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98 Real Estate Group
Apalachicola Bay Inn
Apalachicola River Catfish Tournament Trail
Apalachicola.biz
ApalachicolaFlorida.info
ApalachicolaHomes.net
Ausley & McMullen, P.A.
Bay City Lodge, Inc.
Bay Point Marina
BayNavigator.com
Beach Realty of Cape San Blas, Inc.
Ben's Photos
Bluewater iNet Group, LLC
Bluewater Outriggers
Bottoms Up Fishing Tournament
Burke & Co. Real Estate Group, LLC
Cape San Blas Inn
Cape San Blas Lighthouse
Cape San Blas Realty
Cape San Blas Vacation Rentals
Cape Trading Post
CapeSanBlas.info
Capt. Clint's Pontoon Boat Rentals
Captain's Containers, LLC
Captain's Cove Marina
Carpet Country
Carrabelle Boat Club
Century 21/Collins Realty, Inc.
Charisma Charters
City of Port St. Joe
Coastal Concierge LLC
Coastal Design & Landscaping
Coastal Marina Management
Collins Construction and Sewage Treatment Services
Collins Vacation Rentals, Inc.
Columbus Marina
Crest Enterprises and Land Development, Inc.
Durens Piggly Wiggly
F&B Builders, Inc.
Family Life Church
First Baptist Church of Mexico Beach
First Prebyterian Church of Port St. Joe
Florida Catfish Classic Tournaments
FloridaGulfCoastMarinas.com
Forgotten Coast Property Management & Rentals, LLC
ForgottenCoast.biz
g3 Realty Group
Gamble & Associates Construction, Inc.
Grady Market
Gulf Coast Property Services, LLC
Gulf Coast Triple Crown Championship
Gulf Coast Vacation Rentals
Gulf County Supervisor of Elections Office
Gulf County TDC
GulfCountyBusiness.com
Gunn Heating & Air Conditioning, Inc.
Happy Ours Kayak & Bike Outpost
Harmon Realty Vacation Rentals
HenryG.NET
High Cotton Affairs
Indian Pass General Store
Indian Pass Raw Bar
Joe Mama's Wood Fired Pizza
Johnene Marcum, CPA
Joyce Estes, Artist
Kaci Rhodes, Realtor
L.L. Lanier & Sons
Lady J Charters
LaPrades Marina at Lake Burton
Lighthouse Utilities
Long Avenue Baptist Church
Mariner Investment Properties, Inc.
Mentor Gadsden
Mexico Beach Artificial Reef Association
Mexico Beach Harmon Realty, Inc.
Mexico Beach Marina
Mexico Beach Offshore Classic Fishing Tournament
Mexico Beach Sundance Realty
MexicoBeach.info
MexicoBeachFL.com
MexicoBeachSales.com
Michael Billings, REALTOR
Miss Mary
My Key Photography
NAPA - St. Joe Auto Parts
Natalie Shoaf, REALTOR
Natural Element, Inc.
No Worries Vacation Rentals
Opportunity Florida
Orange Beach Billfish Classic
Orange Beach Grand Slam
Organization for Artificial Reefs
Panache Tent + Event Rentals
Panhandle 360
Paradise Coast Vacation Rentals
Pirate's Cove Marina
Port St. Joe Marina
Port St. Joe Port Authority
PortStJoe.info
Pristine Properties Vacation Rentals, LLC
Pristine Properties, LLC
Raffield Fisheries, Inc.
Reeves Furniture & Refinishing Shoppe
Roberson and Associates, PA
Robinson Brothers Guide Service
Robinson Real Estate Company
Sally Childs, Realtor
Screened Onsite
Shallow Reed
Southeastern Consulting Engineers, Inc.
Spirit of Caregiving, LLC
St. George Island Real Estate
St. George Island Realty
St. James Episcopal Church
St. Joe Natural Gas Company
St. Joe Rent-All, Nursery & Supply
St. Vincent Island Shuttle Service
Star Publishing Company
StGeorgeIslandFlorida.info
StJoeBay.info
Sugar Beach Rentals, Inc.
Suncoast Realty and Property Management
SurfMexicoBeach.com
The Appliance Solution
The Invitational
The Port Fine Wine & Spirits
The Wharf Boat & Yacht Show
The Wharf Marina
Turtle Beach Inn
Ulrich Construction
Ward's Lawn Care & Pressure Washing
Waste One
Water's Edge RV Park
Zach Ferrell
George L. Chapel
Apalachicola Historical Society, Inc.
P.O. Box 75
Apalachicola, Florida 32329

Reprinted by Permission

Chapter 1 - The Indians
Chapter 2 - The Spanish
Chapter 3 - The English
Chapter 4 - Scottish Traders
Chapter 5 - The United States
Chapter 6 - The Settlements
Chapter 7 - Apalachicola
Chapter 8 - The Civil War
Chapter 9 - Cypress
Chapter 10 - World War II
Chapter 11 - Seafood
Selected Bibliography
Chapter 10 - World War II

Florida served as the temporary home for nearly 200 military installations during World War II. A major Army Air Corps airfield in Apalachicola and the Amphibious Training Center (ATC) of the Army Ground Forces Command, assisted by the Navy and Marine Corps, at Camp Gordon Johnston in Franklin County provided training and housing for some 30,000 military personnel. Stretching for twenty miles along the Gulf Coast among St. George Island, Carrabelle, and Alligator Point, and covering 160,000 acres leased primarily from the St. Joe Paper Company, Camp Gordon Johnston included the villages of Lanark and St. Teresa, as well as Dog Island, in what was the second largest military installation in Florida. The eponymous Colonel Gordon Johnston had been a distinguished cavalry officer of the late 29th and early 20th century, who had earned a Medal of Honor during the Philippine Insurrection, and who had later fought with the Allied Expeditionary Force in France during World War I. Four separate camps comprised the complex: three for regimental combat teams, and the fourth for the headquarters and support facilities centered on the Lanark Hotel. Alligator Point served as an aerial gunnery area, and Dog and St. George Islands were used for amphibious landings and airdrops. Additional training areas occupied most of the interior lands north to the Crooked and Ochlockonee Rivers. General Omar Bradley was the most famous soldier to train at the camp. The troops trained at the camp conducted several amphibious landings in the Pacific, including New Guinea and the Philippines (38th Division), and earned a fine non-amphibian record in the European theatre (28th and 4th Infantry Divisions). The Second, third and Fourth Engineer Amphibious Brigades conducted dozens of amphibious landings in the Southwestern Pacific under General MacArthur. In 1943, the camp was re-designated as an Army Service Forces (ASF) Training Center, training harbor craft and amphibian truck companies, as well as port construction, repair and maintenance units. Whereas, before the "Landing Craft, Vehicle and Personnel" (LVCP) had been used stressing tactics and logistics, now the camp pioneered with the 1942 Amphibious All-wheel Drive, Dual Rear Axle Truck (DUKW) which revolutionized amphibious warfare. German and Italian prisoners were sent to the camp beginning in 1944. After VJ Day (Victory Over Japan) in August 1945, the camp was the scene of a wild, continuous and spontaneous celebration. By 1947 the U. S. Army was gone.

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