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During World War II, Palm Beach County was a beehive of activity. Beachgoers witnessed the destruction left in the wake of U-boat attacks and then helped rescue survivors and retrieve the dead. One of the first Civil Air Patrol units to hunt German U-boats operated from Palm Beach County. Morrison Field in West Palm Beach served as the take-off point for Army Air Corps planes destined for battle lines throughout the world. Boca Raton Army Air Field was the headquarters for training airmen in top-secret RADAR technology. The US Army, Navy, and Coast Guard used resort hotels for training sites and hospitals.

Few Florida communities felt the impact of World War II as much as the Atlantic-coast town of Fort Pierce. With a population that soared along with its economy, the small city made an important contribution to Allied victory by hosting a major military training base. Prior to that, the war had come only as close as the German submarines stalking targets off the southern coast of the peninsula. In 1943, however, the U.S. Navy commissioned its newest
amphibious training base in Fort Pierce, and tens of thousands of young men would eventually prepare for combat on the town's sunny shores. The intensive physical and mental training was hardly "a day at the beach," and within a few months, Fort Pierce had become a major military post with a national reputation. It also became the training site of some of the most elite units of the armed forces, including the Scouts and Raiders, U.S. Army Rangers, and the legendary "frogmen."