Despite Florida's growing tourism, it was still the least-populated southern state in 1940, and ranked only 27th nationally. World War II changed this statistic. Florida played an important role in the events leading up to and during World War II.
The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. On December 8th, America entered World War II. Many men and women came to Florida to help prepare soldiers for the war. Among the large number of soldiers from all over the U.S. who fought in this war were over 250,000 soldiers from FloridaMilitary Installations in Florida Because Florida had a warm climate and a lot of vacant land available, it was ideal for the building of military bases and training soldiers. In the 1930s, there was a tremendous growth of military estab-lishments throughout Florida. Florida soon had 172 military installations, ranging from both extremely large to relatively small camps. Two of the larger complexes were Camp Blanding, established near Starke, and the Jacksonville Naval Air Station. Camp Blanding became Florida's fourth largest city during World War II. It grew to 180,000 acres and housed 55,000 soldiers at a time. Additional naval stations were reactivated at Key West, Drew and MacDill Air Fields in Tampa, Elgin Field at Valparaiso, and the Pensacola Naval Air Base. Two of the smaller camps were Sopchoppy Bombing Range and Immokalee Army Air Field. By the mid 1940s, there were forty airfields actively training military personnel throughout the state. Florida's weather conditions and flat land made it the perfect place for training, especially pilots. By 1942, America's training facilities in Florida were heavily overcrowded. This led to the military taking over many hotel facilities. Among the hotels used were the Don Cesar in St. Petersburg, the Hollywood Beach Hotel, The Breakers in Fort Lauderdale, the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, and several hundred other hotels and motels throughout Florida. Some of the places were used for barracks and others were taken over as makeshift hospitals for injured military personnel sent home from overse.
