Floridians in Military Service: Navy and Marines
In the months before the official American entry into the war, the U.S. Navy had begun patrolling the American coast and convoying Allied shipping in the Atlantic, while maintaining a wary eye on Japanese actions in the Pacific. With the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the Navy found itself in a two-ocean war. In the Atlantic and European theaters, Navy vessels protected Allied ships against U-boats, including off the Florida coast, and conducted amphibious operations in North Africa, Sicily, Italy, and Normandy.
The Navy played an even greater role in the Pacific. In June 1942, aircraft carrier-based naval aviators won a decisive victory at Midway, which is considered the turning point in the war against Japan. Over the next three years, American naval strength increased dramatically. In addition to assisting in amphibious landings, the Navy largely eliminated the Japanese Imperial Navy. By 1945, U.S. ships were operating off the Japanese coast in preparation for an invasion of the Japanese main islands, that fortunately never took place. Over 4 million sailors, including many Floridians, served in the Navy, and nearly 40,000 were killed in action.
Marine Corps:
The United States Marine Corps, a separate service within the Department of the Navy, earned fame during the Pacific campaigns of World War II. Beginning with the defense of Wake Island in December 1941 and continuing with the bloody amphibious assaults on Guadalcanal, Bougainville, Tarawa, Peleliu, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa, the Marines won the admiration of all Americans for their tenacity and "esprit de corps". Of 669,000 Marine who served during World War II, nearly 20,000 died.
U.S. Marines gathered around the first American flag on Mount Suribachi on Iwo JimaIn the center of the photograph is Monticello native Sergeant Ernest I. "Boots" Thomas, Jr.
(Florida State Archives
