JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — World War II fueled growth in America and Jacksonville. A public vote to sell land to the Navy was the start of Jacksonville’s “Navy Town” status, according to Ron Williamson, the historian for Naval Air Station Jacksonville.
“It was like 98.5 percent of people here wanted the base here in Jacksonville. So, that tells you right there that people love the military here,” Williamson said.
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The base was commissioned in 1940, with a focus on training pilots, especially for anti-submarine warfare. That fight came to Jacksonville’s shores in 1942, when the SS Gulf America was torpedoed by a German submarine off the Jacksonville coast,” Williamson said.
The newly commissioned Naval Auxiliary Air Station Mayport came online in 1944. Budget cuts almost closed the base, but it was reactivated in 1948.
“The Cold War and all the risk and they realized that Naval Station Mayport was so strategically important to defend the East Coast and the Atlantic from the approaches to the southeast that they needed to keep it up and running,” explained NS Mayport commanding officer Capt. Michael Trumbull.
Both installations played critical roles in Korea, Vietnam, and conflicts in the Middle East happening today. Mayport saw its peak activity in 1987, with 30 ships, including two aircraft carriers. That same year, Iraqi missiles struck the USS Stark, killing 37 sailors.
“President Reagan came and actually honored the hip and talked to the families,” Trumbull said. “The honest truth was, it proved the point that, I think Jacksonville knows very well that what we do matters, and that what their sacrifice accomplished was important.”
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NAS Jacksonville hosted nationally known figures, including President Franklin Roosevelt. His visit results in the naming of a section of US 17 near the base in his honor.
The late Senator John McCain was repatriated to NAS Jacksonville after his captivity as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.
Jesse Brown, the Navy’s first African-American aviator, got his wings at NAS Jacksonville. The Blue Angels got their start at NAS Jacksonville in 1946.
Today, the two bases are home to almost 20,000 active duty service members and thousands of civilian and reserve personnel, constantly adapting to meet the nation’s ever-shifting needs.
“On a daily basis here, our P-8’s are still supporting operations worldwide and down in the Southern hemisphere,” said NAS Jacksonville commanding officer Capt. Ryan Dexter.
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“I hope they realized that the work that’s happening here… is truly causing deterrence around the world,” Capt. Trumbull said.
It’s a mission supported by those and home here in Jacksonville, and those carrying out operations abroad.
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