Memorial Day 2019

Memorial Day 2019

The following is some history and personal thoughts about Memorial Day long ago and recently by CPCA President Pat Rathburn:

Most people would not immediately associate Fort Lauderdale with World War II, but on this weekend where we commemorate the sacrifice that so many men and women have made for our country, we thought it would be interesting to our residents to get a sense of the impact that war had on our community.

In 1940, prior to the United States entry into WWII, Florida was the least-populated southern state, and ranked only 27th nationally. World War II changed this statistic as Florida played an important role in the events leading up to and during World War II. Key West, Tampa, Jacksonville, Fort Lauderdale and Miami populations surged during the war. Prior to WWII, Fort Lauderdale was a vacation retreat in the midst of economic struggles despite growing tourism in the state. The war changed that. In 1930, there were 8,666 people in Fort Lauderdale and that number had only risen to 17,996 by 1940. However, by the mid 1940s, after the war ended, there were almost 40,000 full time residents of Fort Lauderdale- an increase of almost 225% from 1940.

Between military personnel, civilian support and winter tourists, by the end of the war, Florida was no longer that underpopulated small southern state. Thousands of people came to Florida because of the war and decided to stay and build their lives here. Our population grew to about 2-3/4 million by 1950. The US population grew 15% after the war, but Florida's rose a startling 46%! 

The United States did not enter World War II until December 8, 1941 after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7^th, but Fort Lauderdale felt the effects sooner than most of the rest of the country. In December 1939, a British cruiser chased the German freighter Arauca into Port Everglades, where she remained until the U.S seized her in 1941. 

This certainly was not the last brush that Florida would have with German vessels. World War II took place closer to the United States than many people ever realized. German U-Boats sank over twenty-four ships off of Florida's Atlantic and Gulf Coasts. Many ships could be seen burning from areas along the coast by Floridians and tourists. In late February 1942, German submarines attacked four merchant ships right off the east coast of Florida near Cape Canaveral. German spies were able to come on shore at Ponte Vedra (near Jacksonville). They were captured before they could blow up Florida's railroad lines and stop the shipment of war supplies. 

Blackouts were imposed in Fort Lauderdale and other cities along the coast, and several allied vessels were torpedoed by German U-boats, including at least one ship within sight of the shoreline. The first Medal of Honor recipient in World War II was a graduate of Fort Lauderdale High School; Second Lieutenant Alexander R. Nininger Jr. was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor on 29 January 1942 for his actions in Abucay, Bataan, Philippines, during the Japanese invasion. For those of you who have never noticed- the road leading off Federal Highway into Parker Playhouse and War Memorial is named after Lt. Nininger and there is a memorial on River Walk. See Below.

The Civil Air Patrol was organized in March 1942, to protect the coasts of Florida. The "Mosquito Fleet" also helped to protect the coastlines of Florida. These convoys helped to eliminate the threat of submarines. Thousands of volunteers, called spotters, were trained to keep track of air activity up and down both shores. 

After the US entered the war there was an influx of men and women arriving to help prepare soldiers and seamen for war. In addition to civilian war efforts, over 250,000 soldiers/sailors from all over Florida served their country during the war.

Because Florida had a warm climate and a lot of vacant land available, it was ideal for the building of military bases and training soldiers. In the 1930s, there was a tremendous growth of military establishments throughout Florida.  

By December 1941, the Army Corps of Engineers began transforming an abandoned 9-hole golf course and the Merle Fogg Field (known now as the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport) into a naval base. The Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale (NASFL)  base was completed and commissioned October 1, 1942. With the close proximity of a protected deep-water port, Fort Lauderdale, a resort town of less than 20,000 people at the time, was an ideal location for the station. The good weather allowed many hours of flying time, the open sea was good for training, and the Everglades provided a natural bombing range as there was no heavy industry or other military targets to attract enemy fire.

The base was initially used for refitting civilian airliners for military service before they were ferried across the South Atlantic to Europe and then North Africa. It later became a main training base for Naval aviators and enlisted Naval air-crewmen of the U.S Navy and Marine Corps aboard aircraft carriers and from  expeditionary airfields ashore. Originally conceived as an adjunct to NAS Miami, the NAS Fort Lauderdale became an independent naval base part of the Naval Air Operational Training Command, specializing in torpedo bombers.  Also established to work in conjunction with the NASFL were the Naval Air Station Boat Facility, the Fort Lauderdale Navy Section Base, and the Fort Lauderdale Coast Guard Station located at Port Everglades. These units were instrumental in providing practical target bombing practice as well as air and sea rescue operations and retrieving of torpedoes. In addition to the NASFL,  two satellite landing fields were constructed, one at West Prospect Field, and the other in Pompano Beach (Pompano Beach Airpark, home of one of the Goodyear Blimps). By the end of the war, the NASFL station had trained thousands of Navy pilots, including future President of the United States George H. W. Bush. 

By 1942, America's training facilities in Florida were heavily overcrowded. This led to the military taking over many hotel facilities. Among the hotels used were the Don Cesar in St. Petersburg, the Hollywood Beach Hotel, The Breakers in Fort Lauderdale, the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, and several hundred other hotels/motels throughout Florida. Some of the places were used for barracks; others were taken over as makeshift hospitals for injured military personnel sent home from overseas. 

World War II provided the greatest economic growth in American history. The war effort sent large amounts of money into Florida, leading to rebuilding and even growth after the Great Depression. War contracts helped to rebuild Florida's manufacturing, agricultural, and tourism businesses which had been decimated by a series of hurricanes and the world wide Depression.
With the rebuilding of industry, many jobs were available, but most men were off fighting in the war. Because of this, World War II provided an opportunity for American women. It helped prove that women could handle a man's job. In Florida, women worked in shipyards, welding shops, and military bases. Women also helped run the agriculture industry, where one fourth of all farm workers were women. They were able to take over jobs left behind by the men and keep America stable. In addition to providing the necessary work force needed during the war, women bought war bonds and volunteered as nurses, fire fighters, and police officers. 

America and its allies eventually won the war in 1945, but at a tragic cost to the country. Over 400,000 Americans, (3,000 of which were Floridians) were killed during the war. In other wars, Fort Lauderdale families were also affected with over 50 soldiers of the approximately 58,000 that died in Vietnam coming from Fort Lauderdale. 

I had the honor to attend a graduation at the The Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine  last weekend in Washington DC, where the graduates represented all branches of the military – Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine, Coast Guard and the Public Health Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. After the graduation, we walked over to the Vietnams Woman’s Memorial honoring the American women killed in Vietnam. It was a busy day at the memorials, with quite a few “Honor Flight” veterans being escorted to the various memorials representing their service for the U.S. If you are not familiar with the Honor Flight program, and you have a friend or a relative who is a veteran, it might be something you want to look into. Honor Flight Network is a non-profit organization created solely to honor America’s veterans for all their sacrifices. According to their website:

Our Mission: To transport America’s Veterans to Washington, DC to visit those memorials dedicated to honor the service and sacrifices of themselves and their friends.

We transport our heroes to Washington, D.C. to visit and reflect at their memorials. Top priority is given to the senior veterans – World War II survivors, along with those other veterans who may be terminally ill. Of all of the wars in recent memory, it was World War II that truly threatened our very existence as a nation—and as a culturally diverse, free society. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, an estimated 640 WWII veterans die each day. Our time to express our thanks to these brave men and women is running out.

While we were taking photographs at the Memorial with the “graduate”  who was still in her Army uniform from the ceremony, countless members of the Honor flight program came up and asked if they could have their picture taken with her. They were mostly WWII and Korean War Veterans-some self ambulatory- some not- and I’m sure most at least 50 years older than she is- but they wanted to thank HER for her service and told her meeting her was one of the highlights of their trip. Not too many dry eyes at that – and watching them all together was certainly a highlight of mine.

More about “Sandy Nininger” From the Sun Sentinel May 2010 When he went off to war, Sandy Nininger was a tall, slender young man of 23 who grew up swimming and fishing on the New River in the Sailboat Bend neighborhood. At West Point before heading off to World War II told a friend that he felt no hate and did not think he could kill.

But Nininger proved to be one of this nation's most ferocious warriors, reportedly killing at least 50 Japanese soldiers during the siege of Bataan in January 1942 before he himself was slain. He was the first American soldier from World War II to be awarded the Medal of Honor.

Sixteen years ago, a statue of Nininger was erected on the city's Riverwalk, not far from where he grew up. But Nininger's remains were never found, despite repeated recovery efforts by the military and members of his family. Tuesday, however, Nininger will have a ceremonial homecoming when he is honored in a memorial service at Arlington National Cemetery. There his name has been inscribed on a headstone in gold letters.

The year-long effort to have the memorial service and marker in Arlington was led by Nininger's nephew, John Patterson, 73, a former Rhode Island state senator. 

Alexander R. Nininger Jr., called Sandy, went to West Point after Fort Lauderdale High School. He graduated in May 1941, was commissioned a second lieutenant, and was attached to the 57th Infantry Regiment of the Philippine Scouts. Drawing from the account of Nininger's actions in his Medal of Honor citation, these are the description of his deeds that appear on the marble base of the statue:

"Single-handedly Sandy Nininger, the boy from Fort Lauderdale's Sailboat Bend area, charged into the enemy positions with a rifle, grenades and a fixed bayonet, shooting snipers out of trees and destroying enemy groups in foxholes."

He was hit three times by enemy bullets before he finally fell. Fellow soldiers buried Nininger's body in a Catholic churchyard, which later was overrun by the Japanese. Patterson said he has made three trips to Bataan to search for his uncle's remains.

The memorial, which shows Niniger lunging into battle, rifle in hand, has become the focus of Broward County's tribute to those killed in war. Surrounding the bronze figure of the Medal of Honor recipient are bricks bearing the names of more than 320 other Broward County veterans who died between 1917 and the current wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Cut, pasted and otherwise cribbed and edited from various sources including The History of the Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale, Wiki-pedia, newspapers, Florida Archives and others- there was no possible way to foot note all of the sources for this document which is for educational purposes only and is deemed as a Fair Use Exemption to  Section 107 of the Copyright Act ^d Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale Historical Association Archived 2008-02-09 at the Wayback Machine website discussing history of the facility: Florida military bases, from FSU Archived 2007-12-18 at the Wayback Machine  https://www.nasflmuseum.com/nasfl-history.html History of the Fort Lauderdale Naval Air Station https://fcit.usf.edu/florida/lessons/ww_ii/ww_ii1.htm