WWII: Was John Reber a Wonder or a Blunder? B category looks good to me.

(The following piece is related to the Reber Plan; he’s the guy who wanted to turn San Francisco Bay into one giant lake after WWII. With military highways and military airports, too. I like the military highways because they are here, today, like Highway 101. I never thought of it as a military road; I …

WWII Coastside: Blimps A Common Sight

Moss Beach, World War II. In the sky above the woman you’ll see a blimp. I’ve been told that the blimps were a common sight on the Coastside, searching for enemy subs in the Pacific.

Coastside WWII: “In the first part of 1942, ‘G-Men’ came to our home in Moss Beach.”

Elaine Martini Teixeira says: Sometime in the first part of 1942, before my brother left for service in the US Army in October, government men came to our home in Moss Beach. My brother, Raymond Martini, recalls they showed some official papers, but said they were not given to the family to read, and we …

Coastside WWII: Lifting the Veil of Military Secrecy/The End of Hostilities

From the Half Moon Bay Review, 1945, an article celebrating the end of hostilities. “Japanese capitulation, ending World War II, has lifted the wall of military secrecy on San Mateo County’s magnificent contribution to the fighting machine of America and her allies in mankind’s greatest conflict of arms. “It was no small part that we …

Coastside WWII: The War Ends; the Military Closes Down, Secrecy Remains

With the war finally over in 1945, the cloak of miitary secrecy which smothered the Coastside during the war was finally lifted, and some information was leaked to the local newspaper. It was as if a signal was given; the military pulled out as fast as their convoys had arrived. The airport used for target …

Coastside WWII: Navy Abandons Air Strip: “One of the ‘secret’ installations”

From the Half Moon Bay Review The year was 1945 “Mills field navy installations totaling $5,000,000 are to be turned over to San Francisco and 85 acres of the property will be promptly leased to Pan American Airways as its Pan-Pacific terminus. “The explanation was made by Capt. Bernard M. Doolin, airport manager, in clarification …