made in men trained and sent to fight, in materiel for the war effort, in land dedicated to bases and military training, and ordinary people who support the war effort by tending victory gardens, manning watch towers and overseeing German POW camps.