WWII era Yellow Water Naval Air Gunnery School

[Timkin]

Very awesome stuff.. The place is very intriguing to me

[RMHoward]

Pberry,
Thanks for adding this information.  It is this kind of first hand information (from your father) that makes this place even more interesting to me.  I have learned a lot about this place since starting this thread.  Your father mentioned French sailors training there.  I had no idea of this until the grandson of a French WWII vet who trained there contacted me for more information.  You see, he found a certificate of training his grandfather received for completing the course at Yellow Water. It started him looking for more info about the place, similar to yourself.  Thanks again for sharing.  Hope to hear more from you.
Rick

[pberry]

Appreciate the feedback. I'm fortunate to have a family that took such good care of these document to allow me to share these events that took place almost 70 years ago.

Dog Walker: I'm reading these letters chronologically so I haven't yet read the ones he mailed while in combat overseas. You'd probably think I'd jump right to them but as I read each letter I'm also scanning it to send to my brother and sister so this is taking awhile.

They sure seemed to ship these boys around quite a bit during training. My father, who came from Michigan, started out in boot camp at Camp Pendleton, CA. He then spent a stint as a "messman" at the Marines rifle range in La Jolla known as Camp Mathews (now also long gone) until they assigned him to the Marine Air Corp at Camp Kearny Mesa (known today as Miramar). He was then shipped off to Radio School in Jacksonville, then to Gunnery Shcool in Yellowater, then on to Operations in De Land, Florida. After that to Cherry Point where he was assigned to squadron VMB-611 and sent to Parris Island to fly as a radioman in a B-25. He then went down to Boca Chica in the Florida keys to practice torpedo runs and then back to Parris Island. I've only read up to March 1944 at this point but he is expecting to be shipped back to San Diego before heading overseas.

Phil

[alyce615]

just found this as I searched for "Yellow Water". I'm writing my Dad's WWII Memoirs and am now filling in background info when my family reads it. My dad was stationed at YW before it was completed. He enlisted day after Pearl. The water system wasn't running yet and they had to brush their teeth w/ coke. They were taken to Jax NAS once a week for showers. A lot of men got sick w/ infections due to poor sanitation. He was in  radio gunner school there. Thanks for sharing your info and photos. Alyce

[boatswain]

My Name is Carson Minshall. I was stationed at Yellow Water 1944-45 as a student, platon leader and instructor at Range Armory #8. The light rails were for Budd cars. They were finicy when hit and parts were hard to come by. The larger rail was for Jeeps with modified wheels and armor plating. The pool had open swimming hours, but survival was a required course. All students got 4 hours flight time. This got them a month's flight pay. The planes were 12 passenger Beech-craft. Junked (I am told) by the Army Signal Corps. We flew our ot Cecil. Cecil also had an enlisted personnel bar.

[RMHoward]

Carson,
Thanks so much for your input here.  I would much appreciate any other information or memories you have about this place.  As you know, there is not much information available.  Hearing from someone who actually was stationed there is wonderful.  I would very much like to contact you for more information.  Please email me at:   rickm.howard@gmail.com.   

Thanks again
Rick

[Bob Self]

Richard, Glad you found the Yellow Water post on Vintage Jacksonville, http://vintagejacksonville.net/2011/09/20/yellow-water-naval-air-gunnery-school/.  There are a number of photos in the Loyd Sandgren collection from Yellow Water that he shot while stationed at Mayport N.S. as the base photographer in the 1940's but this one is the only one posted at this time.  I had seen your post and this thread when I was doing some of my background research and the information was fascinating. Bob Self

[kman1341]

wow after reading all of this im so excited. i really hope i can check this place out soon. and reading about that lonely feeling...yeah...i do alot of fishing in the oakleaf area and there is one spot that i get that feeling everything i go. im not sure if any of ya'll know about the tree farm on oakleaf plantation pkwy, but every time i fish there i get the alone feeling, the look around everywhere feeling, like somebody is gonna come up behind me. And wow reading about people who actually trained there, so amazing. the pictures are awesome, and i would love to do some metal detecting around this area just to see what i could find. this is amazing and would love to find out more information. thank you all so much for keeping this site alive and for helping to emind us all of our rich history. its just sad to think that this place was so forgotten, my grandfather served in the navy at nas jax and cecil field, i cant recall ever hearing about Yellow Water. i love history especially stuff about WWII and this being a training facility in my home town that was in use during WWII...wow never would have though that i could get this excited about a place that has been lost, a place that has been retaken be the earth. only way it could be better is if it was some top secret testing facility. that would be so cool, but im not complaining.

[kman1341]

sorry about all the mispellings its late lol and i was excited cant wait to visit this site.

[BridgeTroll]

These pix are at... http://vintagejacksonville.net/

[John]

I'm resurrecting this topic to thank Rick Howard for alerting me about a piece of history that is just down the road from where I live.  My son and I explored today and found the swimming pool.  We looked at some other sites but the pool was our goal.  To add to the historical ambiance, as we searched through the woods we could hear the Memphis Belle and the P-51 which accompanied her to Cecil flying overhead.  How cool is that?

[RMHoward]

Your welcome John.
Please join my Face book group which discusses all the local military bases and their contribution to WWII.  Link Here.  All are welcome.  Link here:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/536209709803908/

[bobsim]

  Good time for me to say thanks too. Awesome thread Rick. Robin and I have spent many good hours in the woods exploring and learning, maybe even some trespassing here and there...

  Finding the pool after seeing the pics on your thread was quite a moment, and following the history through the woods was a hoot! Great job.

  Great big 'SAAALUUTE' from the corn field !

[RMHoward]

Hey Bob, nice to hear from you again. I enjoyed our camp Blanding hike a few years ago.   Rick

[wally45]

I just stumbled upon your forum and have been fascinated and educated. You see, my dad was stationed at Yellowater from sometime in 1943 to the end of the war. I was born at JAS in 45 before he left the Navy. He never talked about his service other than to say he was there.
Before Yellowater he was a aviation cadet. He washed out of flight school for medical reasons. During the war the next step for him was the fleet or the worst horror.... a gun instructor at Yellowater. Mom said he felt that the assignment was severe punishment for washing out and his original intention of a Naval Career died there.
Still it was very exciting for me to go over your pictures both vintage and current. It gave me a little more insight to that part of his life. Thanks.