BGuthrie Photos: CA -- San Diego -- Balboa Park -- Veterans Museum & Memorial Center

CA -- San Diego -- Balboa Park -- Veterans Museum & Memorial Center:

Bruce Guthrie Photos Home Page: [Click here] to go to Bruce Guthrie Photos home page.

Recognize anyone? If you recognize specific folks (or other stuff) and I haven't labeled them, please identify them for the world. Click the little pencil icon

underneath the file name (just above the picture). Spammers need not apply.

Slide Show: Want to see the pictures as a slide show? [Slideshow]

Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.

Help? The Medium (Email) links are for screen viewing and emailing. You'll want bigger sizes for printing. [Click here for additional help]

Share: Facebook Twitter Digg
[1] VMMC_090722_002.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[2] VMMC_090722_005.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[3] VMMC_090722_013.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[4] VMMC_090722_016.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[5] VMMC_090722_021.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[6] VMMC_090722_025.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[7] VMMC_090722_029.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[8] VMMC_090722_032.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[9] VMMC_090722_036.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[10] VMMC_090722_040.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[11] VMMC_090722_045.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[12] VMMC_090722_046.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[13] VMMC_090722_051.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[14] VMMC_090722_052.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[15] VMMC_090722_057.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[16] VMMC_090722_058.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[17] VMMC_090722_063.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[18] VMMC_090722_064.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[19] VMMC_090722_066.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[20] VMMC_090722_069.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[21] VMMC_090722_071.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[22] VMMC_090722_074.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[23] VMMC_090722_077.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[24] VMMC_090722_080.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[25] VMMC_090722_082.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[26] VMMC_090722_087.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[27] VMMC_090722_088.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[28] VMMC_090722_093.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[29] VMMC_090722_096.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[30] VMMC_090722_100.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[31] VMMC_090722_105.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[32] VMMC_090722_106.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[33] VMMC_090722_110.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[34] VMMC_090722_112.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[35] VMMC_090722_116.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[36] VMMC_090722_118.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[37] VMMC_090722_122.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[38] VMMC_090722_124.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[39] VMMC_090722_128.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[40] VMMC_090722_131.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[41] VMMC_090722_136.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[42] VMMC_090722_137.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[43] VMMC_090722_142.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[44] VMMC_090722_143.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[45] VMMC_090722_147.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[46] VMMC_090722_150.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[47] VMMC_090722_153.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[48] VMMC_090722_156.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[49] VMMC_090722_159.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[50] VMMC_090722_162.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[51] VMMC_090722_165.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[52] VMMC_090722_168.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[53] VMMC_090722_171.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[54] VMMC_090722_174.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[55] VMMC_090722_177.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[56] VMMC_090722_180.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[57] VMMC_090722_184.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[58] VMMC_090722_189.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[59] VMMC_090722_191.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[60] VMMC_090722_195.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[61] VMMC_090722_198.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[62] VMMC_090722_202.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[63] VMMC_090722_208.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[64] VMMC_090722_212.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[65] VMMC_090722_216.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[66] VMMC_090722_220.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[67] VMMC_090722_226.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[68] VMMC_090722_232.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[69] VMMC_090722_236.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[70] VMMC_090722_239.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[71] VMMC_090722_244.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[72] VMMC_090722_253.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[73] VMMC_090722_258.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[74] VMMC_090722_264.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[75] VMMC_090722_269.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[76] VMMC_090722_274.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[77] VMMC_090722_278.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[78] VMMC_090722_282.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[79] VMMC_090722_287.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[80] VMMC_090722_290.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[81] VMMC_090722_298.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[82] VMMC_090722_301.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[83] VMMC_090722_306.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[84] VMMC_090722_309.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[85] VMMC_090722_313.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[86] VMMC_090722_321.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[87] VMMC_090722_324.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[88] VMMC_090722_329.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[89] VMMC_090722_332.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[90] VMMC_090722_337.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[91] VMMC_090722_343.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[92] VMMC_090722_348.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[93] VMMC_090722_352.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[94] VMMC_090722_357.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[95] VMMC_090722_363.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[96] VMMC_090722_368.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[97] VMMC_090722_371.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[98] VMMC_090722_374.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[99] VMMC_090722_377.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[100] VMMC_090722_380.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[101] VMMC_090722_385.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[102] VMMC_090722_389.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[103] VMMC_090722_394.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[104] VMMC_090722_395.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[105] VMMC_090722_398.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[106] VMMC_090722_402.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[107] VMMC_090722_405.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[108] VMMC_090722_408.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[109] VMMC_090722_411.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[110] VMMC_090722_414.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[111] VMMC_090722_417.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[112] VMMC_090722_420.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[113] VMMC_090722_423.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[114] VMMC_090722_426.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[115] VMMC_090722_429.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[116] VMMC_090722_435.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[117] VMMC_090722_437.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[118] VMMC_090722_441.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[119] VMMC_090722_445.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[120] VMMC_090722_450.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[121] VMMC_090722_455.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[122] VMMC_090722_459.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[123] VMMC_090722_463.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[124] VMMC_090722_468.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[125] VMMC_090722_477.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[126] VMMC_090722_484.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[127] VMMC_090722_488.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[128] VMMC_090722_492.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[129] VMMC_090722_495.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[130] VMMC_090722_500.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[131] VMMC_090722_506.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[132] VMMC_090722_516.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[133] VMMC_090722_518.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[134] VMMC_090722_523.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[135] VMMC_090722_532.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)
[136] VMMC_090722_536.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)	[137] VMMC_090722_540.JPG Medium (Email) (Bigger?)

Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. VMMC_090722_016.JPG: The B-24 Liberator The B-24 Liberator bomber airplane played a significant role in the allied victory in World War II. Its manufacture was also pivotal to the development of San Diego, the airplane was designed by Consolidated Aircraft Corporation, where more than a third of all B-24's were built during World War II. At the peak of production, more than 15,000 San Diegans worked at Consolidated, building B-24. Other San Diego manufacturers brought this number even higher. Subcontractors included Rohr Industries in Chula Vista; Ryan Aeronautical Company and Solar Corporation, both in San Diego. The B-24 Liberator was flown by all branches of the U.S. military, and by every major ally during World War II. Altogether, 19,256 Liberators of all types and models were built. The Consolidated B-24 Liberator was the most mass-produced American aircraft of all time. B-24 Sculptor: Robert Henderson
2. VMMC_090722_029.JPG: Veterans Circle The Veterans Memorial Garden celebrates the contributions to freedom made by our veterans. It has been designed with 3 components: a land, air and a sea garden, united by a central gathering place, the Veterans Circle. Honor * Duty * Country These are the principles illustrated within the Veterans Circle with the words of past presidents echoes in the paving. Visitors are greeted by rows of red and white border roses, accented by cobalt blue lillies, flanders poppies, the symbol of veterans organizations, bring a sense of annual renewal.
3. VMMC_090722_040.JPG: Founding San Diego: In 1542, Juan Rodrigues Cabrillo, a Portuguese soldier in the service of New Spain, sailed up the coast of Mexico to explore the northwest coast of the continent. He sought the mythical Straits of Anian -- the "Northwest Passage" -- supposed to extend from the Atlantic to the Pacific through, or above North America, providing a convenient route for voyagers to Cathay, the Spice Islands, and the Spanish colonies on the Pacific Coast. If France, England, or another enemy discovered the Straits first, Spain's future would be gravely menaced. Out 103 days, Cabrillo pulled his 2 small ships under the shelter of Pt. Loma, an event that marked the European "discovery" of Alta California. He called the harbor San Miguel. In his official diary he said, "Being in this port there passed a very great tempest, but on account of this port's very good they suffered nothing." Cabrillo sailed on, dying a few weeks later of an injury. No Europeans came into the region again until the arrival of Sebastian Vizcaino in 1602. His mission was to find a port where eastbound Spanish Manila galleons could pull in for repairs and supplies, out of sign and mind of English freebooters. On the feast day of San Diego de Alcala, Dizcaino had the priests in his company hold the first-ever Catholic service anywhere in the Californias. He renamed the place San Diego in honor of the saint's feast day, and sailed off up the coast a few days later. Vizcaino noted that San Diego Bay was "a port which must be the best to be found in all the [Pacific]... protected on all sides and having a good anchorage." Nevertheless, when he caught sight of Monterey Bay, he found that preferable to San Diego due to the abundant forests there that could provide the spars and lumber necessary to repair damaged galleons.
4. VMMC_090722_045.JPG: San Diego remained untouched by outsiders until 1769, when Gaspar de Portola, the first governor of California and commander of an effort to colonize the province, arrived with his "Sacred Expedition." Two days later came Junipero Serra, the new Father President of the Franciscan missions. Serra founded San Diego on July 16, 1769 on a hill with a commanding view of the Indian settlements in Mission Valley and the bay. After a mass, Father Serra dedicated the first mission in California to the glory of God and in the same ceremony dedicated the first presidio -- or military settlement -- whose walls were to surround and protect the mission. Both were named San Diego. Earthworks for defense and huts for shelter were soon thrown up to create the first foothold of civilization in California on Presidio Hill. While Presidio Hill might have been the "Plymouth Rock of the Pacific Coast," as some said, it certainly was no Rock of Gibraltar. Never garrisoned with more than a handful of soldiers, San Diego's earliest military establishment had a hard time defending the colony against Indians and outsiders; the soldiers soon earned a terrible reputation for abusing the Indians who joined the mission as neophytes (converts). That problem became more complicated in 1774 when Serra moved the mission from Presidio Hill to its present location five miles or so the east. In response to abuse at the hands of the colonizers, a force of between 600 and 1,000 Indians attacked the lightly defended mission in November 1775, killing the Spanish blacksmith and carpenter and one of the two priests. All four soldiers then at the mission were wounded by arrows. When help finally arrived from the presidio, the attackers had left the area.
5. VMMC_090722_046.JPG: Within a few months, a small contingent of soldiers arrived in San Diego from Loreto in Baja California, and several more came south from Monterrey, although there were few to spare from either outpost. The garrison, by December 21, 1777, included a lieutenant, a sergeant, six corporals, and forty-eight privates. The work of building the presidio began in earnest in 1778. The presence of married soldiers served as inducement to construct a complex of fire-resistant adobe structures within the walls of the Presidio. Life in San Diego was slow and undisturbed by the world until 1793, when the English explorer George Vancouver landed here. He and the Spaniards enjoyed cordial relations, but he publicized the excellence of the harbor in his reports and remarked on its need for protection from attack. He recommended Ballast Point as the best location for a harbor defense fortification. The Spanish followed Vancouver's suggested to the letter, and built Fort Guijarros on Point Guijarros -- "Point Cobblestones" -- in recognition of its stony beach. The Spanish soldiers at San Diego remained few and ill-equipped. Administratively, the military establishment here was a poor orphan, far from army sources of supply and finance. The missions had to feed and clothe the troops, although to a large extent they had to fend for themselves. Yet they remained loyal to the Spanish crown during the revolutionary wars that ended in Mexico's independence from Spain in 1821.
6. VMMC_090722_051.JPG: Following Vancouver's visit, the Spanish soldiers lost no time setting up San Diego's first harbor defense at Point Guijarros, on the landward side of Ballast Point. Workmen and materials came from Monterey and Santa Barbara while local artisans and workers made brick and tile were made at the Presidio, hauling them to the beach and then taking them across to the point by flatboat. Fort Gaijarros' baptism of fire occurred Mar. 22, 1803. The Yankee brig Leila Byrd, after some contraband dealings with the inhabitants, was seized and put under armed guard. Overpowering the Spaniards, the crew raised anchor and stood out to sea, carrying the guard with her. The fort opened fire, scoring several hits. Off to Ballast Point, the brig fired a broadside from her six 3-pounders, driving the defenders from their batteries. Once out of range, the Yankees put the terrified guards (who had been forced to line the rail during the engagement) into a boat and let them row ashore. By 1839, the fort had long fallen into disuse and disrepair. Only two serviceable cannon were left. Early in 1840, the remnants of the fort and casemates were sold to San Diegan Juan Machado for $40. One of the guns now is mounted on a pedestal in the Old Town Plaza, another is at the site of Fort Stockton on Presidio Hill. The rest are gone.
7. VMMC_090722_052.JPG: San Diego became an important military post in the years immediately following the Mexican War. U.S. Army troops were quartered in the Old Mission until the late 1850s. In a report to the Secretary of War on March 1, 1849, General Henry Hallock wrote: "The most southern point is Upper California here recommended for occupation by permanent works of defense, is the entrance to the Bay of San Diego. On the north side of this entrance, which is probably the most favorable position for works of military defense, are the remains of old Fort Guijarros... This fort, though never of much value in itself, was occupied nearly up to the time the United States took possession of the country, and all the ground in the vicinity is still regarded as public property." The military reservation, 1,233 acres in area, was made by executive order February 26, 1852. In the patent issued to the city for its pueblo lands, this reservation was excluded, which left the title vested in the United States under the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. In 1851, a survey of San Diego harbor was made by the Coast Survey preparatory to the selection of the site for a future lighthouse. The site finally decided upon was located on the summit of Point Loma near the end, some ten miles from Old Town. Construction began in 1854 and was completed the next year.
8. VMMC_090722_057.JPG: Activity on the Point Loma Military Reservation remained in suspense until May of 1873 when work began on earthen seacoast batteries for fifteen guns of the largest caliber, to protect the harbor of San Diego. The work progressed through the following year when the funds gave out and work stopped. The batteries remained unfinished and utterly worthless for twenty years, as Congress made no appropriations for seacoast defense from 1875 to 1890. In 1874, the remains of soldiers killed at the Battle of San Pasqual, were re-interred on the Reservation. Eight years later they were reburied on what is today the Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery. Construction started again on the fortifications in 1897; within a year 3 emplacements had been completed and guns mounted. The Engineer Corps also created a battery of submarine mines in the channel off Ballast Point, planted and operated by a volunteer company of citizens. There were about 80 men -- carpenters, electricians, civil engineers, surveyors, telegraphers, boiler-makers, steam engineers, boatmen, mechanics, and a few soldiers from the local Engineer Battalion. They set fifteen electrically-controlled mines in the channel, leaving an open passage marked by buoys. The minefield was protected by two smooth-bore muzzle-loaders of Civil War vintage and the Revenue Cutter Corwin. The post was named in 1899 after Civil War veteran Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans. By 1900, the fort included five batteries of 3", 5" and 10" guns, with barracks and associated buildings nearby. New construction added weapons to the posts arsenal in 1914, 1937, 1941 and 1943. In June of 1959, the Army turned over control of the remainder of the reservations to the Navy.
9. VMMC_090722_058.JPG: North Island's Military Heritage: In 1887, San Francisco sugar and shipping magnate John D. Spreckels sailed his yacht Lurline into San Diego Bay. All of Southern California, including San Diego, was on the brink of economic depression at the time, but Spreckels saw nothing but opportunity to invest in the region. Among other ventures, for about $100,000 Spreckels purchased a controlling interest in the Coronado Beach Company, whose properties included the Hotel Del Coronado -- still under construction -- and all of North Island. The federal government condemned 10 acres of the southwestern corner of North Island in 1893, from which the Army Corps of Engineers built Zuniga Jetty 7,500 feet out into the ocean in order to protect the entrance channel to the bay. In 1901, the government condemned another 38.56 acres of North Island from Spreckels; here they built Fort Pio Pico. For the two parcels, the U.S. paid about $30,000. Opposite Ballast Point on Point Loma, Fort Pio Pico, named for the last Mexican governor of California, was established as a sub-post of Fort Rosecrans. Except for caretakers who lived at the fort, soldiers crossed the channel daily from Fort Rosecrans to man Pio Pico's 2 3" guns. The only structures built by the Army at Fort Pio Pico were Battery Mead and a cable terminal box. The post was abandoned by the Army in the 1920s, and no trace of it remains today.
10. VMMC_090722_063.JPG: In December 1910, pioneer aviator Glenn Curtiss leased North Island from the Coronado Beach Company and set up a flight training school there in order to take advantage of San Diego's year-round beautiful weather. Curtiss also desired to sell the idea of aviation to the Navy, whose leaders took notice early in 1911 when a Curtiss-trained pilot, Eugene Ely, successfully landed and then took off from a platform built on the deck of the battleship Pennsylvania in San Francisco Bay. The Navy was intrigued but skeptical of a runway on a ship. The Secretary of the Navy told Curtiss that if he could land a plane "not on an interfering platform on a fighting ship, but on the sea alongside... then I shall be ready to say that the Navy Department is convinced." Curtiss took that idea and soon had a prototype for his "hydroplane," which could take off and land on water. Back then North Island was separated from Coronado by an inlet called Spanish Bight, where Curtiss conducted his hydroplane experiments hidden from public view. Within a few short weeks, Curtiss piloted his invention over San Diego Bay for all the world -- and especially the Navy -- to see. He arranged a demonstration for the captain and crew of the Pennsylvania, then at anchor off downtown. Curtiss lifted off from Spanish Bight and landed about four minutes later in the water alongside the battleship. The ship's crane lifted the flier and his plane onto the deck. Ten minutes later, the process was reversed and Curtiss flew back to North Island. Thus was naval aviation born in San Diego.
11. VMMC_090722_064.JPG: The U.S. Marines at North Island: Recurring problems with Mexico during the presidency of Porfirio Diaz alarmed U.S. President William Howard Taft, and in March 1911 Taft dispatched 4th Provisional Marine Regiment to San Diego for deployment to Mexico. Under the command of Colonel Charles A. Doyen, the 4th Marines became the first Leathernecks to occupy San Diego since the Mexican War. The 4th Provisional Marine Regiment established a camp on North Island and named it Camp Thomas in honor of Rear Admiral Chauncey Thomas, USN, Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet. Tensions eased in Mexico before the Marines crossed the border, so they returned to San Diego. The officers and men from the 4th Provisional Marine Regiment were disbanded, returning to their regular bases and units. Camp Thomas would not again serve as a camp for the Marines in San Diego. In July 1914, the Fourth Regiment of the Marine Corps set up camp under the command of Colonel Joseph H. Pendleton. Some 1,400 officers and men moved in, pitched hundreds of tents, set up field kitchens, dug latrines, cleared land, laid out roads, piped in water, provided electricity and telephone service, established a rifle range, and repaired the dock, creating an orderly, Marine-efficient facility in an area near the Spanish Bight, but away from the flight operations of the Army. It was called Camp Howard. This occupation lasted until December of that year, when the regiment was reassigned to various other duties, although a few Marine caretakers were left on the island until 1916 for patrolling purposes and to operate the rifle range. This was the second and last use of North Island by the Marines.
12. VMMC_090722_066.JPG: After taking over the Army's facilities in the late 1930s, the Navy gradually built up the station. The first big naval construction project included additional hangars, a carrier pier, and runway paving. After the beginning of the war, the Navy built up San Diego into one of the largest, if not the largest, NAS in the US Navy's establishment. The headquarters of the Commander of the Naval Air Forces -- Pacific and the Commander of Fleet Air West Coast were located at San Diego. In 1942, NATS established a terminal on the station and the Naval Air Center San Diego was created to command the Naval aviation complex in Southern California. The largest growth of the Air Center took place in 1943 as the training command and aircraft manufacturers reached full production. The statistics tracking San Diego's wartime activities speak for themselves: * The tower logged 1400 to 1800 takeoffs per day for a wartime total of 1,203,032 takeoffs and 1,195,837 landings. * An average of 1,200 aircraft were on board at any time with 2,538 present on VJ-Day. * A total of 30,269 air craft were ferried to/from the station and 13,891 loaded on ships. * 350,000 men received training on the station, including 16,000 enlisted air gunners and 4,000 pilots. * The airfield had the world's largest paved landing area including two 6,000-foot heavy duty concrete runways.. * By the end of the war, San Diego had four aircraft carrier piers, 20 hangars, and one of the largest Assembly and Repair Departments in the Navy. * Peak Naval personnel reached over 14,000 plus an additional 8,000 civilians. * NATS occupied two hangars with the capacity to handle six transports at one time. * The total investment reached $57.5 million.
13. VMMC_090722_069.JPG: Glenn Curtiss, the "Father of Naval Aviation," spent two more years in San Diego, training dozens of pilots at his school on North Island. The federal government took over the lease on the property in late 1912 and established the Signal Corps Aviation School, renamed Rockwell Field in 1917, in honor of 2nd Lt. Lewis C. Rockwell, killed in a crash in 1912. The Signal Corps Aviation School was the first Army school to train military pilots, and North Island was the school's first permanent location. The Army flyers established a tent camp at the north end of the island, and for about a year, the Signal Corps Aviation School rented airplanes and hangars constructed for the Curtiss school. None of the buildings from this early period remain standing. Back in 1908, the Navy Department had tried to purchase North Island from its owner, John D. Spreckels, for $500,000, but Spreckels said he "wouldn't take a million for it." By the summer of 1917, however, the U.S. was sending troops to Europe to fight the Germans, and there was a desperate need for trained military pilots. The Navy and War Departments now pressed Congress to take the property by condemnation, but Spreckels' good friend, San Diego congressman William Kettner, would only initiate proceedings with the government's promise to treat Spreckels "fairly." Promise in hand, Congress authorized the president to proceed with the taking of North Island for Army and Navy aviation schools; Spreckels received more than $6 million for the island when the transaction finally closed in 1921. During World War I, Rockwell Field provided training for many of the pilots and crews sent to France. It also supplied men and aircraft for the Sixth and Seventh Aero Squadrons, which established the first military aviation presence in Hawaii and the Panama Canal Zone, respectively.
14. VMMC_090722_071.JPG: Naval Air Station North Island: In 1911, Glenn Curtiss invited the Army and Navy to provide the first students to his flying school on North Island. Lieutenant Theodore G. "Spuds" Ellyson, USN, was Curtiss's first student in San Diego and the first naval officer to learn to fly. Designated Naval Aviator Number 1, Ellyson made and broke many early aviation records for speed, distance, altitude and duration while on North Island. The Navy did not return to North Island until July 1917, when the need for aviation training became apparent due to American involvement in World War I. By January 1918, air operations by military personnel began and continued to grow until the end of the war. At this point, the stations' future was secure because it was directed to repair and service flight squadrons. Between 1919 and 1939, many aviation milestones occurred on North Island, including the first nonstop coast-to-coast flight, which terminated there in 1923 after 23 hours and 50 minutes; the first successful in-flight refueling in 1923; the first successful night launch from a battleship, the USS California, in 1924; and the first night carrier landing aboard the USS Langley (1925). The most significant historic event at North Island on May 9, 1927, when he began the first leg of his journey, heading from North Island for St. Louis. The Army and Navy competed for space at North Island until 1935, when the Army closed Rockwell Field, relinquishing the territory to the Naval Air Station. On August 15, 1963, it was officially recognized as the "Birthplace of Naval Aviation" by the House Armed Services Committee.
15. VMMC_090722_074.JPG: Naval Wireless Station, Point Loma: The Navy was the first regular user of radio telegraph equipment in the United States. According to the Office of Naval Intelligence, the Navy alone provided both the demand and the funding for research and development of radio communications since 1904. By 1912, technological advances had made it possible to send and receive wireless signals reliably from one side of the ocean to the other. As a result the Navy's Bureau of Steam Engineering intended to establish a global network of high-powered radio stations for its own as well as commercial use. To deal with the Navy's growing need to maintain contact with the expanding fleet, a radio communication network began with a small frame building atop Point Loma on May 12, 1906, which handled 3,000 messages during its first year of operation. From 1906 to 1908, the station participated in various projects that contributed significantly to radio broadcasting. Of particular importance were Dr. Lee DeForest's experiments in radio telephone communications from the USS Connecticut, then part of the Great White Fleet, which added a new dimension to Navy's tactical flexibility.
16. VMMC_090722_077.JPG: Thus the Navy acquired 73.6 acres located at Chollas Heights, east of downtown San Diego, in July 1914. By 1916, the Navy completed the world's most advanced high-powered radio transmitting station on the new site, keyed remotely from Point Loma. The navy constructed towers that reached 625 feet in height, giving communication capability from Pearl Harbor to the Naval headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. Further expansion of Navy Radio San Diego occurred in the 1920s, with the original site on Point Loma being converted to a receiver site, while the headquarters and messages center functions were moved to their present location in the Naval Base Headquarters located in downtown San Diego. During World War II, Navy Radio San Diego played a vital role in wartime communications. Of particular historical note is the fact that the radio station, through the Chollas Heights towers, was the first to transmit the attack on Pearl Harbor to Washington; Hawaii's main transmitters could have reached Washington directly, but they went off the air temporarily during the attack. The radio station continued to grow in size and capability when in 1941 the Navy acquired an additional 145 acres of land at Imperial Beach, adjacent to Fort Emory, an Army Coast Artillery Station. In 1943, the Navy completed construction of the new receiver at the site and transferred that function from the original site on Point Loma. As a result, the Navy gained control at Fort Emory, utilizing it for offices, maintenance, and storage space for Navy Radio San Diego. In 1947, the Secretary of the Navy established Naval Communication Station, Eleventh Naval District, as a separate function under the commanding office. In 1953, Naval Communication Station San Diego was established as a separate command.
17. VMMC_090722_080.JPG: Major technological improvements transformed naval radio capabilities in the 1950s and 70s. In 1965, a Wallenweber "dinosaur cage" antenna and related equipment with buildings was installed at the receiver site at Imperial Beach. In 1966, the site became part of a worldwide Automatic Digital Network (AUTODIN) of computers, capable of secure message transmission at extremely high speeds. In the following decades the radio station improved with evolving technology. As a result, less demand for manned stations was becoming reality and the more cumbersome sites such as Chollas Heights, which had been non-operational since 1992, were demolished, while other sites such as Navy radio Point Loma are now sites of historical significance and operate as an interactive museum, part of the Fort Rosecrans National Monument. Today, NAVCOMSTA, San Diego, is providing rapid, secure, and reliable communication service to the fleet, and the navy intends to keep it that way by continually improving its capabilities through technology.
18. VMMC_090722_082.JPG: Naval Radio Sound Lab (the future Naval Electronics Laboratory) During World War II, the Navy presence on Point Loma grew from a small radio station to an established research lab. Founded in 1940, the Navy Radio and Sound Laboratory (NRSL) improved radar, radio transmission and reception, and sonar, NRSL's success with the design and arrangement of ship antennas led NRSL to an ongoing mission for antenna development. Technical advances in electronics and radio opened the way for the use of sonar, but the new technology required operational testing before it could be reliably used by the Navy. In 1941, the University of California Division of War Research (UCDWR) contracted to perform sonar research at the NRSL facility in San Diego. UCDWR also performed basic research in oceanography and provided field engineering support to US submarines, UCDWR developed QLA, a FM high-definition sonar system that enabled US submarines to penetrate the heavily mined Japanese Inland Sea and effectively sever communications between the five main Japanese islands. UCDWR also developed the NAC and NAD Sound Beacons (sound decoy devices for submarines) and "racona" (small radar beacons to assist in navigation).
19. VMMC_090722_087.JPG: Before 1943, the sonar school taught only how to operate and maintain the equipment. No one knew enough about sound in the ocean to teach how to best use the sonar gear in combat. The maximum effort and greatest contributions of both NRSL and UCDWR between 1941 and 1943 were in research. The physics of sound in the sea was not well understood. Sound propagation can be greatly affected by currents, marine organisms, water temperature, salinity, depth, and the structure of the ocean bottom. The San Diego Laboratory carried out studies and experiments on sound propagation, sound scattering, total strengths, and ambient noise. A brand-new science, entirely related to oceanography, had to be invented on a "crash basis." This effort led to knowledge that the sonar schools and the Fleet used to teach personnel how to operate sonar to detect and attack submarines. This knowledge was also used to teach US submariners how to evade enemy sonar. Information was also acquired for harbor defense, and an extensive series of charts of the Pacific was prepared by Laboratory oceanographers. The broad knowledge in such new categories then allowed development of equipment in 1944 to 1945 that enabled the Fleet to achieve important victories at sea.
20. VMMC_090722_088.JPG: Marine Corps Air Station, Miramar: (Camp Kearny-National Guard: 1917-1920) The mesa now home to the Marine Corps Air Station, situated 14 miles north of San Diego, has seen continuous military use for over 80 years. Its origins are the result of increasing federal investment in San Diego beginning in the early part of the 20th century. The beginnings on the base were not small scale. Following approval for an army camp to be developed in San Diego, the Miramar site became the location of Camp Kearny on 24 May 1917. Camp Kearny was truly an "instant city," with planned accommodations for 30,000 men and 10,000 cavalry horses and mules. The facilities of Camp Kearny were comprised of 1,162 buildings, including 696 main structures. There were 10 warehouses and 140 mess halls, each capable of seating 250 men at one time. Within the Camp were nearly five miles of concrete roads and 15 miles of dirt roads. Fully operational, the Camp used as much electricity as the city of San Diego at that time.
21. VMMC_090722_093.JPG: Marine Corps Air Station, Miramar: (Camp Kearny-National Guard: 1917-1920) Shortly after Camp Kearny was designated on 16 September 1917, by General Order No. 7, Major General Frederick S. Strong organized the 40th Infantry Division (Sunshine Division). The Division was made up of National Guard artillery, infantry, and cavalry brigades from Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. The first troops to arrive at Camp Kearny were from California. Those from the surrounding western states followed, with the estimation that it would require 100 trains to transport the entire force. With the arrival of additional recruits on 31 October 1917, the 40th increased in size to 20,000 and by mid-November of the same year to 30,000 soldiers. At full strength, training was conducted on a divisional scale, operating day and night, with training in every condition possible on the battlefield.
22. VMMC_090722_096.JPG: The 40th Division remained at Camp Kearny until 26 July 1918, when they were moved to Camp Mills, Long Island, New York to prepare for transfer to serve in Europe. The "Sunshiners" were with the 26th Division in Toul, France and with the 77th Division through the Argonne Forest. Armistice was declared on 11 November 1918 with demobilization bringing the 40th Division back to Camp Kearny in March 1919. Camp Kearny remained busy during World War I with various construction projects. These projects also included functional complexes developed by the YMCA, the Red Cross, and the Jewish Welfare Board each of which worked to maintain the fitness and morale of the service personnel within Camp Kearny. Activities ranging from baseball and other sports, educational classes and lectures by prominent educators, religious services, and various musical events and vaudeville acts were incorporated to maintain a balance of mental and physical health. Following the announcement of armistice, all construction ceased. The Camp was designated as a demobilization point for the region. Upon returning to the states, men were distributed to demobilization camps nearest to their homes for recuperation and final examinations.
23. VMMC_090722_100.JPG: Thousands of men returned to Camp Kearny, each receiving detailed examinations before discharge. In February 1919, the Camp also served as a convalescent center. Men requiring more thorough attention were kept at this facility until their health was regained. With the end of World War I, the hospital complex was turned over to the United States Public Health Service. In addition to providing healthcare, the convalescent center encouraged recuperation through vocational training. Included in these areas were automotive repair, stenotype and typewriting, construction, and machinery operation. Equally a wide range of practical skills were offered such as tailoring, hat restoration, shoe repair, and basket weaving. Light recreation was utilized for those too weak for regular duty. As a result, the activities utilized through the convalescent center were an important part of reintegration of service personnel returning to civilian society. Camp Kearny was closed on 31 October 1920. In the years that followed most of the buildings were either salvaged or demolished. The hospital complex remained in use until 1930 when it was demolished as well.
24. VMMC_090722_105.JPG: Naval Base San Diego becomes Headquarters, 11th Naval District: As the Navy acquired one property after another in San Diego in 1919, it became clear that the Navy Department needed to organize its command and control of the growing naval presence around the bay. The Chief of Naval Operations officially established the position of Commandant of Naval Base San Diego at the end of 1919. Rear Admiral Roger Welles, a battleship squadron commander who would much rather have remained at sea, took the post for the sake of his wife's fragile health -- her doctor deemed San Diego the best place in the US to recover from surgery. Another huge event occurred at almost the same time: the Secretary of Navy split the unified Battle Fleet into Atlantic and Pacific divisions. In order to gain a sufficient grasp of these sweeping changes, Welles suggested that a new naval district be created with its headquarters at San Diego. This came to pass early in 1921 with the establishment of the 11th Naval District, with Welles its first Commandant. The new District encompassed the six southern counties of California, Arizona and New Mexico. In August 1922 Welles moved his headquarters office from North Island's Administration Building to the new naval warehouse building at the foot of Broadway.
25. VMMC_090722_106.JPG: Naval Station San Diego ("32nd St. Naval Station"): The base at 32nd Street opened in 1919 as a docking and fleet repair plant for the US Shipping Board. The City of San Diego deeded the federal government 77.2 acres of land in 1919 after a nearly unanimous municipal election. US Destroyer Base San Diego officially opened in 1922 marking the birth of this station. From 1922 to 1943, the primary mission of the base was upkeep and preservation of decommissioned World War I destroyers. During its first years in commission, the base grew rapidly as repair facilities expanded, torpedo and radio schools were established and more shops were constructed. During 1924, the base decommissioned seventy-seven destroyers and commissioned seven. In 1931, then Captain Chester W. Nimitz -- later Fleet Admiral Nimitz -- assumed command of the base. At the time, Nimitz reported on the "poor condition of decommissioned ships" and commented on "the inadequacy of decommissioned ships' outfits and unfinished work as show on 'Material Readiness for War' reports." In 1943, the name was changed to US Naval Repair Base, and the mission was altered to the repair and upkeep of modern US Navy warships. Between 1943 and 1945, a total of 5,117 ships were serviced, repaired, and overhauled at the repair base. In 1946, US Naval Repair Base became Naval Station San Diego, with the primary mission of fleet logistic support.
26. VMMC_090722_110.JPG: After World War II, base operations were reorganized to provide logistical support (including repair and dry-docking) to ships of the active fleet. By the end of 1946, the base had grown to 294 buildings with floor space of more than 6.9 million square feet. Berthing facilities included five piers of more than 18,000 linear feet. Land then totally more than 921 acres (859 land) and 16 miles of roads. Barracks accommodated 380 officers and 18,000 enlisted men. More than 3,500 sailors messed in the gallery at a single sitting on the base. By 1949, the Navy sought to save funding by closing bases. The City of San Diego continued a campaign to support and retain its Navy facilities and the Chamber of Commerce sponsored a report identifying the advantages of the San Diego Naval Station over the Long Beach Naval Shipyard. The ploy worked, the Naval Station San Diego was spared. During the Korean War, the Naval Station was expanded further, to more than 1,108 acres, with a regular workforce of 14,000 workers. During the ensuing years, operations at the base expanded and contracted, as world events dictated, though the mission remained basically the same through the Vietnam War and into the 1980s. A thoroughly modern, state-of-the-art naval base, Naval Base San Diego is now homeport to more than 50 ships, including 37 US Navy ships, two US Coast Guard cutters and various ships of the Military Sealift Command, as well as research and auxiliary vessels. Soon, the base will welcome the Navy's newest and most advanced 21st Century fleet platforms known as Littoral Combat Ships.
27. VMMC_090722_112.JPG: Naval Amphibious Base (NAB) Coronado: Established as the Amphibious Training Base in 1943, Naval Amphibious Base, Coronado was formally commissioned in 1946. Its primary mission was changed to that of providing major administrative and logistical support to the amphibious units which are located on the base. The base also conducts research and tests of newly developed amphibious equipment. The property was formed by landfill, dredged from the bottom of the San Diego Bay. The base has remained in an active, operational status since its initial establishment. In 1952, a military construction program began to replace some of the World War II "temporary" buildings. Naval Amphibious Base (NAB) Coronado provides a shore base for the operations, training, and support of naval amphibious units on the West Coast. It is one of only two Navy amphibious training bases in the United States. NAB is approximately 1,000 acres in size and is composed of the Main Base, training beaches, California least tern preserve, recreational marina, enlisted family housing, and state park. The base presently hosts thirty commands including the Naval Special Warfare Command, which is headquarters for America's elite maritime special operations forces -- the US Navy SEALs and Special Warfare Combatant Craft Crewmen.
28. VMMC_090722_116.JPG: US Coast Guard -- San Diego: In 1914, the government agencies of the US Life-Savers and the US Revenue Cutter service merged to form the US Coast Guard. Along the West Coast, the first missions of the Coast Guard included policing the shore for smuggled spirits recently outlawed by the Volstead Act of 1920. Coast Guard aviation operations commenced in San Diego in 1934, with a detachment operating out of a commercial hangar at Lindbergh Field. During the following year, the Harbor Commission, the San Diego City Government and the Chamber of Commerce combined forces to donate 23 acres of tideland for the establishment of a Coast Guard Air Station, a move that was approved by San Diego's voters in April 1935. Construction of the Air Station began in 1936 with funds provided by the Federal Public Works Administration. The MH Golden Co. was the contractor. The area was filled and brought up to grade level by dredging from the bay. During construction, the Air Patrol Detachment continued to operate out of Lindbergh Field. In April of 1937 Coast Guard Air Station San Diego was commissioned.
29. VMMC_090722_118.JPG: During World War II, the unit continued to watch and report the activities of fishing boats in the area, to provide assistance in cases of distress, and to provide transportation by air for other government departments. In 1943, the station was redesignated as an Air-Sea Rescue Squadron, with successful results in rescue missions throughout patrolled waters. Other wartime Coast Guard activities in San Diego included training for amphibious landings from the Coast Guard's own troop transport ships. One such ship was the Hunter Liggett (APA-14) pictured below. For the next eight months, Hunter Liggett imparted the lessons learned from earlier heroic duty in the Solomons campaign to those who would carry out some of the largest and best executed assaults of the war -- Leyte, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and others. Today, San Diego's Coast Guard detachment enforces maritime law and deals mainly with issues of illegal immigration and drug enforcement along the border with Mexico. On constant standby, the Guard responds to search and research missions, as well as performing Homeland Security detail escorting cruise ships and Navy vessels in and out of the harbor.
30. VMMC_090722_122.JPG: Camp Matthews: In 1915, the first Marines to be stationed in San Diego set up their tents in Balboa Park while on duty at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition. They were the first Marines to begin rifle practice on city-owned Pueblo Lands that later became Camp Matthews. Their informal training continued for years before any plans for a permanent rifle range were ever discussed. In 1918, Marines installed the first permanent fixtures; eight targets on Range A built with their picks and shovels. Also in the same year, a lease was negotiated with the City of San Diego for the Marine Corps' use of 544 acres of Pueblo Lands. Although there is no consensus on the date that Camp Matthews was formally established, sources agree that recruits were using the ranges by 1923. The designated land was temporarily named "Marine Rifle Range, La Jolla" until the camp was named after distinguished Marine Officer, Brigade General Calvin B. Matthews, on March 23, 1942. Construction of the camp evolved slowly. Not until 1927 did the first permanent structure, Headquarters, go up> The next two years witnessed further construction of permanent buildings. All of the projects were completed by Marines in training. The 1930s witnessed an increase in the rate of expansion as the strategic importance of San Diego's MCRD grew to be recognized by high officials. This trend intensified even more with the start of World War II. Camp Matthews trained Marine recruits in small-arms marksmanship, with emphasis on rifle shooting. Marines trained in three-week cycles in order to attain the rifle certification. The training was intensive with only 88% of the recruits passing qualifications. At the peak of World War II, as many as 70,000 riflemen trained there per year. The increasing demands of the war forced Marine aviation, Army, and Navy units to share the camp's facilities. Trainees form nearby Camp Callan also came to train on the ranges.
31. VMMC_090722_124.JPG: Infrastructure and Facilities: The majority of the 577 acres of Camp Matthews was devoted to rifle and pistol training. There were fifteen different ranges that trained Marines in different aspects of rifle shooting. Each range was equipped with firing shelters, weather shelters, storage sheds, and washrooms. Just to give an example, Range A was 600 yards in length when completed in 1933. However, it was later expanded to 1,000 yards with 25 different targets to complete. Firing points were spread out at the 200, 300, 500, 600, and 1,000 yard marks. At its height, this range ran down the center of the Camp, covering almost its entire length. During training, Marines received motivation from sixty-foot long signs at the Camp Matthews entrance that read, "EVERY HIT COUNTS" and "What YOU learn HERE pays off in DEAD JAPS over there!" In addition, Camp Matthews contained seven barracks, six of which were reserved for administrative personnel. They housed up to 72 people in 36 double-decked bunks. The Marines in training were housed in either tents or Quonset huts. Each Quonset hut contained 5,760 square feet of floor space and held 36 double-decked bunks. In total, around 2,300 marines were housed in the Quonset huts. Camp Matthews also provided housing for female Marines. A Women's Reserve Building was equipped with 32 single bunks, a lounge, a post exchange, a sick bay with four bunks, laundry facilities, and three rooms for non-commissioned officers. Four mess halls existed at Camp Matthews where all of the Marines and administrators ate their meals. The mess halls combined could accommodate 4,680 people per sitting. According to "The UCSD Times," Lee Harvey Oswald is known to have eaten in the mess halls back in 1954.
32. VMMC_090722_128.JPG: With most of the land used for rifle training, little space was given to administrative purposes. Some administrative buildings included Camp Matthews Headquarters and Administration building, Guardhouse, Firehouse, Post Office and sentry house. The Post Exchange housed a barber shop. tailor shop, laundry facilities and game room. Considering the size of Camp Matthews, it is surprising to find that only one small building was devoted to medical care. For those seeking recreational facilities, Camp Matthews had three tennis courts, two handball courts, two volleyball courts, a baseball diamond, an outdoor boxing ring, a pool and a bowling alley with eight lanes. For entertainment, there was a large outdoor amphitheater, where live performances were held and films were shown. The Camp also had a chapel for those seeking religious services. Closing of Camp Matthews: A number of factors led to the closing of Camp Matthews. First, the highway construction frenzy that began in the late 1940s reached San Diego in the mid-1950s. Plans called for placing Interstate 5 right through the middle of the Camp. Second, in 1954, the Regents of the University of California, Navy Department, the San Diego Chamber of Commerce, the state legislature and the City of San Diego entered into intense negotiations with regard to opening a general UC campus on Torrey Pines Mesa. In 1960, the USMC agreed to relocate to the Stuart Mesa of Camp Pendleton in 1958. In 1963, Rifle Ranges F and G were forced to shut down due to rapid development of residential areas nearby. After a protracted battle lasting nearly three years, the Navy dropped its opposition to closing Camp Matthews. On Friday, August 21, 1964, a distinguished group of Marine Corps Marksmen fired the last shots at Camp Matthews. The event was marked by a simple closing ceremony attended by Marine Corps, City of San Diego, and La Jolla dignitaries. On October 7, 1964, 577 acres of property was officially transferred to the UC Regents. Approximately 23 buildings from Camp Matthews are still in use on UCSD property. However, due to repeated renovations, they no longer resemble the buildings that used to stand at the time the Camp was closed.
33. VMMC_090722_131.JPG: United States Naval Hospital: Balboa Park continued to be a prominent area of activity and history for the city of San Diego. It has been the site for two world style expositions and the city's cultural center including: museums, stage performances, restaurants, and recreational activity areas. However, in the early part of the twentieth century, Balboa Park entertained a sustained military presence. Due to the abundance of land incorporated in the Park, totaling some 1,400 acres, the open space and remaining exposition buildings providing the necessary elements for military use. The first use of the Park by the military began in December 1914. With the coming 1915 Panama-California Exposition, the 4th Marine Regiment commanded by Colonel Joseph H. Pendleton received orders to move from the Marine camp on North Island to the Exposition grounds. In the Park, the Marines were to establish a model camp and stage daily demonstrations for the Exposition visitors. Shortly after the Marine camp was established, a Marine Corps field hospital manned by US Navy Medical Department personnel followed from North Island as part of an additional expanded military presence at the Exposition. During World War I, the Navy expanded the field hospital in the Park by establishing a war dispensary with tents to serve as wards. By the end of World War I, the war dispensary had a bed capacity of over 800. On 20 May 1919, Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels changed the name of the war dispensary to Naval Hospital.
34. VMMC_090722_136.JPG: United States Naval Hospital: To encourage the Navy to increase its presence in San Diego, local Congressman William Kettner offered, in the name of the city, to donate the necessary bay and park land for a Naval recruit training center and support facilities if the Navy would transfer its existing Naval Training Center from Goat Island, San Francisco, to San Diego. The Navy accepted the offer. On 3 September 1919, the city of San Diego deeded 135 acres of land to the federal government for the Naval Training Center located at Loma Portal, and 17 acres of Inspiration Point in Balboa Park for an expanded Naval Hospital. On 22 August 1922, the initial 250-bed facility of a planned hospital complex was commissioned with the Red Cross donating an additional recreation hall. With the growing investment in naval facilities and personnel, the hospital reached its capacity rapidly. On 27 February 1926, the city deeded another 5 acres to the federal government for a planned annex. Additional buildings followed between 1928 and 1929. The last wing of the Spanish-themed plan of 1922 was completed and dedicated in December 1937. In July 1940, the city deeded an additional 33 acres of parkland, and in May 1941 a final 21 acres completed the land necessities for the Navy's hospital complex. As a result, the Navy owned all of Inspiration Point in Balboa Park.
35. VMMC_090722_137.JPG: United States Naval Hospital: World War II saw the Naval Hospital expand exponentially from 56 buildings with a 1,424 bed capacity in 1941 to 241 buildings with a 10,499 bed capacity on 247 acres in 1945. This increased acreage included 33 acres in the heart of Balboa Park where many of the Exposition buildings were converted to wards and hospital spaces. This wartime expansion supported treatment of 172,000 patients with a peak load of over 12,000 patients on 27 December 1944.
36. VMMC_090722_142.JPG: United States Naval Hospital: Following the end of World War II, the United States demobilized significantly throughout the country. However, before the end of the decade new tension grew in Asia that led to the Korean War. As a result, the Naval Hospital saw yet another significant increase in use. During the war years, 90,000 patients received treatment. Due to the necessities required of martial facilities and continuing military activities, the United States felt that demobilization in the manner conducted following both world wars was not practical. Because of the strategic importance of the Naval Hospital, the federal government continued to expand and improve hospital facilities. On 15 May 1957, a nine-story, 1,000 bed surgical building was completed and on 7 June 1969 a three-story outpatient clinic was finished, which was intended primarily to serve the growing number of retired and current service personnel in the San Diego area.
37. VMMC_090722_143.JPG: United States Naval Hospital: On 1 July 1972, the Naval Hospital was redesignated as Naval Regional Medical Center (NRMC) due to navy reorganization. In the same year, two San Diego Congressmen, Representatives Bob Wilson and Lionel Van Deerlin, approached the idea of building a new naval hospital outside Balboa Park. After years of controversy and litigation among the city's leaders, conservationists, and the Navy, Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger made the final decision to built a new hospital on 39 acres in Florida Canyon, east of the existing original hospital site on Inspiration Point. In exchange for the 39 acres in Florida Canyon, the Navy deeded the acreage it held in Balboa Park, primarily Inspiration Point, back to San Diego. On 3 October 1981, the Navy broke ground on its new medical center. In 1987, the new hospital was completed and the 760-bed facility opened as a state of the art medical center in medical technology and computerized information systems for health care and administration. An estimated 350,000 active and retired area personnel received improved care. However, the new architectural design was devoid of the Spanish style motif that was the hallmark of San Diego's Naval Buildings. Following the opening of the new Naval Regional Medical Center, the original hospital complex was demolished. Several of the original buildings were retained and utilized for the service of the community. A section of the original hospital administration building is for city use. Equally, the original hospital chapel is now the site of the Veteran's Museum and Memorial Center. The exposition buildings once utilized by the hospital during the war years have remained and been revitalized as functional museums and galleries.
38. VMMC_090722_147.JPG: Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue: Betram Grosvenor Goodhue was born in 1869 in Connecticut. He attended Russell's Collegiate and Military Institute and received an honorary degree from Trinity College in 1911. In 1884, he went to New York to work for an architect. Soon after his apprenticeship ended, he co-founded the Boston firm of Cram, Wentworth, and Goodhue, which was a leader in neo-gothic architecture. In 1915, Goodhue became the lead designer of the Panama-California Exposition in Balboa Park. His style was extremely influential and led to many Californians adopting Spanish Colonial Revival architecture as a regional style, which remains popular to this day. His work designing the site and buildings in Balboa Park was enough to convince Congressman Kettner and others to recommend Goodhue to the Navy Department as the designer for the new Marine Expeditionary Base. General Joseph Pendleton, USMC, slated to be the base's first commander, insisted that Goodhue be appointed to design the buildings and grounds. The Navy's Bureau of Yards and Docks appointed Goodhue consulting architect for the entire project for the base. The Bureau also retained Goodhue to design North Island Naval Air Station, which he enjoyed because of the unique challenges it posed.
39. VMMC_090722_150.JPG: Marine Corps Recruit Depot: The story of the Marine Corps Recruit Depot begins at the bottom of San Diego Harbor. Since the early 20th century, dredging projects worked to lower the bottom of the harbor for the ever-increasing draught depth of naval vessels. The sediment pulled form the bay floor was placed around the harbor to extend the acreage of useable land and to encourage development. These projects were funded by the military with the purpose of making San Diego's natural harbor a useful destination for the Navy's new and rapidly growing Pacific Fleet, which included growing numbers of Marine Corps units to be stationed on the west coast. The Marines had arrived in San Diego as early as 1911. After 1914, under the command of Colonel Joseph H. Pendleton, the Marines maintained a semi-permanent existence within the region. The city's climate and proximity in Mexico, Panama, South America, and the Hawaiian Islands made San Diego an ideal location for a permanent Marine base. Col. Pendleton recommended a site located on North Island, but Congressman William Kettner urged a parcel of tidelands to then Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin Delano Roosevelt during a visit to the Panama-Pacific Exposition in 1915. Following inspection of the site, a positive recommendation was given to the Secretary of the Navy,Josephus Daniels. The Navy Department approved the establishment of the "Marine Advance Base" on January 8, 1916, to be built on the tideland site called "Dutch Flat." But Dutch Flat had to be dredged and filled before groundbreaking could begin in 1919 for permanent buildings. With dredging and filling 80% complete, construction began in March 1919. Pendleton, now brigadier general, returned to San Diego from Parris Island to command all Marine Corps activities in the area and oversaw the construction of the base. Pendleton's goal was to "make it the most beautiful and picturesque military post in the United States."
40. VMMC_090722_153.JPG: Marine Corps Recruit Depot: On December 1, 1921, the new Marine post was ready for service. It was commissioned as the marine Advanced Expeditionary Base, San Diego. Prior to base completion, the Marines utilized Balboa Park as a temporary camp during construction. The Marines moved to their new base with construction still underway on some of the buildings. Several years passed before the base was completed. Shortly after commissioning, the Marine Recruit Depot for the West Coast was relocated to San Diego from Mare Island in Vallejo,California. On 1 March 1924, the base was renamed Marine Corps Base, San Diego and was known by that designation for the next 24 years. Expansion of the Marine Corps Base began in September 1939 as the base became a recruit training depot. Thousands of men received basic training here during World War II, under its new name, Marine Corps Recruit Depot. The expansion included construction of warehouses, new barracks, mess facilities, a post exchange, dental and medical dispensary, parade ground, officer mess facility, and various athletic fields. In recent years some politicians have pushed to close MCRD because it occupies what is now extremely valuable land adjacent to San Diego's harbor and airport. The idea of closing MCRD meets heavy resistance from the Marine Corps because of the status of the parade deck as a memorial to veterans of World War II, Korea, Vietnam and Iraq, as well as the cost of relocating the Depot.
41. VMMC_090722_156.JPG: Naval Training Station San Diego: A naval training center appeared early on the list of the type of military installations the Chamber of Commerce desired to see built in the city. Before the Panama-California Exposition in Balboa Park opened on January 1, 1915, Congressman and Chamber of Commerce director William Kettner refined his strategies to make that wish come true. Kettner's special interest involved the north end of the bay, Loma Portal to the west and Dutch Flat to the east. Kettner's own home looked down on this property, and he had long wished to be able to view from his window well-ordered military bases with their neatly arranged buildings and grounds, and especially their marching columns of uniformed, disciplined young men. Kettner had arranged for Colonel Joseph Pendleton's 4th Marines to move from North Island to the Exposition grounds in Balboa Park, where the Marines' model camp was a leading attraction. In March 1915, Kettner met Pendleton at the Exposition at the Exposition, where they discussed establishing a permanent base for Marines at Dutch Flat. Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin Roosevelt visited the Exposition a few weeks later, and liked the idea of San Diego as a major center of naval activities. When Roosevelt and Kettner met in Washington, DC, FDR told him of his own long-held dream; moving the Navy's west coast training station from Goat Island, on San Francisco Bay, to San Diego. According to Kettner, Roosevelt was "really delighted with San Diego... [H]e made the statement that he found at Goat Island among the Navy boys so much sickness [due to San Francisco's insalubrious climate] that it was quite depressing, and practically assured me that if I should make some effort to remove the Base of San Diego, I could have his support."
42. VMMC_090722_159.JPG: A deal was soon struck on behalf of the Marine Corps for the Navy Department to purchase Dutch Flat from San Diego Securities Company, composed of Kettner's friends and fellow Chamber directors (to which the city added 500 acres of semi-submerged tidelands at no additional cost). But a deal for a separate Naval Training Station would have to wait, although not for long. When the Exposition closed at the end of 1916, San Diegans tried hard and succeeded well at accommodating the Navy during the rest of the World War I years. They gave over all of Balboa Park to the service in March 1917, and all of the park's land and buildings became a training station for naval recruits. Marine, and naval aviators. Then, in 1919, the Chamber of Commerce led the charge to create a permanent Naval Training Station at Loma Portal, next to the Marines at Dutch Flat. San Diego Securities owned some of the Loma Portal property while other portions were in the hands of private individuals. The Chamber of Commerce led a "subscription" campaign to raise the money needed to buy all the land; once the organization had purchased it, they deeded it to the city, which then donated it to the Navy. The city's voters had to ratify the gift of the land to the federal government, which they did nearly unanimously in a special election later that year.
43. VMMC_090722_162.JPG: The grant for the site at Loma Portal consisted of 135 acres of highland donated by the Chamber of Commerce and 142 acres of tideland given by the City of San Diego. Construction work began in 1921, and on 1 June 1923, US Naval Training Station, San Diego, was placed in commission under the command of Captain (later Rear Admiral) David F. Sellers, USN. During the 1920s, the Recruit Receiving and Outgoing Units were housed in the Detention Unit, known as Camp Ingram, which consisted of a group of walled tents adjacent to the south boundary of Camp Paul Jones. Until Camp Lawrence was completed in 1936, recruits spent their first three weeks of training under canvas in this Detention Unit. At the time of its commissioning in 1923 Camp Paul Jones housed the population of the station and the maximum recruit strength was 1,500. The period of recruit training was then 16 weeks. The shoreline of San Diego Bay extended considerably further inland than at present, and the land used for the later expansion of the station was entirely underwater and had to be raised through extensive dredging and filling operations.
44. VMMC_090722_165.JPG: In 1939, a construction program commenced which increased the capacity of the station by a factor of 400% within three years. This expansion was part of a major harbor improvement program that deepened the channel and anchorages in San Diego Bay (carried out by the PWA and WPA, and almost exclusively for the benefit of the Navy). The project added 130 acres of filled land to the eastern boundaries of the station. Camp Luce was completed by 1941, and the construction of Camps Mahan, Decatur, and Farragut was already well under way when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Most construction work completed by September, 1942, when the capacity of the station had reached its wartime peak of 33,000 men, 25,000 of whom were recruits. The period of recruit training during World War II varied between three weeks and seven weeks.
45. VMMC_090722_168.JPG: In April 1944, the Secretary of the Navy changed the status of the Training Station to the US Naval Training Center, San Diego. Three subordinate commands were thus established: The Recruit Training Command, the Service School Command, and the Adminstrative Command. The years following World War II saw reduction in population of the Traning Center despite a post-war expansion of the Service Schools. By the end of 1949 the population of the Center had dropped to 5,800 men. Six months later, when war broke out in Korea, training activities expanded again, and the Center was operating at nearly full capacity. Several expansion programs followed over the next twenty years. The total area of the center had grown to 550 acres, on which were placed more than 300 buildings covering 3 million square feet of space. Hundreds of thousands of civilian and military passed through the gates of the naval Training Center in the course of its history. The Navy spent an additional $10 million for base operation support contracts. NTC provided over 2 billion dollars to the local economy over its lifetime. The end of the Cold War led to military downsizing and the need to close surplus bases. The federal Base Realignment and Closure Commission closed NTC facilities incrementally, with Recruit Training Command closing in 1995, Service School Command in December 1996 and many smaller tenant commands closed or moved during these years. The Navy officially closed NTC on April 30, 1997, and ceased all military operations.
46. VMMC_090722_171.JPG: Camps Holcomb and Elliot: On and off from 1917 through 1961, the Army and Marines used parts of Camp Kearny for a variety of training, testing, and support activities, many of which involved ordnance and explosive items. The part of the property that later became Camp Elliott was largely quiet during the 1920s and early 30s, until in 1934 the Marine Corps rented the former artillery ranges at Camp Kearny and used them for machinegun, artillery and antiaircraft training. The marines named their range Camp Holcomb for Major General Thomas Holcomb, ninth commandant of the Marine Corps. Camp Holcomb was located nine miles away from the bayside Marine Corps Base (today's MCRD), but Marine personnel considered it Camp Elliot for "boondocks." Only a few makeshift huts were built at this site prior to 1940. In 1939, Camp Elliot was formally established as a Marine Corps Training Center, occupying 19,000 acres of leased land of Kearny Mesa. The Marines used the camp for all phases of technical and tactical support training for the Fleet Marine Force. In 1940, General Holcomb ordered the base's name changed to honor the new commandant of the Corps, Major General George Elliott. Soon the US government acquired 13,00 additional acres at the site, and took possession of the entire property by condemnation. New construction included galleries, mess halls, recreation area, and a 2,000 bed tent camp. Twelve permanent two-story barracks, officers' quarters and additional utility structures followed, ready to receive the 7th Marine Regiment in January 1941.
47. VMMC_090722_174.JPG: With the approach of World War II, the Miramar area underwent renovation. Camp Elliott now also became home to the 2nd Marine Division, whose job it was to defend the California coast. Runways were constructed in 1940, and the 1st Marine Air Wing arrived before the end of that year. The Navy commissioned Naval Auxiliary Air Station (NAAS) Camp Kearny in February 1943, to train crews for the Consolidated PB4Y Privateer, the naval variant of the B-24 Liberator, which was built less than 10 miles away in San Diego. A month later, the Marines established Marine Corps Air Depot Camp Kearny, later renamed Marine Corps Air Depot Miramar, to avoid confusion with the Navy facility. The big Privateers proved too heavy for the runway the Army had installed in 1936 and the longer runways built in 1940, so the Navy added two concrete runways in 1943. In 1942, thirty members of the Navajo tribe from Arizona and New Mexico arrived at Camp Elliott to train as "code-talkers" for the Marines. After their basic training, they moved on to Camp Pendleton, and then to illustrious service in the campaigns in the South Pacific. Military records from the Navajo's training days state that "nothing was too tough for them." During the 1940s, both the Navy and the Marine Corps occupied Miramar. East Miramar (Camp Elliott) was used to train Marine artillery and armored personnel, while Navy and Marine Corps pilots trained on the western side. The bases were combined and designated Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in 1945.
48. VMMC_090722_177.JPG: Camp Joseph H. Pendleton: From 1841 to 1942, the land that is now Camp Pendleton was named Rancho Santa Margarita y Las Flores, and was privately owned by Pio Pico, the last Mexican governor of California. Pico gave the property to his brother-in-law, John Forster in 1863. Then in 1882, James Flood, a real estate tycoon, purchased the land. In the early 40s, both the Army and the Marine Corps sought land for a large training base. In April of 1842, it was announced that 125,000 acres of the rancho was about to be made into the largest Marine Corps Based in the country. The base was named in honor of Major Joseph H. Pendleton, who had long been an advocate of establishing a West Coast training base. After 5 months of non-stop building, the 9th Marine Regiment arrived from Camp Elliott in San Diego to be the first troops to occupy the new base. President Franklin Roosevelt arrived on September 24, 1942 for the official dedication of the base. By the end of 1942, the 9th Marines had completed training and shipped west to the Pacific Theater. As they left Camp Pendleton, the 4th and the 5th Marines arrived and prepared for combat. They soon headed for assaults on Saipan, Tinian, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. After World War II ended, Camp Pendleton official became the home of the 1st Marine Division. It has been the launching base for Marines and Sailors who have fought in Korea, the Caribbean during the Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and now Iraq.
49. VMMC_090722_180.JPG: The Militarization of Balboa Park: In 1909, the Chamber of Commerce began to plan a grand celebration in the form of a World's Fair to honor the opening of the Panama Canal, scheduled to occur in 1915. The Congress awarded San Francisco the privilege and the funs to hold a World's Fair for the exact same purpose, so San Diegans scaled their event a little smaller, calling it the Panama-California Exposition, to be held in City -- now Balboa -- Park. The city leaders invited Colonel Joseph Pendleton, in command of the 4th Marines then encamped on North Island, to move his regiment to the park where they could set up a "model camp" as part of the Expedition. Pendleton had endeared himself to the local business community by identifying himself in a speech as a "SAN DIEGO BOOSTER" (emphasis original); and he applied to his superiors for permission to participate, which was granted. Half of the 4th Regiment went north to San Francisco for the same purpose; the rest stayed in San Diego, establishing Marine Barracks Balboa Park before the end of 1914. By all accounts, the Marines proved to be one of the most popular attractions, delighting the Exposition's 3.7 million visitors with daily parades and demonstrations of military prowess over a period that spanned most of two years.
50. VMMC_090722_184.JPG: Soon after the Panama California Exposition closed at the end of 1916, the city of San Diego turned the park and exposition grounds over to the Navy at a lease rate of $1.00 per year for the entire property. The Navy established a training station for recruits, an aviation ground school, several other intermediate and advanced schools, and a naval hospital, all in buildings that had been intended only for temporary use during the exposition. No doubt, the hospitality San Diego extended to the navy between 1917 and 1919 helped cement the positive and growing relationship between the service and the city. During World War II, the Navy again moved into Balboa Park, and wiht the other services, including the Army, Marine Corps, and USO, took over most of the space. The Naval Hospital and Camp Kidd Naval Training Station were major occupants throughout the war. Camp Kidd served as a Naval Hospital Corps School, occupying 22 Exposition Buildings and 33 army-style barracks used for training. From 1941 to 1946, Camp Kidd provided medical, dental, and hygienic training and support to Navy personnel. In addition, housing (five barracks), a dispensary, and recreational facilities were provided. Facilities maintenance and ship service support activities were also conducted at Camp Kidd. After 1945, the Camp Kidd Naval Training Station area was used as a post-war Naval recreational services center, and was transferred back to the City of San Diego in the latter half of 1946.
51. VMMC_090722_189.JPG: Camp Lockett: Camp Lockett's site at Campo, sixty miles southeast of San Diego, was chosen for a cavalry camp in 1878 when sixteen troopers wearing the blue uniform of the US Cavalry bivouacked for several months in this small Mexican border valley. "E" Troop of the 11th Cavalry Regiment was stationed here in 1918, and between then and 1951, soldiers were regularly encamped at this strategic junction. Ground was broken for a permanent horse cavalry camp in June 1941. The 11th Cavalry Regiment came there two days after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The surrounding terrain offered opportunities to test man, beast and mechanized carriers over a wide variety of terrain -- heavily wooded underbrush, desert sand, miles of barren, rocky wastelands, streams to be forded, and other geographic hazards identical to those which might confront cavalry troopers in battle conditions. In 1942, the 10th Cavalry Regiment (the famed Buffalo Soldiers) moved into Camp Lockett to replace the 11th Cavalry Regiment which had been converted into an armored unit. The 10th and 28th Regiments guarded the California-Mexican Border and the many installations along the border such as, trestles, bridges, dams, railroad tunnels. They were expected to be the first line of defense in case Germany or Japan attempted an invasion of the US through Mexico.
52. VMMC_090722_191.JPG: The black soldiers faced an added dimension to their service in San Diego's back country -- the harsh reality of institutionalized segregation. Although the 3,500 African American troops stationed at Camp Lockett protected San Diego's water supplies, the border with Mexico, and provided security for the railroad that served as the city's only direct link to the manufacturing centers in the eastern part of the country, they faced strict racial segregation and discrimination at every turn. While blacks and whites went to the same movie house on the base, they sat in separate sections. At the post hospital, white soldiers, regardless of their rank, were assigned to private rooms separated from the black troops. There was a hospitality house on the base for visiting girlfriends or wives, but it was for whites only. Like their white counterparts, the black horse soldiers did what was asked of them. But unlike the white soldiers, they were forced to endure numerous obstacles to serving their country. Even so, they performed with distinction. In 1944, the cavalry units were dismounted and sent to North Africa and soon all four regiments were inactivated and converted into service troops -- the end of the horse cavalry in the US Army. Through an error, the 28th was not officially inactivated until 1951, which makes Camp Lockett the last home of the last horse cavalry in the US Army. The camp was converted in 1944 for use as Mitchell Convalescent Hospital, the first of its kind in the US. Two hundred Italian prisoners of war were assigned to Camp Lockett, where they worked in hospital services, mess halls, warehouses and shops and on the roads and grounds. Their stockade never had a locked gate! None tried to escape. Campo residents described them as being cheerful, singing as they went out on their work parties and feeling lucky to be alive. Their masonry work is still visible at many locations about the camp. The hospital operated until 1948 when the Army closed the post and returned the property to civilian use.
53. VMMC_090722_195.JPG: San Diego's Martial Metropolis: In a process that began in earnest in 1912, San Diego became the United States', and indeed the world's, leading "martial metropolis" -- a term coined by historian Roger Lotchin to define certain cities with deep, pervasive and abiding ties to the nation's military services. Over the years, San Diegans shaped their region's landscape, economy and civic culture to accommodate the Army, Marine Corps, and especially the Navy, in extraordinary ways. The services paid the city back in the form of population growth, investment in infrastructure development, and fame: to use an expression long popular with the Chamber of Commerce, the Armed Forces really did "put San Diego on the map." San Diego's military heritage, however, extends much further back in time than 1912, in fact to its very founding by Spanish colonizers in 1769. The Spanish and then the Mexican Presidio was the region's first non-native institution, and it was upon the foundation of the Presidio that American San Diego rose after 1848. The first Spanish military post devoted to defense of the harbor, Fort Guijarros, was established on Point Loma in 1797, on land that remains essential to contemporary US naval activities.
54. VMMC_090722_198.JPG: Since then, the military services have occupied at least fifty-two different bases, posts, cantonments, camps, airfields and headquarters establishments in and around San Diego. Although a number of those no longer remain in use -- or even visible in many cases -- their imprint upon and importance to the community are indelible. San Diego's contribution to the nation's effort during the wars of the 20th and 21st centuries has been similarly remarkable. Literally millions of young men and more than a few young women have received their basic and advanced training here, have been stationed in San Diego, or have passed through on their way to overseas assignments. How many of those have returned to San Diego to life, work, vacation or retire? Unique to San Diego's military history is the involvement of the Chamber of Commerce, a private organization of leading businessmen that cultivated the idea of attracting the Armed Forces to San Diego as an essential element of urban development. Their drive and ultimate success laid the foundation for our martial metropolis and created modern San Diego. This small exhibit attempts to capture some of that history and present it in an enlightening and enjoyable way.
55. VMMC_090722_220.JPG: Oil soaked leather wallet and two One Dollar bills recovered from USS Arizona (BB-39) after the December 7th 1941 attack.
56. VMMC_090722_253.JPG: Naked Warrior Statue: Warm water determined the dress in the South Pacific. A swimsuit, fins, mask, and knife became the standard in the Pacific for UDT swimmers. A tan colored swimsuit on a lightly sun "tanned" swimmer, and the lack of arms for protection, gave rise to the term "Naked Warrior". CDR Francis Douglas Fane, USNR (Ret.) made the term commonplace with his book detailing exploits of early U.S. "frogmen".
57. VMMC_090722_258.JPG: Single seal facemask worn in WWII and Korea. Notice the simple design compared to facemasks of today.
58. VMMC_090722_329.JPG: First US Flag to Fall in the Philippines, Bagula 1942
59. VMMC_090722_332.JPG: The volunteer described this as a rather special cannon. The barrel was covered with beautiful woodwork by craftsmen for the museum.
60. VMMC_090722_357.JPG: Robert Noll's sketchbook, provided in camp by the International Red Cross, and covered with leather from Noll's flight jacket.
61. VMMC_090722_368.JPG: How San Diego Became the "Air Capital of the West": As Americans marched westward during the nineteenth century, not only did they carve farms and homesteads out of the territories they encountered, but they established towns -- centers of social interaction, politics, culture, and of course, commerce. Urban historians have long noted how important the profit-motive was to the nation's urbanizing pioneers. Town-dwellers usually sought and found opportunities to engage in trade, manufacturing and real-estate investment and development. The early arrivals acquired as much local land as they could, whether through purchase, government grants, squatting, or theft from previous settlers. Turning their property acquisitions into profits generally meant attracting new immigrants who would themselves be eager to invest, subdivide and build, and thus realize their own economic success. Thus, much of the urban growth that occurred in the western United States relied on a steady influx of new settlers who would run up the value of the local real estate while starting business enterprises of their own. The cities -- and other urban pioneers -- that did best at this game typically grew up at one of three types of locations: - along established transportation routes; - at "breakpoints" along established transportation routes, where goods or passengers transferred from one mode of transportation to another; - or at places squarely in the path of anticipated, yet-to-be-bult transportation routes.
62. VMMC_090722_371.JPG: Numerous influential historians have argued that California (as well as the rest of the "Pacific slope") remained under-industrialized in comparison to other, older areas of the United States. Despite the fact that Puget Sound, the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles had begun to develop a base for heavy industry during the late nineteenth century and had become manufacturing centers in their own right, San Diego remained almost entirely devoid of "smokestack industry" until the World War II era. The US Navy had in the meantime become the city's main source of economic development as well as a major provider of essential urban infrastructure. Many San Diegans felt that industrialization might threatened their quiet way of life. Factories would pollute the air, the bay, and the skyline; an unruly, undisciplined and multiethnic working class might upset the city's harmonious social and political structure as well. San Diegans seemed not to realize that the Navy itself was a considerably industrial entity, producing some of the same impacts one could expect from large scale factories. Even so, aviation, and the possibility of an aviation industry, did capture the imagination of the San Diego Chamber of Commerce at an early date, and its leaders encouraged "bird-men" to conduct their experiments here. The Montgomery brothers -- James and John -- took advantage of the San Diego region's topography and equable climate in 1883 to prove the viability of heavier-than-air flight by piloting their glider a distance of 600 feet (a record at the time) from a cliff at Otay Mesa. Aeronautical pioneer Octave Chanute came to San Diego in 1895 to conduct his own experiments, thanks in part to reports about the perfect climactic conditions he could expect to find. According to Chamber of Commerce records, the data Chanute obtained helped the Wright brothers in their quest for the first powered flight.
63. VMMC_090722_374.JPG: Railroads proved difficult and expensive to build into the region, and the bay was too shallow and narrow to serve as an efficient harbor for oceangoing ships. As a result, San Diego remained isolated from other American cities, dooming it to slow growth for decades. The situation improved after 1900, when the San Diego Chamber of Commerce -- a small, tightly knit and powerful group of the city's leading businessmen -- persuaded the federal government to start improving San Diego so that the US Navy could begin the develop the harbor for its own purposes. Chamber leaders argued that commercial shipping, and therefore the city itself, would benefit from such federal activity; a viable harbor would stimulate commercial as well as industrial growth, and San Diego would soon become the dynamic metropolis it was meant to be. Hungry for the kind of economic success that urban growth typically engendered, the Chamber of Commerce touted San Diego as a site of limitless commercial and industrial potential. Among its other principal pitches, the Chamber promoted the region's near-perfect climate, not only for the sake of agricultural production, but more especially for the health benefits that elderly and infirm residents could hope to enjoy here by virtue of the petpetually sunny skies and clear, dry air. Despites its plainly stated interest in industrialization as a crucial key to future growth, the Chamber of Commerce -- in stark contrast to efforts made by boosters in Los Angeles and San Francisco -- concentrated its attention on the Navy Department and did little to induce industrialists to locate their enterprises in San Diego. Elsewhere in the United States, municipal governments and chambers of commerce typically offered free land, tax breaks and cash incentives to lure factories to their cities. San Diegans, however, always believed that the balmy climate and other "natural amenities" ought to be inducement enough. No wonder so few manufacturers chose to locate in San Diego!
64. VMMC_090722_377.JPG: More serious aviation efforts began in San Diego with the arrival of Glenn Curtiss in 1910. According to the San Diego Historical Society, his was "the first plane in America to be controlled by ailerons instead of the wing-warping used by the Wrights. It was also the first plane on wheels this side of the Atlantic." With the encouragement of the Chamber of Commerce and cooperation of San Diego's most important landowner and businessman John D. Spreckels, Curtiss set up a flying school on North Island. The San Diego Aero Club, founded by another Chamber leader, DC Collier, located itself nearby. Both entities enjoyed the largess of Spreckels, who allowed them to use his property rent-free. Curtiss trained many of the first military pilots at his school, and it was at North Island that he invested the seaplane, which first took off and landed on San Diego Bay. Although Curtiss left San Diego after Spreckels denied him the opportunity to purchase part of North Island for a permanent school, the magnate did allow the Army and later the Navy to establish training and patrol bases there, at least until such time that Spreckels planned to build a resort and luxury subdivision on the island. Flying conditions were so good at North Island that the Army had increased its activities to the point that land and sky had become dangerously overcrowded by 1916. Both services wished to expand their operations, but now Spreckels wanted his property back for the sake of his planned real estate developments. Although Spreckels never denied the Army or Navy the use of his land, he did refuse the Navy Department's million-dollar offer in 1917 to take it off his hands. At that point, the Navy initiated condemnation proceedings, which closed in 1921 with a payment to Spreckels in excess of five million dollars.
65. VMMC_090722_380.JPG: In the meantime, through the World War I years, the Army and Navy divided North Island between themselves, put up numerous temporary buildings, trained thousands of pilots, air crew and ground crew, and ran flight operations practically every day of the year. Thus over a period of a few short years, San Diego had become at least one of the capitals of military aviation in the United States, with some remarkable advances in numerous related fields to the region's credit.
66. VMMC_090722_385.JPG: Since San Diego was supposed to be the "air capital of the West," aircraft manufacturing might fit the city as well as the Navy did. The next person to help prove this proposition was Claude Ryan, a former Amy pilot and barnstormer who had established the first year-round regularly scheduled passenger airline and airmail service in the US (between San Diego and Los Angeles) in 1924. When this failed two years later, the company concentrated its efforts on designing and building aircraft at its plant on Dutch Flat -- a former tuna cannery. Ryan's big break came in 1927, when he received an order to construct what amounted to a "flying gas-tank" for Charles Lindbergh's attempt to win a $25,000 prize for the first nonstop flight from New York to Paris. The epic flight thus originated in San Diego, at the very location that became San Diego Municipal Airport, and later Lindbergh field. On his way to New York and the official start of prize-winning transatlantic flight, "Lucky Lindy" broke the existing speed record for a flight across the United States. Eight days later, he took off for Paris, his Ryan-built plane carrying him 3,600 miles in 33-1/2 hours. Lindbergh's successful exploit turned him into an instant global icon and made Ryan Aviation famous too. According to a Ryan biographer, orders for the M-1, the model on which Lindbergh's plane, The Spirit of St. Louis, was based, now came in to the company from all over the world. Ryan formed a new enterprise, Ryan Aeronautics, the following year, and over the next four decades created numerous functional designs with military as well as civilian applications. The Teledyne Corporation bought his company in 1969 for $128 million.
67. VMMC_090722_389.JPG: Aircraft manufacturing, other defense industries, and the combined activities of the armed forces in San Diego turned the city into the most highly congested military/industrial urban region in the United States during the World War II years. As the population surged, the city's infrastructure found itself taxed to the hilt Chronic problems with the water supply, the housing supply, urban transit -- in fact every aspect of life in San Diego -- all but overwhelmed the community. These difficult conditions challenged the longtime partnership between the city, its businessmen and the federal government, but before the war ended, San Diego had become the metropolis its boosters had envisioned. San Diego's massive contribution to the Allied war effort in the Pacific was only one aspect of the way that San Diego and its people helped to win the war. No less important was the stellar worldwide role played by Consolidated Aircraft and its premier creation: the B-24 Liberator.
68. VMMC_090722_394.JPG: Reuben H. Fleet and the Transformation of San Diego: During the 1920s and early 1930s, the Chamber of Commerce maintained close contact with another aviation pioneer who had fallen in love with San Diego. Reuben H. Fleet's military service had first brought him here in 1911 as a member of a National Guard unit detailed to patrol the Mexican border during that country's revolution. Fleet returned in 1917 to attend the Army's flying school at North Island and become "military aviator #74." When he left the Army in 1922, he received offers from some of the leading airplane builders of the time. He bought out the design assets of the Dayton-Wright Company and took them to the Gallaudet Aircraft Corporation, hoping to design them to meet the needs of the Army and Navy for trainer planes. Fleet found Gallaudet to be financially weak and offered to lease its plant and utilize its employees while he organized his own company, which he did in 1923, naming it Consolidated Aircraft. He moved the company from Ohio to Rhode Island, and ultimately to Buffalo, New York. Consolidated's specialty was always military aircraft, although Fleet and his designers often modified these to suit civilian needs. Fleet found the rigorous Buffalo climate much less conducive to his needs than San Diego's perpetually sunny skies, in particular for his flying-boat experiments. What he wanted was a place where he could test his aircraft out of doors and on the water all year long. Because transporting his finished product by rail to Navy bases on either coast was costly, dangerous, and in some cases impossible, Fleet searched the country for ten years, in order to find just the right location. Florida, Seattle, and Southern California all ranked high in his mind, and he found himself so attracted to San Diego's new bayside airport at Lindbergh Field in 1929 that he tried to buy it outright for one million dollars.
69. VMMC_090722_395.JPG: Tom Bomar, the Chamber of Commerce's aviation expert, kept after Fleet for the next several years, even while Fleet managed to drag Los Angeles into a bidding war with San Diego. Long Beach offered Consolidated more than twenty-two acres of land free next to its municipal airport, which delighted Bomar, who claimed that that property was always under water during winter, and it was five miles from the ocean, meaning that the company would still have to haul its planes overland to the sea before they could be flight or water-tested. Fleet made no decision on the matter until May 1933, when he received one last impassioned plea from San Diego Harbor Commissioner Emil Klicka, who somehow convinced the manufacturer on the spot to choose San Diego. The company entered into a lease with the city for seventy acres of choice property adjacent to Lindbergh Field and the bay at a price that Fleet could not afford to refuse: one thousand dollars per year for fifty years. According to the San Diego Aerospace Museum, "In the spring of 1935, in a move unprecedented in industry, he transferred his entire Consolidated operation in 157 freight cars of machinery and materials as well as employees and families to the newly constructed factory in San Diego." Fleet kept his move a secret from the Buffalo community until only a few months before his new $300,000 custom-designed plant on the waterfront opened for business in September 1935. Fleet had nothing but praise for the Chamber and the harbor department, whose hard work had won his confidence. The Chamber now announced a renaissance in community interest, thanks to the arrival of Consolidated -- "the first major industrial plant ever to be located in this city." When Fleet wanted a $500,000 load to defray the cost of moving, San Diego's congressional representative George Burnham (who was himself a director of the Chamber of Commerce) helped to arrange it with the Federal Housing Administration.
70. VMMC_090722_398.JPG: As had been the case with the Navy, Consolidated needed to modify San Diego's cityscape to meet its own special requirements. The Chamber's aviation and industrial development committee recognized the importance of keeping the company's executives happy, realizing that Consolidated had the power to attract yet more aviation industries to the city; thus the organization undertook to coordinate such activities as best it could. To provide sufficient space for the company's workshops, aprons, and taxiways, the several tuna canneries then in the immediate area had to move south of downtown, near the destroyer base at 32nd Street. The small boats anchored in the bay off the airport had to remove themselves as well. Providing housing for Consolidate's employees (3,600 by the of 1936) also proved daunting. This was a problem the city never completely solved, even with the construction of massive low-cost housing projects such as Linda Vista during the war years that followed. Reuben Fleet immediately became one of San Diego's top leaders, commanding great respect wherever he went, which included the highest offices in the federal government. He had something to say on practically every subject of concert to the Chamber, the city council, and the Navy, and when he spoke, people listed. Having instantly established himself as the single larger employer in San Diego other than the Navy, and a substantial power broker who had the ear of cabinet secretaries, congressional leaders, and President Roosevelt as well, Fleet began to reshape the city as he saw hit. Before long, and for a long time thereafter, he served as the de facto "industrial mayor" of San Diego, who sat right at the head of the table with the commandant of the naval district and the real mayor, and his impact on the city only grew over time.
71. VMMC_090722_402.JPG: The Story of the B-24: The B-24 Liberator was never as famous as the B-17 Flying Fortress. Reuben Fleet named his plane "Liberator" because of its ability "to carry destruction to the heart of the Hun," and liberate Europe from Hitler's yoke. Despite the B-17's popularity early in the war, the B-24 became the most influential bomber and was manufactured in the greatest numbers. A total of 19,256 B-24 bombers of all variants came out of three American factories, more than any other US warplane of any era. In 1938, the Army Air Corps approached San Diego's Consolidated Aircraft Corporation with the idea that they build the B-17 under license to provide an additional production line. Executives from Consolidated visited Boeing's plant in Seattle where the Fortresses were made and quickly realized they could build a better plane based on the creation of a near-penniless inventor named David R. Davis. Davis had designed radical new wing that he sold to Consolidated in 1937. When scientists at the California Institute of Technology tested the Davis wing in their wind tunnel, they proved Fleet's hunch -- that the slender profile and sharp camber would provide a greatly superior lift. It was so efficient that the scientists ignored their test results at first because it exceeded what they thought possible, outperforming other contemporary wings by 20 percent. In January 1939, Consolidated president Reuben H. Fleet offered the Army Air Corps his proposal for the B-24, a design he was sure was superior to the B-17, and the Air Corps leaders instructed him to proceed with his new plane. In order to provide some direction to Fleet's project, the Air Corps issued Type Specification C-212, which called for "a heavy bomber to have a maximum speed greater than 300 mph, a range of 2,000 miles, and a ceiling of 35,000 feet." On March 30, 1939, Consolidated received a contract for one prototype under the designation "XB-24."
72. VMMC_090722_405.JPG: Model 32, the name given for the prototype XB-24, took its first flight on December 29, 1939 over the skies of San Diego one day short of the time limit specified in the USAAC contract. Four Pratt & Whitney 1100 hp engines provided the power for the XB-24. The ultra-modern Davis wing performed well, creating a range 200 miles greater than the B-17. The B-24's maximum speed, however, was only 273 mph, still slower than a turbosupercharged B-17C. In March 1939, the US Army ordered 7 YB-24, service test bombers with turbo-surperchargers for high altitude flight. Nine B-24Cs came next, but none of these aircraft ever saw combat. The subsequent variant, the B-24D, would be used throughout the world theater. On June 30, 1943, the turret-equipped B-24H appeared on the scene, followed by the B-24J, L, and M, all of which included a full suite of anti-fighter armament -- machine guns in the nose-, top-, and ball-turrets; at the waist; and at the tail of the aircraft. When flown in the "box formation," Liberators presented formidable firepower to enemy attackers. In light of the massive commitment the United States made to the B-24, it is ironic to note that France, and not the USAAC, placed the first production order for 139 Liberators, which they called the LB-30. France surrendered long before any could be delivered, so the Royal Air Force (RAF) took over the French order. Twenty were taken by Coastal Command as the Liberator I. These were very early B-24s with armor, extra machine guns, and self-sealing fuel tanks added. The RAF then ordered 140 Liberator IIs, with fuselage lengthened to equal that of the B-24D, but with Hamilton Standard propellers. These were the last of the contract Liberators for the RAF, as all subsequent RAF Liberators went to the British through the Lend-Lease program. Subsequent British models included the Liberator III and IIIA, based on the B-24D; the Liberator IV, derived from the B-24E; and the Liberator V, a conversion of the B-24G. The Liberator VI came from the B-24H and B-24J. The Liberator VII was a transport based on the C-87 cargo variant of the Liberator. The Liberator VIII was an improved Liberator VI, while the Liberator IX was another cargo variant based on the US Navy's R3Y.
73. VMMC_090722_408.JPG: The end of the B-24 production line in San Diego. The last Liberator is an F-7B, a special model equipped with five photo-reconnaissance cameras in its aft bomb boy. In all, 7,501 Liberators and Privateers were built in San Diego's Consolidated-Vultee aircraft plant.
74. VMMC_090722_411.JPG: By 1924, more than 40% of Consolidated's workers were women. The term "Rosie the Riveter" was coined at Consolidated, and the image of strong, capable women doing the kind of industrial work traditionally performed by men became an icon of the American war effort.
75. VMMC_090722_414.JPG: By 1943, the Liberator was the most advanced and complex bomber ever placed into mass production. On the production line at Consolidated-Vultee's San Diego plant, the aircraft were mounted to a track system that pulled them along the factory floor at a rate of 7 inches per minute. All work stands and platforms were equipped with wheels and moved with the aircraft.
76. VMMC_090722_417.JPG: Fighter escorts were essential to the success of bombing missions. In the early stages of the war, American bombers relied on British fighters for support. These early fighters were not very helpful to the bombers, as they lacked the necessary range to provide effective cover. The P-47 Thunderbolt, for example, could only penetrate to the German border until the introduction of belly tanks, increasing their range to western Germany. The P-38 Lightning could make it to Berlin but it was the P-51 Mustang that was most effective; it was capable of round trip missions to any target in Germany. Fighters were responsible for escorting the bombers to the initial point of their run. After the run, they would resume their duties and protect the bombers from enemy fighters. As the formations entered friendlier surroundings, the fighters were allowed to engage "targets of opportunity." The ground crews would anxiously be awaiting the returning squadrons. Flares were shot from the planes to signal that they had wounded crewmembers on board. Once the planes landed, the ground crew worked furiously to get them ready for their next flight. Interesting Fact; The word "flak" comes from the German word Fliegerabwehrkanonen, roughly meaning "flying defense cannons".
77. VMMC_090722_420.JPG: Alternative Uses: In addition to its primary role as a long-range strategic bomber, the B-24 was useful in several other capacities. Maritime Reconnaissance -- The Navy acquired the B-24 through a deal cut with the USAAF in 1942. Anxious to acquire a long-range, land-based heavy maritime reconnaissance and patrol aircraft capable of carrying a substantial bomb load, the Navy had to overcome USAAF resistance to what it perceived as an encroachment into its jealously guarded land-based bomber program. The Air Force, however, needed a plant to manufacture its next generation of heavy bombers, the B-29 Superfortress. The Navy owned a plant at Renton, Washington then operated by Boeing for the manufacture of the PBB-1 Sea Ranger twin-engine patrol flying boat. The Army proposed that the Navy cancel the Sea Ranger program and turn over the Renton factory to them for B-29 production. In exchange, the USAAF would get out of the antisubmarine warfare business and would drop its objections to the Navy's operation of land-based bombers. The Navy got "navalized" B-24 Liberators, B-25 Mitchells, and B-34/B-37 Venturas for use in maritime reconnaissance and antisubmarine warfare. Naval B-24s were designated PB4Y-1. Five squadrons of PB4Y-1s were used as photographic reconnaissance. After the war, Navy Liberators continued to operate into the early 1950s. A number of Navy Liberators were modified for reconnaissance duties as PB4Y-1Ps and served until 1950 with patrol squadrons VP-61 and VP-62. Squadron VP-61 was based out of Miramar MCAS here in San Diego and between 1947 and 1949, it carried out an extensive photographic mapping survey of Alaska.
78. VMMC_090722_423.JPG: Flying Tanker -- 208 B-24J and L models were converted to unarmed fuel transports under the designation C-109. All armament and bombardment equipment was removed and both the forward and aft turrets were removed and faired over with sheet metal. The waist windows were retained. Eight fuel tanks were installed inside the fuselage that could carry 2,900 US gallons. An early plan called for ten B-29 groups to be stationed in China for operations against Japan, and these bombers were to be supported by no less than 2,000 C-109s operating with the 20th Air Force flying in supplies of aviation gasoline over the Hump from India. This plan was dropped when the B-29 Superfortress operations were relocated from China to the Marianas, from where they could be better supported by US Navy seaborne tankers. In late 1944, the C-109s were transferred to the Air Transport Command. Some limited use of the C-109 was made in Europe. Spy Plane -- The B-24 even found use a spy plane in the South Pacific. Two B-24As were designated for a secret spy flight over Japanese bases on Jaluit and Truk. If they were detected, the cover-up story would have been that the planes got "lost" while in route to the Philippines and had accidentally strayed over the islands. Before the operation could take place, Pearl Harbor was attacked. One of the planes designated for this mission was destroyed on the ground at Hickam Field during the attack, and some of the crewmembers were killed.
79. VMMC_090722_426.JPG: Ploesti, Romania: Following the famous low-level raid o the Ploesti Oil Refineries on 1 August 1943, the 15th Air Force, based in Italy, followed up with several more high altitude bombing raids during 1944. Ploesti was always a tough target, being one of the most heavily defended in all occupied Europe. These are B-24's from the 451st Bomb Group leaving the Ploesti refineries in flames.
80. VMMC_090722_429.JPG: V Grand: This Liberator, a B-24J-195-CO, was the 5,000th B-24 built by Consolidated Aircraft Corporation, San Diego, California. The aircraft was signed by thousands of workers at the Consolidated plant. Unlike other similarly signed planes, "V Grand" was allowed to deploy overseas with the signatures still on. it is seen here on a flight over the southwestern US prior to it being delivered to the USAAF.
81. VMMC_090722_435.JPG: A Closer Look at Bombing Missions: Bombing missions usually began with an early breakfast of powdered eggs, toast, and black coffee -- a fairly typical day for anyone, only slightly more dangerous. The pilots and their crews then heading to the briefing. There were separate briefings for pilots, navigators, and bombardiers. Targets were detailed and discussion was held, then the crews would head to their planes. For bombing missions based out of England, crews had to deal with the persistent heavy cloud cover. In order to properly begin the mission, a brightly colored assembly plane would be sent up. These planes were not fit for combat but were used to organize the squadron after takeoff. Each squadron would takeoff and climb on a given heading, air speed, and rate of climb. After so many minutes, they would turn and head back toward the airfield in what they called the "racetrack." This procedure continued until they broke through the clouds, sometimes taking an hour and bringing them to altitudes as high as 20,000 feet. At this point, they located their assembly plane and formed up as three plane "flights" and then as twelve plane squadrons.. The "flights consisted of a lead squadron with the head pilot and navigator, a second squadron in the "high right" position, a third squadron at the "low left" position, and the fourth squadron in the "low rear" position.
Multi Column: Number of columns of thumbnails to appear per page (normally defaults to 3): [1 col] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]
Description of Subject Matter: Throughout the past century thousands of military personnel have come to San Diego, lived here - trained here - and departed from here to do their duty all over the world. For the thousands who shipped out from here and the thousands who lost their lives, one of the last views of the "good old USA" was the rise of "Inspiration Point" in the backdrop of San Diego.

The San Diego community, which includes over 340,000 veterans and active duty personnel, is proud of its city and its history. It is a conscientious community that continually seeks to improve its urban amenities, civic institutions, services and the quality of life, particularly in education and cultural areas. During the World War I era San Diego became renowned as a great "Navy Town." San Diego's reputation and position remains a dominant feature with the Navy and Marine Corps with countess numbers of men and women who served their country and passed through these portals for parts all over the world. With the large presence of both the Navy and Marine Corps in San Diego, Moreover, United States and allied Veterans from all services, eras, wars and conflicts agree that the region's military heritage makes it a uniquely attractive place, whether to visit or live there.

The Veterans Memorial Garden concept was originally published in the July 1999 issue of the Veterans Journal. It was impressive and was enthusiastically received by veterans throughout San Diego. On November 17, 1999, a Veterans' Memorial Park committee was established to prepare a conceptual proposal for a Veterans Memorial Garden to honor all men and women who served in the U. S. Armed Forces, Coast Guard and Wartime Merchant Marine. In 2002, Mayor Dick Murphy and Councilwoman Toni Atkins were able to get a substantial grant from the State of California's Bond Issue supporting Parks and Wetlands for Balboa Park. From this grant a portion was set aside to fund the Veteran's Memorial Garden Project located at Inspiration Point in Balb ...More...
Wikipedia Description: Veterans Museum and Memorial Center
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Veterans Museum and Memorial Center is a museum located in historic Balboa Park of San Diego, California. Founded in 1989, it is dedicated to create, maintain, and operate an institution to honor and perpetuate the memories of all men and women who have served in the Armed Forces of the United States of America. The museum currently resides in the former Chapel of the Old Balboa Naval Hospital.
Bigger photos? To save server space, the full-sized versions of these images have either not been loaded to the server or have been removed from the server. (Only some pages are loaded with full-sized images and those usually get removed after three months.) I still have them though. If you want me to email them to you, please send an email to guthrie.bruce@gmail.com and I can email them to you, or, depending on the number of images, just repost the page again will the full-sized images.
Directly Related Pages: Other pages with content (CA -- San Diego -- Balboa Park -- Veterans Museum & Memorial Center) directly related to this one: [Display ALL photos on one page]:
- 2008_CA_SDVMMC: CA -- San Diego -- Balboa Park -- Veterans Museum & Memorial Center (13 photos from 2008)
Same Subject: Click on this link to see coverage of items having the same subject: [(San Diego) Balboa Park] [Display ALL (San Diego) Balboa Park photos] [Botanical Gardens] [Military (Non-Events)] [Museums (History)] [Park (Local)]
2009 photos: Equipment this year: I mostly used the Fuji S100fs. I've also got a Nikon D90 and a newer Fuji -- the S200EHX -- both of which are nice but I still prefer the flexibility of the Fuji. Trips this year: Niagara Falls, NY, New York City, Civil War Trust conferences in Gettysburg, PA and Springfield, IL, and my 4th consecutive San Diego Comic-Con trip (including Los Angeles, Yosemite, Death Valley, Kings Canyon, Joshua Tree, etc). Ego strokes: I had a picture of a Lincoln-Obama cupcake sculpture published in Civil War Times and WUSA-9, the local CBS affiliate, ran a quick piece on me. A picture that I took at the annual Abraham Lincoln Symposium appeared in the National Archives' "Prologue" magazine. I became a volunteer with the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Number of photos taken this year: 417,000.
Connection Not Secure messages? Those warnings you get from your browser about this site not having secure connections worry some people. This means this site does not have SSL installed (the link is http:, not https:). That's bad if you're entering credit card numbers, passwords, or other personal information. But this site doesn't collect any personal information so SSL is not necessary. Life's good!
Limiting Text: You can turn off all of this text by clicking this link: [Thumbnails Only]
Photo Contact: [Email Bruce Guthrie].