Boca Raton Army Air Field

8/7/2019 Boca Raton Army Air Field

1/15

i -. .- ', .-0


2/15

OLD TOWN HALL,H OM E O F T H E B O C A R AT O N H I S T O R I C A L S O C I E T Y

Jeanne Nixon Baur, Artist

A report to the membership ofBoca Raton Historical Society, Inc.

P.O. Box 1113 Boca Raton, Florida 33432

Clement C wink e, Chai rmanDonald W CurlJ Herman DanceMrs David B DickensonMrs Myrtle Butts FlemingJohn D GirardMrs Richard HaberRobert I MacLaren II

Richard McCuskerMrs Michael W O'BrienMrs Gilbert J Poraar jrMrs Dorn Lee ReddWilliam T RutterCharles B SchwadererMrs Stephen F SnyderMs Sara Jane Sylvia

Mrs Bradley Middlebrook II, PresidentMrs G Duncan Lott, II I, First Vice PresidentMrs Edward W Toomey, Second Vice PresidentMrs Richard D Note s, Recording SecretaryMrs George R Canty, jr, TreasurerMrs Howard McCall, Archivist

David AsheCharles H GobyHonorary TrusteesRobert D TylanderMrs L Bert Stephens

lip $jmni0{f Stupr ijjtaprrsFALL 1985 VOL. XIV, f \JO. 1

WORLD WAR il IN BOCA RATON:THE HOME FRONTbyDrollene P. BrownDATELINE CHICAGO, 1942. Those weal-thy Chicagoans who are membe rs ofthe fabulous Boca Raton Club inFlorida will not have a chance tospend vacations there next winter,for the entire east coast resort,including the club, has been takenover by the army. Construction ofan air corps radio [sic] technicaltraining school has been started,and already many officers and theirfamilies have moved to Boca Raton(Cass).The brief newspaper piece by JudithCass can be found in a scrapbook donatedto the Boca Raton Historical Societyarchives by Lt. Col. Frank F. Fish er.Originally from La Grange, Illinoi s,Fisher served in Boca Raton during WorldWar II. The article continues with adescription of the club and the town.The club is one of the most bea u-tiful in this country, having beenbuilt by the late Addison Miznerduring the Florida land boom. Noexpense was spared to make theSpanish colonial buildings and sur-rounding gardens and two golfcourses show places, and the beachclub is one of the most establishedin the state. Boca Raton itself hasonly a municipal building, two gen-eral stores, two gas stations, aroadside restaurant, and a tavern


3/15

with a year around population of500. . . . (Cass)There may have been despair over sucha wartime deprivation among the wealthy ofChicago and other cities, but Boca RatonMayor J.C. Mitchell and his cohortscouldn't have been more pleased.

M r . M i t c h e l l G o e s to W a s h i n g t o nWhen Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, JoeMitchell, a six-year veteran of World WarI, saw the possibili ties for service inBoca Raton. His knowledge of real estateled him to believe that a military basehere would be beneficial for the city aswell as the nation Jackie Ashton Waldeck,in Boca Raton: A Romance of the Past,asserts that Mitchell was a "nationalleader." He had no trouble convincing thecity council to support his ideas. Theyagreed that he should go to Washington topresent his proposal (Waldeck, 117).In Washington, Mitchell joined acrowd of counterparts, all trying to ob-tain military posts for their own cities.The War Department sent him to the Navy,which passed him on to the Army Air Corps.At last, he was given a hearing, and themayor was promised that someone would comedown to take a look (Waldeck, 118).General "Hap" Arnold and other offi-cers came to Florida seeking a site for anair base where men would be trained in anew technique called radar (Waldeck, 118).The Air Corps Technical School for Radarhad been established in late 1941 at ScottField, Illinois, but it needed a permanentstation of its own. Space at Scott waslimited. The school needed to be near thewater so that shipping lanes could providetargets for daily contact by radar(Archives).Sites in the Great Lakes had beenconsidered, but they were rejected because

shipping came to a halt during the wintermonths when the lake was frozen. It wasdecided that advantage should be taken ofthe east coast of Florida, where shippingtraffic was heavy throughout the year.Moreover, Florida had ideal flyingweather-fog free, with a moderate tem-perature (Archive).There was one final consideration. ASignal Corps radar school had been estab-lished twenty-five miles north of WestPalm Beach--Camp Hobe Sound. Army offi-cials felt it desirable to have the twoschools near each other (Archives).And the Winner I s . . .Three sites in Florida were con-sidered. Vero Beach was eliminated be-cause the Navy was interested there. FortPierce was ruled out for engineering rea-sons (Archives). When General Arnold andhis delegation arrived in Boca Raton,"there had been a tropical deluge and thestreets and airport were standing in sixinches of water." The storm had bypassedthe town, however, and "high land to thewest was dry" (Waldeck, 118).The officers decided to look no fur-ther. The winner: Boca Raton.Boca Raton may have been the winner,

but there were some people living on the"high land to the west" who didn't feelmuch like winners. The base's boundarieswere described by the Florida East Coastand Seaboard tracks, Palmetto Park Roadand Fifty-first Street. A lot of peopleresisted being moved from their land, andsome didnNt feel that they were treatedfairly by federal officials.A terse newspaper article in 1942stated the legalities:The first emergency condemnationproceeding under the "second warpurposes act" which allows immediate


4/15

AI

\

\

taking of land without an appraisaland before compensation is deter-mined, was filed in Federal Courthere Saturday by Stuart W Patton,special attorney, lands division,U.S. department of justice, withoffices in the Dupont building.The action takes over 5,820acres of land at Boca Raton, PalmBeach County, for the Army Air Corpstechnical training station. Ofthirty property owners, four areJapanese farmers.Negotiation for fair price willfollow with owners, Patton said, andif agreement cannot be reached anappraisal will have to be made toes tabl ish just compensation(Archives) .Obviously, "just compensation" isrelative term. Waldeck recounts the lofelt by three families:For Perry and Florence Purdom,having to give up their house was amajor blow. After years of incred-ibly hard toil, they had at last,during the twenties, acquired theirown home. This was the only prop-erty they owned but because it waswartime, they accepted the Army'sruling and found a place to livejust a few blocks away. . . .For [Burt B.] Raulerson, whowas a prosperous farmer, the eco-nomic loss was not so severe as forthe Purdoms, but with the shortageof housing in Boca Raton, he couldnot find a place to live. He wasforced to move back to Sevillewhere he owned an orange grove.Thus departed one of the town'sfirst pioneer fajnilies, never toreturn.


5/15

Another piece of propertytaken over by the military was thebuilding west of the FEC railroadtracks where the iouis A. Zimmermanfamily had lived and had arant before startingFederal. "My father$2,500 for the two-storybuilding," said Lucille

restau-ZIM's onwas paidnine-room[ZimmermanMorris]. "After the war, he wasgiven the chance to buy it back for$6,000, but he refused" (Waldeck,p . 121).The reason the price for Zimmerman'sproperty in 1942 was so low, according tothe appraisers, was that it was a framebuilding and not sturdy. But that littlestucco building stood until i t was de-stroyed by its owners in September 1985.It had withstood the wrath of the 1926 and1928 hurricanes (Archives). Ironically,it had also remained after the 1947 hurri-cane, when many military buildings wereblown flat, and radar antennae were hurledhalfway to the Everglades, thus hasteningthe base's planned relocation to Minnesota(Mays).An AirB as e Is BornBefore the military took over, there

were more residents than owners on thechosen land. In addition to fifty-onewhite and Japanese families who were"legal" residentsthere was a black com-munity of forty families living in housesand shanties built over a period of fif-teen years (Archives). BRHS archivistPeggy McCall surmises that these homeswere probably in the "Moon Hill" areaaround Fortieth Street, east of NW FifthAvenue. The land hadn't been obtained bylegal channels, but through the time-honored custom of squatters' rights.

By May of 1942, however, the govement had acquired its acreage. Wwartime speed, the engineers set to woIn June, Col. A. MacSpadden was ordered expedite the construction of Americfirst airborne radar school at Boca RatAccording to MacSpadden in an intervifor a Fort Lauderdale newspaper in 19the installation at first was intended be a temporary post to serve as a twbase to the Army Signal Corps Statiseverity miles away at Camp Hobe Sound. took 3500 construction workers and elevmillion dollars and threw up the BRaton installation in four months. Cstruction was easy, said the colonbecause the people were friendly and cooerative (Kelly).Of fourteen principal contractortwelve came from Florida, mostly from PaBeach, Miami, and St. Petersburg. A ftroops occupied the field in the lattpart of August of 1942, but the fiedidn't officially open until October 11942. The base reached 16,381 troops early 1945 (Archives).Since Boca Raton was the Army AForce's only radar training station duriWorld War II, the school offered severtypes of training, including courses foperators, mechanics, and electronics ficers (Archives).One notable exception to the basewestern site was the Boca Raton HotWhile young cadets began to move in ftheir speeded up program in radar aelectronics, acting manager Harold Turnbusily stored furniture and placed coveings on pillars, to protect carved plastfrom the guns of servicemen hurrying dowthe halls. "Soldiers practiced maneuvand dug fox-holes in the golf cours(Waldeck, p. 120).


6/15

According to the 1947 Army Air ForcesTraining Command Year Book donated to theBRHS archives by Captain A.J. Mills:Shortages of equipment and trainedpersonnel plagued the school in itsearly days. For example, untilJanuary 1943, only ten pilots wereavailabl e to fly dil apida tedEnglish Judson patrol bombers on. training missions, and often fa-tigued pilots would compensate forthe shortage of crew members andmechanics. The school operatedliterally "on a wing and a prayer"(Archives).The Home FrontTo most people in the United S tates,the wa r was "over there." But forcitizens of eastern coastal cities, theconflict was closer. Like other parentsacross the nation, Boca Ratonians senttheir children to war, but those who re-mained behind found themselves very closeto some of the belligerency.A letter dated May 10 , 1942, from TomRickards to his sister Kate, shows thesurprise and horror that many residentsfelt. The letter begins:Had direct contact yesterday with

horrors of sub warfare. Was awak-ened about 4:30 by several heavydetonations, which I later learnedwas exploding of ammunition aboardstrick en ship as she burned(Archives).The ship was the Lubrafol, a largenorth-bound tanker, loaded with fuel oil.All of her crew of fifty burned to death.The blazing tanker drifted northward withthe Gulf Stream, and even at noon thesmoke could be seen off Jupiter.Seven Lubrafpi crew members werewearing life preservers, so their bodies

12

% * :

3


7/15

floated. They were taken to the CoastGuard Station at Boca Inlet. Rickards, inhis capacity as a Justice of the Peace,helped with identification. The exper-ience left.him quite shaken.In the May 10 letter, after expressinghis distress, Rickards went on to reportother attacks.They say at least twelve tankershave been torpedoed between Ft.Pierce and Miami during last week.I know of one last Monday offBoynton which was attacked in broaddaylight, about 1:00, by a subwhich was between it and shore(Archives).On May 14, Tom Rickards, Jr. wrote on thesame subject to his Aunt Kate:The war continues to come clos-er. The ship sinkings off ourcoastin sight of landare enoughto make you sick at your stomach.I just went up on the roof of ourbuilding [office in West PalmBeach] to watch a tanker burningonly two miles from shorea.hugepillar of smoke reaching probably amile in the sky. That is the sec-ond ship in the late week I havewatched burn. . . . There havebeen a great many more, some ofwhich have been seen by people inswimming on the beach. One only afew hundred yards from Lake WorthCasino sank in two minutes(Archives).Rickards, Jr. was waiting at thattime for orders from the army. He musthave found it incredible that the war hadcome to him, before he could go to thewar. He continued in his letter:So as I said, the war is comingcloser and closer all the time now.We are on an almost complete black-

out every night now. No cars areallowed to move faster than twentymiles per hour and then only withdim parking lights. No streetlights, show windows, flood lights,night baseball, or anything. It'san eerie sight. And bombers areoverhead all the time (Archives).The Germans were a pervasive prence. Major James J. Weldon, interviewin 1965, recalled that "German submaripatrol led the whole coast frJacksonville to Pompano Beach ("Army . . . ; .One sub was sunk off the coast of BRaton, according to Hollywood plumber Lankford, who was a shipfitter for U.S. Navy patrol boat that sank the sAccording to a recent newspaper articLankford remembers well his "being board an over-sized submarine chaser tsank the sub that dax. Lankford's bdidn't get the first shot at the sub cause a Navy bomber also responded to alert" (Mills).The Navy plane had one big bomwhich it dropped. It brought up ocontaminated oil. Subs under attack ofemptied their bilges of dirty oil to gthe impression that they had been h

Lankford stood on the flying bridge wthe captain, and he heard the orders bomb the U-boat.Two charges were dropped off thestern and two more left the sidesof the boat. When clean oil roseto the surface, . . . the 70-mancrew of the 184-foot PC483 knew thesub's fuel tanks had ruptured."The beach was black with peoplewatching us drop those charges,"Lankford said. "The whole beachwould shake (Mills)."


8/15

Through the months, spectators on thebeach saw U-boats attacking as well asbeing attacked. Max Hutkin, owner of BocaRaton's first "supermarket," told a re-porter in 1980 that he remembered hearingan explosion one day. He and his custom-ers piled into a car and rushed to thebeach With the naked eye, they could seea German sub sinking cargo ships (Gordon).In a speech to the Rotary Club in1976, Hutkin recalled another time, when aGerman sub was captured. A tremor musthave run through the community when it wasdiscovered that the sub had been stockedwith local groceries (Archives).Yes, there were infiltrators. MajorWeldon noted that there "was a wholeschool of spies operating out of PompanoBeach. We caught two old German immi-grants giving signals to the subs onetime" ("Army Man . . .").Not all the spies were immigrants.As BRHS archivist Peggy McCall pointed outto a reporter recently, the German subsoften came in close enough to put one ortwo people in a boat near land. They'dcome ashore and infiltrate into the com-munity, trying to get information (Mills).

The SecretThe Chicago writer who stated in 1942that there was a radio training school inBoca Raton cannot be faulted for her er-ror. Nobody was supposed to know aboutthe radar. MacSpadden recalled that onenight a GI was seen sneaking radar partsoff base. When he returned, he faced asearchlight, a machine gun, and severalother armed MPs. But he wasn't a spy. Hewas using parts to build his own set(Kelly).Mentioning the word "radar" was an'offense punishable by court martial.Crack engineers from around the country

came to Boca Raton to refine the newvice spoken about in whispers. Thestationed here built it, improved it,tested i t above the waters of Caribbean. Their work was highly clfied (Mays).As the school's curriculum deveand flight training began to play a lrole in radar training, the numbeaircraft assigned to the base increThe flight section in October 1942 hadilapidated bomber-type aircraft wwere flown incessantly. The numbecreased to forty in July 1943 and to ty-four in March 1944. By 1945, were one hundred planes regularly assito the field. Half of them were Bthe others included B-24s, B-26s, andlls (Archives).MacSpadden, in remembering the which was constructed under his suvision, added AT-9s, B-34s, and B-25he listed the complement of planes.recalled that sometimes planes were up ten deep, the lines extending fromaprons back into the grass on steel-mlanding mats (Kelly).By 1945, almost everyone knew aradar. And the threat of shelling German subs no longer existed.

The Role of CiviliansThroughout the war effort, civilwere employed. Contractors worked gently to build runways and base faties in record time (Archives). Alththe acreage was not acquired by the ernment until May 1942, constructiothree 5,200-foot-long airstrips and than 800 buildings were completedJanuary 1943 (Archives).On the base itself, there were cians in practically all offices andpartments. The largest numbers were


9/15

y the academic department thend quartermaster department,d the post engineers. The number ofivilians employed by the base averagedwith a peak of 1,500 (Archives).Citizens involved themselves in thear effort whether or not they were em-d on the base. One of the most im-tant things they did was watch. Resi-ts and army wives organized themselvesinto teams of two, to stand as observersn the beach watch tower.That program was officially termi-ed in 1944. Helen Howard, one of theificate of Honorable Service and letterendation to the BRHS archives. Theetter, dated May 27, 1944, tells thef both the practical and patriotichrust of this work:

T o : All Volunteers of the AircraftWarning Service.With the announcement of the War'Department of the discontinuance ofthe Ground Observer Corps and theAircraft Warning Corps, I want toexpress my personal appreciationand of all the officers and men ofthis command to the volunteers whohave served so loyally and effi-ciently with us in the defense ofthe eastern seaboard.It has been almost 2 1/2 yearssince that Sunday in 1941 whenthousands of patriotic Americanssprang to the defense of thiscountry by manning round-the-clockwatches at Observation Posts,Filter Centers, and InformationCenters. It is my conviction thatthere never existed a more sincereand loyal group of Americans thanthose who volunteered for thiswork.

B O C f l R B T O n f l R I H V B I R F I E L D B f l S E O F F I C E R S


10/15

You have done a splendid joband have successfully accomplishedyour particular mission which mustnow be terminated because of thedevelopments in our strategicsituation. Now with the war alertentirely in its offensive phase, Ihope and believe that you will turnyour patriotic efforts into theforms of work which will help tosupport the attack and bring theday of victory nearer.As an indication of the appre-ciation of this command, and asrecognition of your faithful per-formance of duty as a member of theAircraft Warning Service, you willreceive in the near future the IFighter Command Certificate ofHonorable Service.I want to thank each of youfor all you have done. Yourcountry, the Army Air Forces, andyour fellow Americans owe a. debt ofgratitude to the members of theAircraft Warning Service.[signed] Stewart W Towle, Jr.(Archives).

Something to DoTownspeople weren't fully prepared forthe change in their lives which the in-flux of troops would make. Max Hutkinlikened it to "the gold rush of theKlondike." Hungry army personnel soondiscovered the Hutkins1 store. Max andhis wife, Nettie, got up each morning a 3a.m. to make thousands of sandwiches,which would be sold each day by 2:00, for15 cents each (Sheffield).

Many of the young soldiers didn'tlike Boca Raton, because there was solit t le to do,. There was a small busstation directly across from Town Hall.

On weekends, GIs would line up for a on both sides of that station. If went to West Palm Beach or Miamifound the place crawling with serviceThe highway in both directions woullined with young men trying to catclift to anywhere they might find sothing to do. The taxis running from Raton to Delray were loaded down withat 25 cents a head (Kelly).On the other hand, some who came liked it so much they wanted to here. Jack Pitts was one of th(Mays).Pitts arrived at the Boca RatonField in the middle of a moonless nin 1944. He stepped directly fromtransport plane into a covered trMinutes later, he went through the entrance of officers' quarters. Somcalled it the Boca Raton Club, but meant nothing to him. When he awokenext morning, he looked out the windowsee a beautiful golf course and tropfoliage (Mays).Here was a man, happy where he fohimself. And the army moved him. Aone month in Boca Raton, Pitts was traferred to Wright Field in Dayton. Heeverything he could think of to transferred back to Florida, and finhe succeeded. He got rid of his Oapartment, stored his belongings, drove with his wife to live in "a l ipiece of heaven." "We had a '39 La Sand three months of gas coupons," Pitts. "We barely made it" (Mays).

Even to those who saw beauty in place, however, there had to be "sothing to do." Many found activitiesBoca Raton.A garage was converted into the Funhouse," where soldiers came, for cret tes, beer, dancing, and frien


11/15

wagers. The jukebox rarely stopped. Inthe beginning, officers used the BocaRaton Hotel or the Cabana Club, but bythe end of the war, they had an officer'sclub (May).One of the greatest pleasures intown was provided by The Third Air ForceBand. On September 22, 1942, fifty-threemusicians marched out on the Boca Ratonparade grounds after only one practicetogether. They'd come from the dancebands and orchestras of Jimmy Dorsey, AbeLyman, Tommy Dorsey, Glenn Miller, BobCrosby, Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman, PaulWhitman, Al Goodman, Rudy Vallee, BenBernie, Richard Himber, Jan Garber, TedLewis, Freddie Martin, Vincent Lopez, andArthur Pryor (Third . . . ).

The band grew, and its members weregrouped into a symphony orchestra, stringquartettes, woodwind octettes, danceband, and modern jazz bands. They playedengagements all over south Florida.Everone had a chance to enjoy the music(Third . . .).ZIMs and Brown's, the two bars intown, were places where townfolk andmilitary personnel alike could drink andlaugh. People also met on a friendlybasis at Hutkins1 supermarket, atRichard's gas station, and Tony Brenk'sgrocery and post office ("Army Man . ..").Many residents became acquaintedwith army wives through their volunteerwork. And some townspeople rented roomsin their homes. Betty Brown Devine re-members military family members askingfor permission to sleep on the porch ofher parents' home, so desperate was thehousing situation at times.

Official CooperationWhile citizens were doing tpartworking at the base, doing voteer work, making army personnel families feel at homethe City Cocontinued its initial spirit of cootion. Mayor Mitchell and the councilbrought the air base to Boca Raton,they did everything in their powemake the relationship a pleasant They were convinced that the end rewould be profitable for the city.In February 1942, in a special coumeeting, a resolution was passed proing for blackouts and penalties for obedience. One month later, a meetingcalled to legally abandon the streetsavenues within the boundaries of base, for the duration of the war.was also resolved that the town wlease the municipal airport to the Government for $1.00 per year for "time as the United States Governmentdesire." The leasee was to pay all tduring the period of the lease Minutes).In a special council meeting in A1942, a letter from the county DeCouncil Director was read. Listewere advised that there might be a fcoming order which would outlaw siexcept in case of an actual enemy aby air or sea. The council agreework out a system whereby they ccomply with the order (City Minutes)In November 1942, the FEC Railasked Boca Raton for permission to mframe building from Delray to Boca RThe War Department had asked that thdone, so that al l its freight coulaccommodated. There wasn't enough in the depot at Boca .Raton. The Council resolved to allow it, upon ment of necessary fees, but only on


12/15

condition that the building wousecurely anchored and made as attraas possible. It was further resthat if the FEC didn't remove the bing within six months after cessatiohostilities, the townthrough its pforcewould raze it and "thereby rit from the town" (City Minutes).Aftermath and AfterthoughtsEventually, it was over. Mothe troops packed up and left. remained behind; others came bactheir own. The townfolk set to pi

up the threads of their old way of only to find that the lines had been dropped in the first place. only changed. There was no going bLucille Zimmerman Morris asthat before the war, Boca Raton was a sleepy little town." The war, shewas the point from which the town grThat was certainly what Mitchell and the City Council hamind. Throughout the war, the comembers had passed cooperative retions. They'd seen their town bwith financial activity. Finally the time when the air base propertyturned to the city. In a resolpassed on June 27 1949, the town ato pay the army $251,284.00 for the erty; the "excess"area not needthe city--was to be sold. With thechased property came the water systemits easements, the sewer collecsystem, and the outfall system Minutes).

Also included were winding strroads, avenues, ways, circles, and a(City Minutes). The irregular pattesome of the streetsas well as thsemblance to curvy mountain roads ofthoroughfares as West Second Av


13/15

Meadows Road, and Fortieth Streetaresaid to be due to military planning.They were supposedly built with irregu-larities so that German subs wouldn't beable to blow out a whole road at once(Mays). Some ha*ve surmised, however,that the workers were in such a hurry,they built the roads around rocks, trees,and shrubs rather than stopping to removethem.One can st i l l see the H-shapedbuildings around town. At the northeastcorner of Florida Atlantic University's

grounds, the cluster of white framebuildings now used for warehouses arealso remants of the air base.The most noticeable leftovers areprobably the runways left behind by theArmy Air Corps. FAU uses them for park-ing lots.Have you ever driven to the north-ern-most parking lot when no one wasaroundno cars parked, all students awaystudying or doing whatever they do whenthey're not in class? Have you everdriven north on that parking lot/runway,a little faster than you usually drive,almost. feeling that you're going to liftoff any second? It may make you think ofthe young men who came hee to train,flying off to test the new radar in theCaribbean. They graduated and went allover the world. Some didn't come back.As you drive down that old runway,perhaps you can imagine the excitementand the passion that those young men musthave felt. They carried a secret calledradar, and their mission was mixed upwith dreams of glory, a sense of purpose,andyespatroitism.Very much a part of it, was BocaRaton.

-A-r

J k _ _ .

f :


14/15


15/15

BOCA RATON HISTORICAL SOCIETY, INC.P.O. Box 1113 Boca Raton, FL 33429 Non-Profit Org.U.S. PostagePAIDPermit No. 118Boca Raton, FL

Boca Raton Army Air Field

Documents

Transcript of Boca Raton Army Air Field