Florida from 1939 to 1945 Anthony Atwood Florida International University, [email protected]
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Florida International University FIU Digital Commons FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations University Graduate School 10-25-2012 A State of War: Florida from 1939 to 1945 Anthony Atwood Florida International University, [email protected] DOI: 10.25148/etd.FI12120414 Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd Recommended Citation Atwood, Anthony, "A State of War: Florida from 1939 to 1945" (2012). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 777. https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/777 This work is brought to you for free and open access by the University Graduate School at FIU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of FIU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY Miami, Florida A STATE OF WAR: FLORIDA FROM 1939 TO 1945 A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in HISTORY by ANTHONY D. ATWOOD 2012 To: Dean Kenneth Furton College of Arts and Sciences This dissertation, written by Anthony D. Atwood, and entitled A State of War: Florida from 1939 to 1945, having been approved in respect to style and intellectual content, is referred to you for judgment. We have read this dissertation and recommend that it be approved. ___________________________ Ralph E. Clem ___________________________ Sherry Johnson ___________________________ Gwyn Davies ___________________________ Darden A. Pyron, Major Professor Date of Defense: October 25, 2012 The dissertation of Anthony D. Atwood is approved. ___________________________ Dean Kenneth Furton College of Arts and Sciences ___________________________ Dean Lakshmi N. Reddi University Graduate School Florida International University, 2012 ii © Copyright 2012 by Anthony D. Atwood All rights reserved. iii DEDICATION Dedicated to those who have served, and to the fallen. Lest we forget Major William S. Pagh, of Ormond Beach, Florida [right] and the crew of his A-20 light bomber “The Florida Gator.” Soon after the photo was taken, they were shot down over Hollandia, New Guinea, on August 11, 1944. They remain missing in action. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Thanks to the great historian William Gannon, who helped me as a novice, and very kindly and graciously autographed my copies of his books when I asked him. Thanks to historian Gary Mormino, who took my calls and was always kind and helpful. Thanks to the inspiration of Charlton W. Tebeau, and to my friend, Arva Parks McCabe. Thanks to the four members of my dissertation committee: Major Professor and FIU Pioneer, Darden Asbury Pyron; Ralph Clem, geo-strategist; Sherry Johnson, Caribbean historian; and military historian and archaeologist, Gwyn Davies. Thanks to Dean Donnelly, Assistant Dean Montas-Hunter, and Paula Gillespie of the Dissertation Writing Retreat. Special thanks to Althea Silvera, Maria Ferrer Young, Emilia Carreras, and Hayat Kassab-Gresham. v ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION A STATE OF WAR: FLORIDA FROM 1939 TO 1945 by Anthony D. Atwood Florida International University, 2012 Miami, Florida Professor Darden A. Pyron, Major Professor World War II profoundly impacted Florida. The military geography of the State is essential to an understanding the war. The geostrategic concerns of place and space determined that Florida would become a statewide military base. Florida’s attributes of place such as climate and topography determined its use as a military academy hosting over two million soldiers, nearly 15 percent of the GI Army, the largest force the US ever raised. One-in-eight Floridians went into uniform. Equally, Florida’s space on the planet made it central for both defensive and offensive strategies. The Second World War was a war of movement, and Florida was a major jump off point for US force projection world-wide, especially of air power. Florida’s demography facilitated its use as a base camp for the assembly and engagement of this military power. In 1940, less than two percent of the US population lived in Florida, a quiet, barely populated backwater of the United States.1 But owing to its critical place and space, over the next few years it became a 65,000 square mile training ground, supply dump, and embarkation site vital to the US war effort. Because of its place astride some 1 US Census of Florida 1940. Table 4 – Race, By Nativity and Sex, For the State. 14. vi of the most important sea lanes in the Atlantic World, Florida was the scene of one of the few Western Hemisphere battles of the war. The militarization of Florida began long before Pearl Harbor. The pre-war buildup conformed to the US strategy of the war. The strategy of the US was then (and remains today) one of forward defense: harden the frontier, then take the battle to the enemy, rather than fight them in North America. The policy of “Europe First,” focused the main US war effort on the defeat of Hitler’s Germany, evaluated to be the most dangerous enemy. In Florida were established the military forces requiring the longest time to develop, and most needed to defeat the Axis. Those were a naval aviation force for sea-borne hostilities, a heavy bombing force for reducing enemy industrial states, and an aerial logistics train for overseas supply of expeditionary campaigns. The unique Florida coastline made possible the seaborne invasion training demanded for US victory. The civilian population was employed assembling mass- produced first-generation container ships, while Florida hosted casualties, Prisoners-of- War, and transient personnel moving between the Atlantic and Pacific. By the end of hostilities and the lifting of Unlimited Emergency, officially on December 31, 1946, Florida had become a transportation nexus. Florida accommodated a return of demobilized soldiers, a migration of displaced persons, and evolved into a modern veterans’ colonia. It was instrumental in fashioning the modern US military, while remaining a center of the active National Defense establishment. Those are the themes of this work. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE CHAPTER I. Pre-War Florida: Geography and Demography………………………...1 CHAPTER II. Naval Air Station Florida………………………………………………27 CHAPTER III. Army Airfield Florida………………………………..…………...……50 CHAPTER IV. Off We Go: Air Strikes from Florida….…………...………………….71 CHAPTER V. Anchors Aweigh: The Sea Battle Offshore……...…….……..………..87 CHAPTER VI. Basic Training For Invasion…………………...….………………….106 CHAPTER VII. Bombs Away and Over the Hump…………….......…………………128 CHAPTER VIII. Industry, Gender, Race and Wounds in a State of War…………...…150 CHAPTER IX. The Sudden End of the War – Census and Remembrance…………...173 List of References………………………………………………………………………199 Appendices……………………………………………………………………………...205 Vita……………………………………………………………………………………...215 viii LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE PAGE Figure 1. Mahan's Chart of the Realm ............................................................................... 2 Figure 2. Smaller Municipalities of Florida in 1940........................................................ 23 Figure 3. Florida at the Center of Navy Coastal Defense................................................ 31 Figure 4. Naval Air Stations in Florida during the War .................................................. 48 Figure 5. Florida at the Heart of Army Continental Defense ......................................... 62 Figure 6. The South Atlantic Route From Core to Periphery.......................................... 75 Figure 7. The Route to the War Across Africa ................................................................ 80 Figure 8. The Route to CBI over the Hump..................................................................... 84 Figure 9. Combat in the Gulf Sea Frontier ...................................................................... 93 Figure 10. Blimp Patrol Sectors over the Florida Straits………………………………..99 Figure 11. Infantry Divisions Trained at Camp Blanding ........................................... 1316 Figure 12. Infantry Divisions Trained at Camp Gordon Johnston……………………..117 Figure 13. B-26 Marauder Bomb Groups Activated in Florida................................... 1431 Figure 14. B-24 Liberator Bomb Groups Trained in Florida…………………………..132 Figure 15. B-17 Flying Fortress Bomb Groups Trained in Florida……………………133 Figure 16. The Warpath from Florida............................................................................ 145 Figure 17. Prisoner of War Camps in Florida................................................................ 160 Figure 18. Cargo Plane of Wounded Returning from Periphery to Core......………… 170 Figure 19. Smaller Municipalities of Florida in 1950..………………………………..181 Figure 20. Growth of Florida Airports During the War……………………………….187 Figure 21. Florida's Black GIs Building the Burma Road…………………………….198 ix CHAPTER I. PRE-WAR FLORIDA: GEOGRAPHY AND DEMOGRAPHY Florida offers a case study of the interplay of history and geography during World War II at the provincial level, a subject sometimes overlooked in the study of that conflict. Before Pearl Harbor, even before the rise of Hitler, military observers saw there was unique strategic potential of Florida. The peninsula offered a unique combination of place and space that determined it would host mighty armies and over 250 military installations.2 Florida’s place, its internal characteristics of gentle seashore, flatlands, abundant forests and favorable climate were ideal for military training in an environment that