Military use of St. Simons Island during WWII: Day 8

The King and Prince Hotel and Resort
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Military use of St. Simons Island during WWII

Description: The airport is used for bush planes and private airplanes and could never be used for commercial planes used by United Airlines and such. The King and Prince Resort is a beautiful public hotel that any civilian can stay at if they want to pay the money. The King and Prince was built to rival the wealthy Sea Island that was just off of St. Simons. The King and Prince got its name because the two men that funded and owned the hotel were nicknamed the king and prince. Both facilities returned to recreational use after the war.

Reflection: I have biked past both the airport and the King and Prince Hotel and resort. The airport is on the south end of the island in between the east and west sides of the island. The King and Prince Hotel is also on the south side of the island but is on the beach on the east side of the island. One day, I would love to have a plane stationed at the airport on St. Simons Island as well as a house on the island; however, that day is all but a dream. I learned that even though you may own something privately, such as the King and Prince Hotel and resort, the government can use your facilities and property when needed during a time of war. The citizens of St. Simons Island are lucky that the government used these two facilities to protect them but I explain why a little further down.

Analysis: World War Two or WWII for short began in 1941 and ended in 1945. The United States did not get involved until after the attack on Pearl Harbor in December of 1941 by the Japanese. Two main structures on St. Simons Island were used for the United States Military during WWII. The first structure was the airport on the island. The airport was used for small planes in the U.S. Air Force as a landing strip, a fueling station, and an air base. The second structure used during the war was the King and Prince Resort. The King and Prince Resort was a fairly new hotel (less than ten years old) used as a radar base for the United States military. As well as a radar base, the resort was used to house and feed soldiers stationed on St. Simons Island. The radar base and airport were used mainly to locate and destroy German submarines off the east coast of the United States. The usage of these two facilities worked because there was at least one documented sinking of a German submarine that Ms. Edith Smoak told our group during the bus tour she gave us. These two facilities protected the Georgia coastline effectively and efficiently. Overall, these two sites have both civilian and military history in their records.