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October 27, 2009
Island History: Memorial
marker for U.S. Navy
Beach Jumpers dedicated on
Ocracoke
By PAT GARBER
Sixty-six years
have passed since Ocracoke
Island became the site of an
“advanced amphibious training
base,” where tactical cover and
deception units were organized
and trained for the U.S. Navy.
Known as the Beach Jumpers, the
operation was designed to
promote seaborne deception in
World War II.
The training was conducted in
secret, and few knew of its
existence at the time. Since
then, there has been minimal
publicity about this operation.
Last Friday, however, on Oct.
23, the U.S. Navy Beach Jumper
Association had a reunion at
Ocracoke, and a newly engraved
black memorial marker was
unveiled and dedicated at Loop
Shack Hill, just outside the
village.
The saga of
Ocracoke’s Beach Jumpers will
now be available to all, adding
one more chapter to the island’s
fascinating history.
The story begins with a name
familiar to many--actor Douglas
Fairbanks, Jr., star of such
movie hits as “The Sun Never
Sets,” “Gunga Din,” and “The
Fighting O’Flynn.”
At the beginning of World War
II, Fairbanks gave up his acting
career to join the U.S. Navy,
and was stationed in England on
a special assignment with
British Admiral Lord
Mountbatten’s Commandos. Their
task was to set up fake
invasions to get Germany to move
its war equipment to certain
locations, while the British
invasion actually took place
somewhere else.
When Lt. Fairbanks came back to
the United States, he went to
see Navy Admiral H. K. Hewitt
and proposed setting up an
American Beach Jumper operation.
Hewitt sent him
to Washington, D.C., to talk to
Admiral Ernest J. King,
Commander-in-Chief, U. S. Fleet,
and Chief of Naval Operations,
who acted on his suggestion.
However, Sullivan put Capt.
Anthony Rorshack in command
because his rank was higher than
Fairbanks. The admiral assigned
180 officers and 300 enlisted
men to be trained.
The men began arriving at
Ocracoke’s amphibious training
base during the winter of
1943-44, and began training to
become part of Units 6, 7, 8 and
9.
The training base was considered
highly secretive, and during the
years of its operation, no one
was allowed to go on Ocracoke’
beaches or near the base. The
men were trained to set up mock
or dummy invasions, using such
tactics as setting off
firecrackers and smoke pots to
simulate battle. They used loud
speakers and tape recorders to
project the sounds of battle
from the decks of P.T. boats,
and they sent up balloons
covered with tin foil to
interfere with communications.
After practicing the maneuvers
at Ocracoke, the units,
described on the Beach Jumper
Association Web site as
“tactical cover and deception
units,” were sent to the battle
fronts of the Pacific.
The Beach Jumpers were active
from 1943 to 1946 and again from
1951 to 1972. They played a part
in the Vietnam War as well as in
World War II. Beach Jumper Lt.
Felix Harvey, said, tongue in
cheek, the initials “B J” stood
for “Scare the beejezus out of
them.”
The dedication and unveiling on
Ocracoke last week were set up
as part of this year’s Beach
Jumpers annual three-day
reunion.
Several of the Beach Jumpers who
trained at Ocracoke were
present, including then Lt.
Charles Felix Harvey, now
turning 90, CRT Edwin Benjamins,
and ETM Norris Fanning. Also
present was Vera Fairbanks,
widow and third wife of Douglas
Fairbanks. The reunion also
included Beach Jumpers who
trained at other places.
The event began
with a presentation at the
Ocracoke Preservation Society
Museum, with such speakers as
Doug Stover of the National Park
Service, U.S. Coast Guard Capt.
Daniel Haynes of the Fifth
District, Ocracoke historian
Earl O’Neal, and several of the
Beach Jumpers.
Afterwards people were invited
to drive out to Loop Shack Hill,
a national historic site located
just northeast of the village
off Highway 12, for the
unveiling of the memorial
marker. The marker commemorates
not just the Beach Jumpers who
trained at Ocracoke but all U.
S. Navy Beach Jumpers from 1943
to 1972.
Refreshments were served
afterwards at the Ocracoke
Community Center. More than 200
people attended the event.
The part Ocracoke Island played
in World War II is an amazing
story in many ways, and one that
has just come to light in recent
years. Few Americans knew at the
time how many German U-boats
moved along America’s eastern
waters, how close they came to
this country’s shore, or how
many American merchant ships
were torpedoed during World War
II.
The operation at Loop Shack
Hill, according to Ocracoke
historian Earl O’Neal, was set
up before the base was built. It
was a top-secret facility,
established to receive pulses
from a magnetic cable that ran
from Ocracoke to Buxton. The
purpose of the cable was to
track German U-boats and other
ships and protect shipping along
the coast. The pulses were
signals that could be read from
Loop Shack Hill, indicating when
something--possibly a German
submarine -- was in the
vicinity.
The Navy Base was built at
Ocracoke, said O’Neal, to refuel
five patrol boats that moved up
and down the Outer Banks. It was
intended to provide personnel,
boats, and technical support for
Allied convoys that operated
along the coast. Set up to house
400 enlisted men, it had a mess
capacity for 1,500 people.
Minefields were set out by men
using boats, another reason
people were warned to stay away
from the beaches. The base
closed in1946.
A new exhibit of
World War II Beach Jumper
photographs in the hallway of
the Ocracoke Preservation
Society Museum provides a
fascinating look into their
history.
The exhibit, put together by
Earl O’Neal and Janey Jacoby, is
open to the public Monday
through Saturday through Nov.
28, when the museum closes for
the season.
O’Neal was instrumental in the
organization of the Beach
Jumpers commemorating event, the
establishment of the marker, and
the creation of the exhibit at
the museum. He was made an
honorary associate member of the
Beach Jumpers Association in
acknowledgement and appreciation
of his work.
For more information on the U.S.
Navy Beach Jumpers, go to
http://www.beachjumpers.com/
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