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Atlantic City, you say?
August 14, 2016
Atlantic City Was a Military Base in 1942 WWII
By William H. Sokolic, INQUIRER CORRESPONDENT
POSTED: June 01, 1992
Gil Katz spent much of World War II in Atlantic City. Who could ask for anything more, as the jingle goes?
…
But in May 1942, the city fathers turned the keys to the resort over to the Army. The World's Playground became Camp Boardwalk 50 years ago. "You stepped out of a hotel and you were in a military camp," said Katz, who was stationed here from November 1942 to September 1945.
Atlantic City thus became the only town in the continental United States transformed into a military base. Until January 1946, the resort served first as a basic training center for Army Air Corps and Coast Guard recruits, then as a redistribution center for returning airmen…
"All the hotels were taken over for barracks," said Herb Krassenstein, then a surgical technician assigned to the Army Medical Corps at Thomas England General Hospital - known before and after the war as the Chalfonte- Haddon Hall Hotel, and now the site of Merv Griffin's Resorts Casino Hotel…
Almost 300,000 soldiers spent time in Atlantic City during the war. Among the more famous were Glenn Miller, Mickey Rooney, Broderick Crawford, Henry Mancini and Donald O'Connor.
In the morning, troops would train on the beach and march on the Boardwalk, said Krassenstein, who was stationed in Atlantic City for the entire four years and was one of the few local residents assigned here. Throughout the day, soldiers - many convalescing from war wounds or undergoing physical therapy for amputations - walked the Boardwalk along with tourists. Troops would go to Brigantine for rifle practice and to Convention Hall for exercise.
At night, the Boardwalk was dark, its towering lights painted black to shield the city from possible German submarine attacks, Katz said.
Military police kept watch at the bus and train stations and along the highways leading from the city. "You couldn't leave the island without a pass," said Jack Haynie, who was stationed at England Hospital from September 1942 to December 1943…
"The city opened its arms and enveloped servicemen," said Katz, whose home town was Ocean City, 10 miles down the road.
Restaurants and movie theaters cut prices for servicemen. And soldiers frequently dined at residents' homes…
Tourism, while curtailed during the war years, survived. Despite the use of the Traymore, Dennis and other major hotels by the military, visitors could find rooms at smaller hotels or rooming houses around town.
Steel Pier and Million Dollar Pier still operated. Sammy Kaye and His Orchestra appeared that first summer at Steel Pier, across from what is now Trump's Taj Mahal. Tommy Dorsey, Harry James and Frankie Carle, among other bandleaders, also played the pier during the war. Million Dollar Pier featured acts such as Roy Rogers and his horse, Trigger. The Hialeah Club on Atlantic Avenue and Club Harlem on Kentucky Avenue continued to draw crowds…
The Chalfonte-Haddon Hall officially became England Hospital in August 1943. It could accommodate up to 4,000 patients.. Haddon Hall became the hospital proper, with patient rooms and surgical suites. The Chalfonte was used for ambulatory treatment and for offices and living quarters for doctors. A bridge over North Carolina Avenue connected the two buildings. All types of surgery and medical care were provided at the hospital, but its most prominent role was for amputees, Krassenstein said. Soldiers were fitted for prostheses, and went through physical therapy and recuperation, much of it on the Boardwalk…
For Krassenstein, the most poignant moments of the war here came during the Hurricane of 1944, which struck Atlantic City in late summer. It still stands as one of the most destructive ever to rip into New Jersey.
Winds up to 80 m.p.h. tore up sections of the Boardwalk. Heinz Pier - a favorite with servicemen - broke up, never to be rebuilt. Water rushed into the streets and into England Hospital, knocking out the self-generated power supply. Military personnel had to remove all 4,000 patients and send them to a smaller hospital in Staten Island. And they had to do so without the use of elevators.
"We had to carry each patient down the fire escape," said Krassenstein, 72, a retiree from the newspaper business.
The transfer of patients - and their subsequent return to Atlantic City six weeks later - went off without a hitch…
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