Home Front to Battlefront: Florida During World War II

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Florida's citrus products and profits played an important role during World War II.

Photo Credit: Ray Stanyard, Museum of Florida History

Floridian's contributions to the war effort, both at home and abroad, were many.

The Second World War marked the emergence of Florida as a modern, influential state. The conflict spurred economic development and led to a postwar population surge that made Florida one of the most populous states in the nation by the dawn of the 21st century. It brought increased prosperity to both rural and urban areas of the state and hastened the demands of minority groups for greater economic and political opportunities. Floridians overwhelmingly supported U.S. participation in the “Good War.” Through their efforts on both the home front and the battlefield they hastened the defeat of Nazism, Fascism and Japanese militarism in the greatest conflict in modern world history.

Florida also became the scene of a bizarre German plot in June 1942 when four saboteurs came ashore from a German submarine near Ponte Vedra Beach.

The collapse of the land boom of the 1920s, followed by the Great Depression of the 1930s hurt the state’s economic development. Still, by the late 1930s and early 1940s Florida’s climate, beaches, and recreational activities annually attracted several million tourists to the peninsula. Defense appropriations and New Deal initiatives also contributed to an economic revival. The state’s population on the eve of war numbered just under 2 million, with the largest cities being Jacksonville, Miami and Tampa. In relation to other southern states, Florida’s population was relatively urban, with two-thirds of the population living in cities or towns. Still, North Florida and large portions of the central and southern sections of the state were decidedly rural in nature. Because of northern retirees and immigrants, Florida’s population also included more older and foreign-born citizens than its southern neighbors.

On December 7, 1941, when Floridians learned of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, few could have imagined the impact the war would have on their state. A tremendous migration of military personnel into the state took place, with more than 170 installations established or expanded.

Additionally, civilian workers came to work in the various camps and bases, and in the shipyards and other industries that expanded during the conflict. World War II, to an extent greater than previous conflicts, mobilized the nation’s population. Many soldiers, sailors and marines who served in Florida later returned to the state to live. The state’s population grew more than 46% during the decade of the 1940s, and would expand at an even more rapid pace during the 1950s. World War II served as a catalyst for the state’s explosive postwar growth.

Florida’s strategic location made the state vital for national defense. Planes and ships from Florida’s bases helped protect the sea lanes in the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean, and the state was viewed as an important first line of defense for the southern United States, the Caribbean Basin and the Panama Canal. Even before the outbreak of the war, new installations were built to house the prewar defense buildup. For the Army, Camp Blanding near Starke became one of the largest training bases in the southeastern United States, with nine divisions and many independent units passing through its facilities, while Camp Gordon Johnston at Carrabelle served as the Army’s major amphibious training center. Major Army Air Force bases included Valparaiso’s Eglin Field, Drew and MacDill Airfields at Tampa, Dale Mabry Field at Tallahassee, Buckingham and Page Airfields at Fort Myers, Panama City’s Tyndall Army Airfield, and Avon Park, Boca Raton, Homestead, Sarasota and Venice Army Airfields. Additionally, civilian contractors trained 14,000 cadet pilots, including many from Great Britain, at Lakeland, Avon Park and other locations from 1940 to1945. Airplane wrecks, a legacy from the extensive training that took place during the war, still dot the peninsula and its coastline. Major naval bases and air stations were established or expanded at Daytona Beach, DeLand, Fort Lauderdale, Green Cove Springs, Jacksonville, Key West, Melbourne, Miami, Pensacola, Richmond, Sanford and Vero Beach. At Fort Pierce, some 150,000 Navy, Marine Corps, and Army personnel passed through amphibious training, including elite scouts, raiders, and frogmen. Even the Coast Guard and its women’s auxiliary, the SPARS, would establish a training center in St. Augustine.

In addition to the hundreds of thousands of servicemen and servicewomen who came to Florida from other states to train and serve, over 200,000 Floridians, including more than 50,000 African-Americans, volunteered or were drafted into the military, some long before America’s entry into the war. In September 1940 a number of Florida National Guard units were mobilized into federal service, followed by the remainder in March 1941. Beginning with the first peacetime draft in American history in 1940, thousands of other Floridians began the transformation from civilian to soldier or sailor. Following the formal entry of the United States into the war in December 1941, many more volunteered or were drafted into service.

Floridians served in all major theaters of the war, and thousands paid the ultimate sacrifice. More than 4,600 Floridians serving in the armed forces died during the war, with battle deaths numbering 3,174.  These figures included 3,540 soldiers from Florida who had died of all causes, with naval casualties (killed and wounded) numbering 2,308. A number of native-born or adopted Floridians rose to high rank, including General Joseph Stilwell, Lieutenant General Roy Geiger and Lieutenant General James Van Fleet. In addition, several Floridians earned high military honors for their bravery. Colin Kelly of Madison was one of the war’s earliest heroes as a result of his actions as a bomber pilot in the Philippines. Sergeant Ernest “Boots” Thomas of Monticello led the patrol that placed the first American flag atop Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jimam and Alexander Nininger of Fort Lauderdale earned the war’s first Medal of Honor for leading a counterattack against the Japanese on Bataan. Sadly, none of these men survived the conflict. Perhaps the most patriotic family was that of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Cockman of Groveland, who sent eight sons into the armed forces during the conflict.  

Manufacturing and industrial output grew dramatically during the war, though production in other southern states increased at an even faster rate than Florida. Still, equipment and supplies necessary to conduct the war were produced in the state, with shipbuilding being among the most significant contributions. Hundreds of Liberty ships, patrol torpedo boats, aircraft rescue boats, minesweepers, assault boats and other vessels were built by the Tampa Shipbuilding Company, the Wainwright Shipyard in Panama City, the St. Johns River Shipyard Company in Jacksonville, the Miami Shipbuilding Corporation and other smaller firms during the war. “Alligator” amphibious vehicles, which helped win the war in the Pacific, were also designed and produced at Dunedin.

Agriculture remained one of the state’s major economic contributions to the war effort, though a shortage of agricultural workers threatened to limit Florida’s harvests. The U.S. Department of Agriculture eventually authorized the temporary importation of 75,000 Bahamians and Jamaicans to work in South Florida fields. Cotton, tobacco and vegetable production all increased, as did sugar production, as domestic companies scrambled to make up for the loss of the sugar crop normally produced in the Philippines. Likewise, Florida’s citrus growers found increased demand for their products. Processes for both dehydrated and frozen citrus concentrate were developed during the war, and millions of cans were sent around the world. Early in the conflict the Florida citrus harvest passed that of California and soon became a $100 million industry. During the war, chemists from the U.S. Department of Agriculture conducted experiments in an Orlando laboratory with dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane, or DDT, which would eventually be used widely to prevent disease in different theaters of the war and, by the conflict’s end, as an insecticide to protect crops. Only years later would its harmful side effects be realized. While Florida agricultural production contributed to the Allied victory in World War II, it did so at a terrible cost to farm workers, who suffered through degrading living and working conditions.

World War II presented economic opportunities for Floridians who had suffered through the Depression of the 1930s. Wages improved and jobs became plentiful due to the large number of men in service. Women, African-Americans and Hispanics moved into jobs previously dominated by white males. “Rosie the Riveter” became a symbol for the millions of American women who entered the workplace for the first time, while black Americans worked toward the “Double V” – victory overseas against Fascism and victory at home against racial prejudice. African-Americans won several minor victories over Jim Crow segregation laws during the war, setting the stage for the civil rights movement of the 1950s-1960s. Race relations in Florida remained tense, and while no large-scale race riots occurred like those in Detroit and Los Angeles, a number of racial disturbances did take place in the state. Several erupted in Tallahassee, where black servicemen clashed with police and white servicemen. The State Defense Council eventually drew up contingency plans for the capital and a number of other Florida cities in the event of more severe disturbances, but none ever materialized.
Restrictions on travel, and a blackout enacted in early 1942 to prevent Allied ships from being silhouetted against the coastline, hurt Florida’s tourism industry during the early months of the war. To compensate for the loss of tourist dollars, however, the military took over hotels for use as barracks, and restaurants as mess halls. By the end of 1942, for example, more than 70,000 trainees attending various service schools run by the Army Air Force were staying in hotel rooms in Miami and Miami Beach. Servicemen were eventually billeted in hotels throughout the state, such as St. Augustine’s luxurious Ponce de Leon, while the Women’s Army Corps “invaded” Daytona Beach. Later in the war the tourist trade returned, with Florida promoting itself as a vacation getaway for hard-working, and now highly paid, civilian workers. Consequently, in 1943, tourism in Florida increased by 20 percent over the previous year, and gambling at South Florida racetracks reached all-time highs. Florida’s state government publicized the availability of hotel rooms for civilians, and even secured additional trains to transport tourists. The state’s promotion of its tourist industry drew criticism in some quarters for its inappropriateness during a period of national sacrifice, but in general, Americans recognized the need for relaxation and recreation, even in wartime.

Although nearly a quarter of a million Floridians served in the armed forces, the majority of the population fought the battle of the home front. In his address to the state legislature in 1943, Florida Governor Spessard Holland stated:

At this tense hour it is wholly unnecessary to remind you of the fact that we meet at the time of gravest crisis in the life of our Nation. We are engaged in a war which is challenging our deepest patriotic convictions, and demanding the most effective and sacrificial service we can render, as individual citizens and as a member of the family of states . . . I feel that every citizen of Florida can say with proper humility that our State is doing its full part in the winning of the war.

Virtually without exception, Floridians heeded the governor’s call. By 1943, more than 300,000 had volunteered for civilian defense activities, and many more served in the Red Cross, the U.S.O., on draft and rationing boards, on recreation committees, and in many similar agencies. To help finance the war, Floridians had also purchased more than $145,000,000 in war bonds and stamps by 1943.
United behind the war effort, Floridians joined in both voluntary and mandatory efforts to conserve strategic war materials. Drives to collect rubber, scrap metals, rags, paper and grease became popular, as did “victory gardens” and “meatless” days to stretch the nation’s food resources. 

Shortages and rationing of various goods also became commonplace during the war. Rationing boards were established in every county with the power to regulate the sale of 90 percent of all civilian commodities. Every Floridian received a ration book limiting what he or she could purchase. This effort to conserve the nation’s resources and to stop inflation proved largely successful.

In early 1942 rubber became the first item to be rationed by the federal government’s Office of Price Administration (OPA). Gasoline soon followed, with mandatory rationing becoming effective on December 1, 1942. Floridians received A, B or C ration coupons, allowing them a specific number of gallons per week, depending on their occupation. Those unfortunates with “A” stickers were authorized only four (later decreased to three) gallons per week. In 1943 gasoline rationing became even more severe, with all forms of pleasure driving becoming illegal. Because of driving restrictions, Floridians turned to public transportation for any type of long distance travel. Trains and buses became crowded as a result of the huge numbers of servicemen and servicewomen travelling from one duty station to another.

The rationing of food had a great impact on the lives of average Floridians. As with gas, the government issued ration books authorizing the purchase of only a certain amount of various products per week. Beginning in April 1942, sugar was rationed, followed by coffee, meats, butter, canned goods, dried peas and beans, and a variety of other products. In addition to food, consumer products like shoes and clothing were rationed or restricted. Alcohol was not rationed, but it remained in chronically short supply.

Most Floridians tried to abide by the often-confusing government regulations, although a thriving black market developed. Malcolm Johnson, Tallahassee correspondent for the Associated Press during World War II, later commented that “[T]here was a lot of favoritism. If you were a good customer, the butcher had something for you that didn’t show in the case. And the filling station could find a way to give you more gas and new tires.” Black marketeering could never be eliminated, but the federal government’s rationing plans helped direct the nation’s resources to the more rapid defeat of Germany, Italy and Japan.

During the Second World War, there were no direct land attacks against the East Coast of the United States by any of the Axis powers. Florida, however, was prepared for just that possibility. Governor Fred Cone had created the State Defense Council in November 1940 to organize civilian preparedness and defense throughout the state. The state legislature officially authorized and funded the council the following year. Spessard Holland, who took office as Florida’s 28th governor in January 1941, served as the council’s chairman, with George L. Burr, Jr. as executive director. The council consisted of divisions that dealt with industry and material resources; labor and personnel; civil protection; fire protection and water supply; agriculture; food; health and housing; communications and transportation; power and fuel; finance and budget; home community service; and information, education and morale. The many functions of the council included promoting the sales of war bonds and stamps; providing information on rationing; fighting against the black market; promoting the planting of victory gardens; working with Florida farmers to increase agricultural production and to provide adequate farm labor; administering a “Florida Fights Inflation” program; helping regulate blackouts and dimouts; conducting air raid drills; providing guards for airports and regulating anti sabotage measures; recruiting nurses; working to regulate “juke joints” and eliminate prostitution and venereal disease; organizing a guide service to assist the military; promoting salvage activities, scrap and paper drives, and the collection of women’s hosiery; forming youth groups; advocating car pooling and headlight and speed restrictions; and the establishment of a child care program.

Following the mobilization of the Florida National Guard in 1940 and 1941, a Florida Defense Force, later known as the Florida State Guard, was established to assume the duties of the departed National Guard. By 1943 it numbered 2,100 men in 36 units. Other Floridians served as air raid wardens, airplane spotters, and civil defense wardens. Civilian yachtsmen formed coastal patrol organizations and others volunteered to help the Coast Guard patrol the thousands of miles of unprotected beaches. The state’s vulnerable position became evident shortly after Pearl Harbor. In early 1942 German submarines opened an offensive against the virtually undefended Allied shipping lanes along the East Coast. Before the carnage was over, nearly 400 ships had been sunk, and thousands of lives lost. Dozens of ships were torpedoed just off Florida’s Atlantic Coast and others in the Gulf of Mexico. German submarine skippers used the lights of coastal cities to silhouette their targets. One of the more spectacular sinkings occurred on April 11, 1942, when the SS Gulfamerica, carrying 90,000 barrels of fuel oil from Port Arthur, Texas to New York, was torpedoed and exploded into flames just four miles off Jacksonville Beach. Increased escort and antisubmarine patrols by ships and blimps of the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard, as well as by private vessels requisitioned into government service, eventually improved the situation off the East Coast, and the number of sinkings declined dramatically. The U-boats maintained a continued presence in Florida waters. However, in July 1943, an American blimp was shot down by a German submarine in waters off the Florida Keys.
Florida also became the scene of a bizarre German plot in June 1942 when four saboteurs came ashore from a German submarine near Ponte Vedra Beach. They were to join four other saboteurs who had landed on New York’s Long Island. Fortunately, one of the New York band had misgivings about his mission and surrendered to the FBI. Within a short time all had been apprehended. Other than the submarine warfare off its waters and the landing of the German saboteurs, Florida was the scene of no other direct combat activity. The only other enemy personnel to reach Florida soil were captured Germans and Italians incarcerated here during the latter stages of the war. Some 10,000 prisoners were held at 27 camps throughout the state, and Floridians grew accustomed to seeing truckloads of POWs travelling to and from work along Florida roads.

By 1944 it was evident to most Floridians that the war had turned in favor of the Allies. Continued advances in the Pacific, and the invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe in June confirmed this fact.  In the November 1944 state elections, Democrat Millard Caldwell won the governorship. In his opening address to the legislature in April 1945, he emphasized postwar development and economic issues, indicating that many were looking forward to the end of the war and to Florida’s role in the postwar era. 

In the spring of 1945 peace finally came to Europe, and Floridians joined the country in celebrating V-E Day on May 8, 1945. Still, they knew that Japan remained to be defeated. Fears of a costly Allied invasion of the Japanese home islands proved unfounded when in August, shortly after the explosion of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan agreed to surrender terms. “Peace Comes to World,” announced the Florida Times Union on V-J Day August 15, 1945, while the Fort Lauderdale News and Evening Sentinel reported on the city’s joyous celebrations as a result of victory over the “Nipponese.” Another round of celebrations hit the state after the formal Japanese surrender on September 2, 1945.  

At the end of the war, thousands of Florida veterans returned home, while many wartime plants or shipyards closed or severely curtailed their operations. Though most military bases closed with the war’s end, others remained operational, contributing to the postwar growth of a number of Florida cities. Florida’s tourist industry continued to expand, and large numbers of veterans who had trained in the state would return here to live after the war. The state’s minority population, meanwhile, pressed for equal rights, and Floridians would be on the frontline of the later civil rights movement. In the postwar years Florida grew into the most populous state in the Southeast and one of the largest in the country. Floridians of the mid-20th century could look back with pride on the efforts and sacrifices they had made during the war, while looking forward to the dramatic challenges and opportunities facing the state in the future.