Carrabelle Beach -- World War II D-Day Training Site
We discovered an interesting piece of history! Our RV park is across from the beach that was used by the U.S. Army 4th Infantry Division to train for the Normandy Invasion. Camp Gordon Johnston, an Army Amphibious Training Center, had been officially established in 1942 as a training base for WW II troops. The Center was closed, re-purposed, then re-opened and staffed for training for the Normandy Invasion. Although the troops had trained for over three years, the amphibious training conducted here was the last step before shipping out to England for the invasion. On D-Day, the first amphibian infantry assault teams to arrive on French soil were from the 4th Infantry Division at Utah Beach.
Camp Gordon Johnston once was over 159,000 aces, with more than 30,000 troops during the later months of the War. The Camp also housed German and Italian Prisoners of War, the second largest POW base camp in Florida.
McClelland Air Field in Sacramento--servicing the planes of the Pacific Theater, Farragut Naval Station, Idaho's inland naval base on the southern tip of Lake Pend Oreille, bunkers along the Pacific "guarding" against possible enemy invasion; an area used for intense training in landing on the shores of Normandy to ensure "getting it right" here in Carrabelle Beach, FL.... And then finding bunkers going back to Civil War times in the "older" part of our Great Country...(older compared to the Pacific North West)! We are driven by our fathers: Lindy's was a civil service "employee" at McClelland, and Mike's was in the Navy, initially trained at Farragut, then a radioman flying the Dauntless and Avenger from the U.S.S. Franklin D. Roosevelt Air Craft Carrier.
We are enjoying our explorations! Ummm, "history" is everywhere, isn't it? We walked that beach a couple of evenings ago watching dolphins fishing and/or playing, we guessed, as they flipped up out of the water, then back into the water. Fun!
Camp Gordon Johnston once was over 159,000 aces, with more than 30,000 troops during the later months of the War. The Camp also housed German and Italian Prisoners of War, the second largest POW base camp in Florida.
McClelland Air Field in Sacramento--servicing the planes of the Pacific Theater, Farragut Naval Station, Idaho's inland naval base on the southern tip of Lake Pend Oreille, bunkers along the Pacific "guarding" against possible enemy invasion; an area used for intense training in landing on the shores of Normandy to ensure "getting it right" here in Carrabelle Beach, FL.... And then finding bunkers going back to Civil War times in the "older" part of our Great Country...(older compared to the Pacific North West)! We are driven by our fathers: Lindy's was a civil service "employee" at McClelland, and Mike's was in the Navy, initially trained at Farragut, then a radioman flying the Dauntless and Avenger from the U.S.S. Franklin D. Roosevelt Air Craft Carrier.
We are enjoying our explorations! Ummm, "history" is everywhere, isn't it? We walked that beach a couple of evenings ago watching dolphins fishing and/or playing, we guessed, as they flipped up out of the water, then back into the water. Fun!
My dad was navigator / bombardier on a Helldiver off of the USS Wasp and Jo's dad was CPO on the USS New Mexico so we appreciate the history.
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