Video Library

Roseland is one of our small communities, and they have made Indian River County special, and they still do.

It's tucked away in the northeast corner of the county with the St. Sebastian River on the north and the Indian River Lagoon on the east.

It was part of one of the last land grants given by Spain and Spanish Florida.

That was called the Fleming Grant, all 20,000 acres of virgin wilderness.

It was given to Captain George Fleming, an Irishman, for his service to the Spanish government.

When Florida was ceded to the United States in 1821, the United States honored this land grant.

And from the research that we have done, the Fleming family never lived on this beautiful property.

But over the decades of the 1800s, the Seminole Indians wandered through this area, and the early settlers settled on this property.

One of these early settlers was Dempsey Kane, who settled on the north side of the Sebastian Creek.

That was the name the river was called by the fishermen and the farmers.

He is also credited with naming the south side of the creek, Roseland, and immediately began encouraging settlements.

By the late 1800s, Roseland had a post office, a railroad depot with a water tower, and was planned for schools, parks, and churches.

Steamboats in the Indian River even stopped at the docks, and tourists sailed up the creek for fishing and camping.

During Florida's Roaring Twenties, there were also grander plans made for land development, but that never happened.

What did happen was a quiet, peaceful little community growing up along the Sebastian Creek.

Roseland attracted a general store, winter tourists, naturalists studying the flora/ fauna of the St. Johns, and even a small but unique artist colony.

The people of Roseland would not only contribute to their community, but to the rich history of Indian River County.

Most of that history was quiet and peaceful, but some was not.

Here we go, Roseland, in your own words.

Glen Powell is the owner of the Goodrich Estates on the banks of the Sebastian Creek.

And Glen can tell us of the heyday of Roseland as a winter tourist community, and of the islands that was given as conservation lands.

I live here in Roseland on Bay Street at the original Goodrich Estate, which was built in the 1920s, and we sort of stumbled upon it in 2002.

I lived in Atlanta, and we were visiting good friends of ours.

We were driving down Bay Street, and I see the river, and we're on this sandy road, and then we pull into this property that was unlike anything I'd seen before.

I moved the vertical blinds away from the slider, and I saw this blue pool behind it.

And I walked down the steps, and I saw this huge pool with lion fountains in each corner, and this very mature bamboo swaying.

And I said, oh, my God, they don't make this anymore.

To the right is the St. Sebastian River, and, you know, this huge yard going down it.

It's like, oh, my God, and it was one of these life-changing moments, and I said, I have to have this.

It was owned by a family named Goodrich from Wethersfield, Connecticut, and Mr. Goodrich was a streetcar and steamship and railroad tycoon.

And Mr. Goodrich was instrumental in bringing electricity to the area, which was a big thing back then in the 1920s.

So when I saw the property in 2002, I fell in love with it, and what drew me to it is just this sense of history.

And even though all of the property was in disrepair, I knew that there was a story there, and I felt that it had to be preserved for the next generation.

I think a lot of Florida has been populated by people who are drawn to the appeal of old Florida, but they just tear everything down.

And then they put in the house, and they put in the three queen palms and the crotons, and they build this beautiful new house.

But it doesn't have the charm of old Florida, which really can't be duplicated.

And in these nice new houses, they have pictures of all these old Florida cracker houses.

And we wanted to keep the old Florida cracker house and make sure that these things endure.

We have visitors to the property, and they're just taken back in time to how things used to be.

The city of Fellsmere's historian, Rich Votapka, will relay the story of the notorious Ashley gang that was killed at the Sebastian Creek Bridge and how that tragedy caused all sorts of things to happen, including a new county called Indian River.

Let me inform you about the Ashley gang.

John Ashley, the ringleader of the gang, first murdered a man, attempted to rob a train, robbed several banks, made several jail and prison escapes, and had several shootouts with law enforcement.

Bootleg Bootshine, who became a rum runner, acted as a modern-day pirate and had a hideout in the Everglades.

He did all this while maintaining close family ties, helping less fortunate people along the way, and managing a love affair with a woman named Laura Updegro.

On February 26, 1915, John, his brother Bob, and Kid Lowe robbed the Bank of Stewart, netting $4,500.

From that day forward, John and his friends would be known as the Ashley gang.

According to the locals, the gang was not all bad. There was some redeeming social value.

It has been said the gang left money under a brick for a poor, ill individual.

They left groceries for a widow, and they spared the life of a deputy sent to hunt them down when he begged them not to shoot.

On November 1, 1924, Sheriff Baker received a tip revealing that the Ashley gang was on the move and would be traveling up the Dixie Highway to Jacksonville.

Sheriff Baker knew the gang had to travel over the long, wooden bridge over the St. Sebastian River between Roseland and Micco.

The St. Sebastian River Bridge lay 28 miles to the north of Fort Pierce, an hour after the chain had been placed on the bridge.

When John Ashley and the gang arrived at the bridge, they had no choice but to stop.

Immediately, the deputies came out of the bushes and descended upon the car.

Inside were John Ashley, age 36, his nephew, Hedford Gobley, age 18, Ray Lynn, age unknown, and Clarence Middleton, age 25.

The deputies ordered the gang out of the car. Each gang member had a rifle and hosted a revolver at their sides.

Supposedly, the deputies disarmed and handcuffed the four gang members, but whatever happened, history records that all four were shot and killed that night on the bridge.

The next time you drive north on U.S. Highway 1 in Indian River County, when you come to the north end of Indian River Drive at U.S. 1, to the right you will see Moore's Point Historical Marker.

It only takes a minute to read and realize that on the night of November 1, 1924, the most notorious gang of criminals ever to terrorize the Treasure Coast, the Ashley Gang, was snuffed out of existence forever on a wooden bridge over the St. Sebastian

River just north of Roseland.

We have with us the president of the Sebastian Area Historical Society, Patrick Morgan, who will talk about education or the lack thereof.

In this rural county of Florida, he could tell us about the teachers and their influence not only on their students, but on their communities.

My fourth grade teacher, Ms. Henshaw, I think her first name was Granite, she came here to Roseland when she was five years old and got in a car and she was sleepy because she rode a train from all the way up north.

And her dad got her out and put her over his shoulder and was walking her into the house when they arrived.

And she looked up and said, Papa, I thought we were not going to have to deal with snow anymore.

And it's everywhere.

And he laughed. He said, sweetie, that's not snow.

And so the next morning he took her outside and showed her it was sand.

Because back in the day here, all the way around here was white sand and it was called sugar sand.

And so she always liked to tell that story and it was one of my favorite ones about her.

The education here a hundred years ago, I'm sure, was taught mostly by the family, maybe the preachers, they call them in the south, or, you know, relatives that knew, plus just going out and being working, you know, that was a lot of education and learning

from your parents.

David Holtzclaw of the Holtzclaw family talks about their general store and its impact on Roseland and in the surrounding area.

David can also talk about the indentured prisoners of Roseland that worked in the turpentine industry west of Sebastian Creek, now the St. Sebastian Buffer Preserve.

My grandparents operated a store here prior to 1900.

It was in a two-story building.

It was on this piece of property that burned down prior to 1902 or 1903.

And my granddad built this house, I believe, sometime prior to 1920.

The store was the hub of downtown Roseland.

It was the only grocery store here, so this is where you came for kerosene for your kerosene

lamps, fresh bread that was delivered every day into the bread box outside the double front doors.

It was a great time to grow up.

We had the river to play in.

I had my cousins who lived right next door.

That was pretty much life growing up in downtown Roseland.

Back in the big 50s and late 40s.

But by the 60s, all the kids had grown up and had driver's license and access to cars.

So when the action moved to Vero, it was a great place to grow up.

You couldn't ask for better.

You didn't have to lock anything up.

Everything was pretty much safe where you left it.

The sugar cane industry was focused on Fellsmere.

Over here along the railroad tracks, there was a pulley station, a water tank, an indentured prisoner's farm where the unlucky souls got chained up at night.

During the day, they were let out with supervisors to go into the piney woods and dodge rattlesnakes and cut longleaf pines to draw a turpentine with pine sap the same way people up north draw maple syrup.

Richard Thomas of the fishing family of Sebastian is going to tell us stories of Roseland, Sebastian Creek, and visiting that general store.

One day in 1947, a man out here, and I don't know who he was, called my grandfather.

But I heard my grandfather, he says, they're telling me there's one of them in Roseland.

And he says, Yes, sir.

He says, All right, kids, you know, back to the truck.

It was a Seminole Indian out at Coast Coast Grocery Store, they call it.

And so we piled on, we came out here, looked over and there's this Seminole Indian sitting there with all that nice little Indian gear they wear, with a real long rifle.

He's standing there.

And the reason we knew all about the store was they had kerosene.

The rest of places didn't.

So we came out here to buy kerosene for our lanterns for fishing.

The thing about it when I was growing up, there's three jobs you could do.

One was carpenter work, usually with your dad.

One was working in groves picking fruit.

And one was commercial fishing with your dad.

I've got a boat right now today at my garage that was built for me in 1856.

And it's perfect condition.

Jeanette Long

Thompson gives us memories of growing up in rural Roseland and on the Sebastian Creek.

Life as a child and a teenager with dirt roads, lots of fishing spots and no telephone or cell phones was something to be endured.

Our family moved here in 1945.

I was two years old and we lived right here next door to the store.

We used to have a little dirt path that we'd run to the store and get us an ice cream or a candy or whatever we needed from Joy and Ralph Hostbaugh.

When we were kids, we used to roller skate on this road.

But a quiet little town that I wouldn't take anything from growing up here.

It was, if these kids today only knew what living really was, they don't.

They have no idea.

If they don't have a cell phone in their hand, they're not happy.

We didn't have a cell phone.

We didn't even have a landline for years.

And when we did get one, it was a four party line and you had to wait your turn to get on it.

It was fabulous to grow up here.

And I still live here.

We hope you have enjoyed this history of rural Roseland.

It may be little, but it made a big impact on Indian River County.

So it is worth your time to take another ride up to the shores of Sebastian Creek and see one of Indian River County's special places.

Jim Culberson. Former Sebastian Inlet District Commissioner & Inlet Historian:
The history of the Sebastian Inlet is long and complex. The history of the Inlet today as we know it traces back to one man, most likely just about the very first settler in this area name was David Peter Gibson. He came down here first and 1859 the highway was that Lagoon, there was no I-95 there were no roads. There were no overland trails . To get here you had to come by boat. As for as substantiated attempts to open the Sebastian Inlet here. They really began in earnest in well 1872 things began to really get serious in 1905 there was a organization that mounted an effort and actually opened the inlet. Water flowed through the inlet for two weeks. Roy O. Couch more than any other human being was responsible for getting this inlet open. And when he arrived in 1905, he probably witnessed this effort being made to open the inlet and and became interested he was a kind of guy that couldn't take no for an answer. In 1914 he tried but could not get funding for it at that time. And the Hewlett roads bill in 1917 was a effort to make it possible for a taxing district to be created. When the vote was taken here in the county, the north end of the county voted against it. And the south end of the county voted for it and so it didn't happen. Roy Couch continued to lobby for any kind of governmental aid he could. So on May 23 1919, the Sebastian inlet district came into being and with that, it was all systems go, Roy Couch had the six inch suction dredge ready to go. He got Charlie Sembler Senior down here at the site and operations began.

Ruth Stanbridge. Former IRC Commissioner & IRC Historical Society:
The inlet not only provided a way for navigation for the boats to go out, but it was also a recreation area and it became very popular. They would bring Model T's loaded down with lumber and build shanties right along the south shore of the inlet. It was one of the 1933 hurricanes that wiped these little shanties off the map. At the opening of the new decade of 1940. The inlet was doing well, but we had a northeaster and it came down and it began to close the inlet. Then Pearl Harbor happened, they decided to leave it closed, they were concerned about the U boats that were showing up in the Atlantic. We even had a tower that was located on the north side of where the inlet was, we had wargames too, but they were getting ready to go to the Pacific the terrain was more like the Pacific islands that they knew they would have to invade. In 1948. After the war, it was obvious that the inland had to be reopened the economy of the whole area depended on it. And the commissioners at that time have one of them in particular had some connection to be able to get some of the leftover munitions from the war and to open that inlet in a very dramatic way. So once it was opened, it has been maintained since that time until today. By the 50s. They had come up with some very unique and important improvements to the district, the widening and deepening of the inlet, extending the jetties both North and South .In February of 1965 a new bridge was opened over the inlet connecting Brevard County and Indian River County. During the 70s, the state of Florida decided that this Sebastian Inlet area was the perfect place for a state park.

Charlie Sembler. Former Sebastian Inlet District Commissioner & FL State Rep:
The mid 1980s there was a vacancy on the Sebastian Inlet tax district commission and some folks came to me and asked me if I would consider an appointment from then Governor Bob Martinez. The very first vote that I cast was for the first long range planning document to be assembled for any inlet around the state of Florida. We needed someone to follow through and execute the long range management plan we hired an executive director. We also exercised our influence and maximizing and leveraging grants that were available. When we got into that area we really started bringing in the higher education in the scientific institutions, but we put it all together and became in the late 1980s and early 1990s, really, without a doubt the gold standard in the state of Florida and that's where much of the success that you see today. That's when much of it started. Building a brand new northeast jetty that was completely eroded and it was a safety hazard allowed to build offices and infrastructure, water, picnic pavilions out on Sandpoint, rocker vetements that were online, the inside of the inlet. Continued planning for navigational markers on the interior of the flood chill area. And probably the fishing museum and the offices for the park calm were one of the larger items that were done, but we enjoy the spoils of all that hard work today. My great grandfather whom I was named after, he was the first one here, but chances like that usually come once in a lifetime. And I wasn't going to let it get by.

Marty Smithson. Sebastian Inlet District Administrator, 2004-2019:
Well I started in 2004 and it started with a bang because right after I started, I think about three days later was hurricane Jeanne. And then Francis followed right after then we had a new commission that started right immediately following the storms. The new commission in 2004 took on a stance for fiscal responsibility. And so over about a three year period, we reduced our tax rate by 68%. They also believed in cost share with other agencies in the state of Florida DEP cost shared with our projects. I think in 10 years we brought in over $8 million across share also Florida inland navigation district and working with them they helped us with some funding on our channel work and anything that's navigation related. The opening up Sebastian inlet, over the last hundred years is created massive flood shoals from the sand and so this is prime habitat for seagrass, 240 acres of lush seagrass beds. These beds have been damaged by boaters that zigzag back and forth trying to find their way into the inlet. When we completed our navigation channel, mark the channel. This directed the boaters without crossing the grass pits without creating prop scars and dredging up the sensitive seagrass. All in all our economic analysis showed that this inlet is worth about $200 million a year to the local region. We actually deepen and expand our sand trap which is a 42 acre depression in the middle of the inlet about every four years it collects 200,000 cubic yards of sand. By state law we have to take that sand and then transport it and bypass it to the south to make up for any coastal erosion. Today, I would say that we're a very sophisticated inlet because of the approach to science and management. We are the most data rich inland not only in the state of Florida, I believe on the East Coast of the United States. Sebastian inlet is a premier surfing, boating, fishing, sightseeing destination. There's people that come from all over the world to visit this area.

Opening Credits:
Indian River Farms Water Control District: A Historical Film, presented by Indian River County Historical Society. A film by Nick Verola featuring Ruth Stanbridge, Marvin Carter, David Gunter, and Robert (Bobby) Lindsey.

Ruth Stanbridge:
The Indian River farms is one of the first land developments in what is now Indian River County. In the early teens this land always underwater but land development was on the minds of a lot of folks from the Midwest, a group of them bought 55,000 acres and commenced to drain the land. And in order to do that, they had to make a series of laterals, and sub laterals, and main canals. And those are the canal systems that we have today that keeps the water from our front door. Marvin Carter is a direct descendant of RD Carter who laid out the canal system and for Indian River farms and surveyed the land.

Marvin Carter:
My Granddad was hired to come down here initially in 1911 to do an engineering assessment of this property that's now in the Indian River farm and border control. My granddad said when they came down here, what's now in the district was 50% was in water six inches to three feet deep. They wanted to know where it can be drained and developed. And he spent some time here and gave them a report that was favorable that can be done and they bought this property 55,000 acres for $3 an acre. People don't realize today, what what these ditches and canals performed for the district. Prior to the establishment of this system most of this company, most of this country was knee deep in water. And well you know, once once the company started selling this property offers various land owners, they realized they needed to maintain the system that was a primary purpose, the district would be formed and it was not formed until about 1919. I often wonder how my granddad would react to what what's accomplished, a big change from the wilderness he came to what it is today. I'm proud of what he did and and made it possible for the modern life that we're we're now enjoying here.

Ruth Stanbridge:
All the water on the land was the major problem and once the canal systems were in place now that alleviated a lot of the water problems. Today we have another problem. We have the pollution that goes into the canals. And so we have stormwater runoff that goes into Indian River Lagoon, and that is a situation that the farms is helping solve today. Robert Lindsey, which is we all call Bobby grew up he is from a farming family. He is very involved with the farms because he knows how valuable it is to protect the watershed of our community and what is needed by the farmers in our community.

Bobby Lindsey:
I'm Bobby Lindsey, been growing sisters here in Indian River County all my life. My great grandfather bought his first citrus acreage in 1928. Going back before that, though, my grandfather and great grandfather who came here in 1904 were in the grocery business. And in 1944 my grandfather sold his last store and took over the job as secretary treasurer of the Indian River farms drainage district. I have also for 35 years served on the Indian River Soil and Water Conservation District. So obviously we've seen a lot of changes. In the early 1900s. There was a lot of row crop farming, potatoes, cabbage were grown in the western part of Indian River County, and then citrus and cattle of course came along sort of simultaneously. As the county experienced more and more growth the district had changes that had to be made an order to attempt to accommodate the blend of both agriculture and urban growth. Over the years in this county we've seen a lot of transition. Indian River farms district has made a lot of effort to keep the canals clean and free of debris and sandbars as possible. At the same time to do that without compromising water quality. We look forward to future growth and we know there will be challenges that come along with that but myself and two other supervisors and secretary treasurer Gunner, I think we're up for the challenge, look forward to it.

Ruth Stanbridge:
We're very fortunate to have David Gunner because he is the superintendent of the farms. His family has been in Florida for four or five generations. And he has been very involved not only in farming, but with the Indian River farms itself.

David Gunner:
I'm David gunner, I'm the superintendent here at the Indian River farms water control district. We maintain 227 miles of canals and ditches in the 54,000 acres that comprise the district. The district was formed in 1919. I am a third generation of farmers who have been associated with this draining system. My grandfather moved here about the time the district was being developed. He started on the board of supervisors for the drainage district in the 40s. My father took his seat from 63 until 87. And I took my father's seat until 2002. When I was hired as superintendent, you can say, I was born into the job. Many years ago, the people were aware of what this country was like before the canals one and nowadays not so much. The people that are new to the county don't realize it without these canals, we'd be walking in water, where we're standing right now the water would be shirt pocket deep. The canals have a excavator or dragline bucket drug through them at least once a year. The problem children you know, they get it two or three times a year. But if you don't stay after the maintenance, it will not function as designed. That's my job finding the bad spot making sure the equipment gets there, gets it dug out. So we're ready for the next big rain event. Today we're using technology that's very similar to what was used to originally excavate the canals in the system. I am proud of my family's involvement in this drainage system and the legacy that that I inherited from them. And I consider it a privilege to work supplying that drainage. And it's important to me, I don't want anyone to have catfish in their living room. We work diligently every day to make sure that doesn't occur,

Ruth Stanbridge:
The history of Indian River farms and through these many years it's something that we should be proud of and especially today because they are still there delivering all the things that they promised 100 years ago.

Opening Credits:
Indian River Historical Society Presents Hallstrom House & Farmstead: A Short Film. A Nick Verola film featuring Carolyn Bayless, Ruth Stanbridge, Al Smith, and Janice Sly.

Al Smith:
On the south side of Vero Beach you will find a beautiful old brick home that we refer to as the Hallstrom House and Farmstead. Axel Hallstrom was an immigrant from Sweden. Arriving in the US in 1898. He went to Chicago and worked in a wholesale floors there for a while, he went out to St. Paul, Minnesota, and got a job as a gardener for the JJ Hill estate. He married in 1902, a Swedish girl in Minneapolis. So they had one child in 1904, who was named Ruth. His wife was in ill health, and they moved to Florida in order to be in a warmer climate. The house was located on what is commonly known in this area as the golden ridge. It was a higher altitude than the rest of the county and it was conducive to growth or both pineapples and citrus. We're about 50 yards from the railroad track, and he was able to export and ship all kinds of citrus fruit, what have you, on the railroad. He became very successful in the citrus business until his death. His daughter, Ruth took over the running of the farm and was able to keep it in operation until the late 1980s.

Ruth Stanbridge:
Ruth Hallstrom was a wonderful woman and a wonderful model for all the young ladies in Indian River County. She had been a school teacher, she taught up at the little one room school at Orchid she actually traveled there by boat from the Oslo docks, and would go up the river and teach at the school for a week and then come back home to see her family. She had the first Corvette in the county, she could sew, she played the piano. She was very active in the community. And Ruth was a charter member of the Historical Society when we first started 30 years ago.

Al Smith:
Ruth lived here her entire life, and passed away at the age of 95 in 1999. Upon her death, she left the house with all of its contents, and five acres of land to the Indian River County Historical Society, for it to be preserved as a historical site that people could come and see what life was like in the early 1900s. They left phenomenal records that were packed in boxes and trucks and what have you. That gives us a very accurate and lengthy history of the house.

Carolyn Bayless:
When when Axel was leaving to come to America in 1898, his father took out a pitcher it's called a flow blue pitcher. It was the milk jug that the family had used. It came all the way from Sweden, to New York, to Chicago to Minneapolis, St. Paul, to Viking and ended up here in Indian River County. And we have it here at the house. And the story that Ruth wrote down about this is stuck inside of the pitcher.

Janice Sly:
Upstairs in this home we have a small room called our archive room, where there are thousands of records kept by this family. I'm holding just one notebook, but there are thousands. From these we learn a lot about Sweden for example, in World War Two, because the Swedish relatives would write to Axel and tell him about for example, the shortage of coffee. So Axel would take coffee beans and wrap them into small packages and mail them to Sweden so his relatives would have coffee to drink.

Carolyn Bayless:
Many people don't realize that the Swedish people are the highest per capita coffee drinkers in the world. Twice a day they have coffee breaks, and they are called theek Apos. Morning and afternoon. Coffee is really the Swedish tradition. We spend a lot of time trying to preserve the Swedish traditions that go with the house. And one of the things that we found in the house that Ruth had saved were some Christmas ornaments that came from Sweden. And in researching Christmas in Sweden. It's called St. Lucia day, the Sunday closest we have a celebration of St. Lucia.

Al Smith:
When this house was built it was a very beautiful, elaborate home in this area, something that was not seen around this area that time.

Carolyn Bayless:
Oh, one of the unique things about the the Halstrom house when you first walk in is first of all, it doesn't look like a Florida home at all. It looks like a northern home. He built his house himself. It took over 10 years to build a house. The first thing people notice when they drive up is the beautiful red brick house. The red bricks were made in Georgia and came down on the train.

Al Smith:
It was a real landmark in the county and has been throughout his entire life. And now we're able to visit it in all of its glory and see what life really was like because it has been preserved just as it was when Ruth and Axel lived here in the house.

Carolyn Bayless:
You will see the beautiful ceilings, you will see the beautiful chandeliers. We have linens and tablecloths and dishes that Ruth had. We have her souvenirs from her travels all over the world. We have her clothes through the centuries. So it's so unique when you come here, people who come say I've got to come back because there's always more to see that we don't have time to explain to them and we are just bursting with pride every time a visitor comes in so we can show you and share our love of the house with you.

Al Smith:
The Dosers who volunteer their time here are thrilled to be able to share the story that preceded the building and the living of this house. It is just a real treasure to have here in the county. The Historic Society is very appreciative to the Hallstrom family for this house and the quality of the records that were left so that we could establish the validity of everything here in the house. This is something that we hope will be around a long time for the upcoming generations to see what life was like in their 1930s. It is a just a real treasure to have here in the county.

Ruth Stanbridge:
This year we will be celebrating the hundredth year of this Hallstrom house and what Ruth and her father accomplished and left for future generations.

Opening Credits:
The Indian River Historical Society presents: Vero Beach Historical Series, Episode 4: "The Dodgers". A Nick Verola film featuring Ruth Stanbridge, Peter O'Malley, "Bump" Holman, Craig Callan, Ransom Jackson.

Ruth Stanbridge:
Speaking about the history of Indian River County and Vero Beach, it'd be hard pressed to separate our town's legacy from that of the Dodgers. Their organization played a major role in our community in our town, from the 40s until today.

Harry "Bump" Holman:
My dad had all these buildings and all this property and everything and didn't know what to do with it. And my mother came up with idea "why don't you think about bringing a baseball club in here?" He said, Well, who has the biggest organization? Well, they say, well, the Dodgers do so my dad got the airline went up, introduced himself to Branch Rickey, Walter O'Malley

Craig Callan:
It's 1948 and Jackie Robinson just trying to break into baseball. Walter O'Malley and Branch Rickey had the vision of having Jackie play and we were looking for a home where all players of all colors could work, play sleep, and practice together and they made a stop in Vero Beach and met Bud Holman and they never left to Vero Beach. He was such a good host, and such a good salesman that he sold the Dodgers on this is the place to be to break the color barrier in baseball. The Dodgers brought 600 ballplayers to Vero Beach when the population was only 3000. So the impact of the Dodgers was one player per five residents.

Ruth Stanbridge:
This point in our history, segregation was prominent in our everyday life. And also in the sports world.

Peter O'Malley:
The Dodgers signed Jackie Robinson. And in those days, Florida was segregated, spring training camps were segregated. So being able to take over the facilities that remained from the Navy, where everyone would be housed for the first time it was the first integrated spring training camp in the state of Florida. That was a big thing. And again, it brought us together that the players realize that we were all in this together we're teammates whether they were from here or there and it worked.

Ruth Stanbridge:
Being all together on this small campus playing together living together was reflected in how there came dead and and the many years that they won the World Series championships,

Ransom Jackson:
I went into the major leagues in 1950 with the Chicago Cubs. And then I was traded to the to the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1956. Of course I was excited as I can be, my gosh I always wanted to play in a World Series. They were like a family really. And that's one of the reasons they won, but they'll say we're like a family. Of course they were just great, great people and they welcomed me. In one day I was Brooklyn Dodger.

Peter O'Malley:
When the barracks were torn down, and the current rooms were built. Several of the players started the campaign bringing back the barracks. And it was the darndest thing because in our hearts we really had outlived the barracks and the barracks had outlived us. And here's a spontaneous movement. We missed the barracks. We want the barracks back. Well, of course the barracks weren't coming back. But I say that because it demonstrated the affection that everyone had for experiencing living in those barracks.

Ruth Stanbridge:
This campus atmosphere brought everyone together under one banner, regardless of their race. They were part of the team, the Dodgers

Peter O'Malley:
In 1958. The Dodgers leaving the ark they go to California, and many people thought that we would leave Vero Beach. But as I said earlier, my parents had fallen in love with Vero Beach, many wonderful friends, the Holmens, the Cargans, the Schumanns, to this day longtime friends and my parents and myself later on so there's no way we will not leave Vero Beach even though the team is playing in California.

Craig Callan:
Once the the Dodgers under different ownership decided to move to Arizona. The facility was shuttered by Indian River County. We reopened the facility in 2009 and spent a few years trying to find an identity. Eventually Peter, his sister Terry, and two good friends of theirs Chan, Ho Park and Hideo Nomo, formed a partnership to save historic Dodgertown. And our goal was to keep history alive. And the only way to do so was not to just rely on baseball, but on all sports

Peter O'Malley:
That was about four or five years ago. And now we're overflowing Dodgertown, year round, not just in the spring, but summer fall all year round. And I know it's appreciated by the community that we're bringing a lot of business here because of all these different sports that come to train at historic Dodgertown.

Craig Callan:
Looking back at the history of Dodgertown, and all that has been accomplished over the years, that's what makes me extremely proud. The love affair between the Dodgers and Vero Beach are is unique. There's no there's never been a major league team or a big league team like the Dodgers that have had a facility in such a small town.

Peter O'Malley:
For many years, Vero Beach was a very special place for my parents, myself, my sister and her family and now our grandchildren.

Ruth Stanbridge:
As a historian, I think is very important that we remembered that a lot of the things in our history starts with small innovative practices and the Dodgers were the ones who brought the campus concept to us and they also brought introducing the African Americans into the sports world, the legacy that they left for this community, this town and our county. We should be very, very proud of.

Ruth Stanbridge:
In the early 1900s, they built the first bridge in Vero and that followed quickly with a bridge at way, which is now Winter Beach. And the third bridge was that Wabasso. There was no way to get through the channels by the boat so they had to have a bridge tender and each bridge had a little house for the bridge tender live with his family.

Harry Hurst:
The children played a vital part in the unity of the family.

Janice Wood Sizelove:
My daddy accepted the job in 1938. My daddy made us know that we were to be proud of it. It was our home

Ruth Stanbridge:
I guess how I was about thirteen when we moved to that old bridge. I feel I was really fortunate to learn as much as I did while I lived on that bridge

Janet Walker Anderson:
We were here at the Winter Beach bridge. Fishing was the biggest thing over here. Everybody came over here fish. This was just a wonderful place to grow up.

Harry Hurst:
I remember hearing the "toot toot toot" of the boat. I wonder about the people who have to wonder where they're going. It caused your imagination to run wild.

Ruth Stanbridge:
We kinda wish for the old Florida where you could go out and live in the middle of the river and fish every day and enjoyed Florida.

Opening Credits:
Indian River Historical Society presents Jungle Trail: A Historical Short. A Nick Verola production featuring Ruth Stanbridge, Anne Michael, Alden Bing, Bob Deniger, Dale & Matilde Sorensen, Steve Massey, Mary Massey Fredeli, Allison Mcneal, Wendy Swindell, and Bill Miller.

Ruth Stanbridge:
Many folks do not realize the importance of Jungle Trail in our history and in Indian River County's future. We're coming up on the centennial of jungle trail. It's 97 years old today. And we have families that live along that trail that were there at the very beginning.

Anne Michael:
My husband was Joseph W. Michael, who grew up here. His father came at the age of 10 with his parents and siblings in 1887. At this point in history, there were probably no more than five, possibly six families living within a five to six mile radius. What became jungle trail was the easiest way for one family to get to another family to visit. They of course, went by foot and they went by horse, and they may have gone by buggy, and they probably used a wagon now and then and then later, as their trips were more frequent there became a little dirt trail, which eventually became a wider dirt trail. This little dirt trail became known as Jungle Trail, Jungle Trail was drastically different. The area was drastically different. Life was drastically different. There was nothing here except a lot of mosquitoes, a great quantity of fish in the river, and turtles at the ocean. It was old Florida. The people who live here were definitely pioneers in the most intense sense of the word pioneers. As the county grew, the area grew, of course, more people for different reasons were using jungle trail, it would not be terribly unusual to see some residents, some tourists, some citrus people using jungle trail all in the same day.

Ruth Stanbridge:
A lot of people do not realize how we have such a bit of old Florida so close to our population centers. But everyone seems to enjoy jungle trail and its natural beauty.

Alden Bing:
Our breweries called Orchid Island Brewery, that's the landmass that we're on it stretches from Sebastian Inlet to Round Island. Jungle Trail is one of the names that we've picked for one of our beers. Jungle Trail is a very special place. And one of the neat things about Jungle Trail that did inspire this beer was that before there was houses here, there was citrus groves, and Jungle Trail was used to take the fruit off of the islands. And it's just a really special beer to us and we're proud to have named it Jungle Trail. One of the first ideas that that always occurs when we have people that we care about coming into town is driving them up and down Jungle Trail. It's such a neat, neat experience.

Steve Massey:
My cousin and I grew up here all of our lives and that was the only way we could actually get up to the inlet, go over to the Wabasso Beach and swim and then we'd come back along the Jungle Trail there and there were some springs and stuff and we use those to rinse off before we went home and then we didn't have to use so much water at the house.

Mary Massey Fredell:
I have a lot of early memories from Jungle Trail going driving up to the inlet with my dad and you would go on Jungle Trail and then you would get out on where A1A is now and we'd always get stuck two or three times going back and forth, but they'd always managed to dig you out, you get going again. But you know what, there was no A1A there then so it was like an adventure when you want on that road because it curved around so much, you know, and there was so much like vegetation and old oak trees with big orchids and stuff thrown in there. And it was just a neattrip. And that was a special trip because it took a long time back in the day to get from, you know, from our house up to the inlet.

Steve Massey:
There were a lot of fishing shacks. And there was a treasure house that they used to sell things there and that and we used to go down there and Milton Jones was a good friend of my dad's and my uncles. And we'd go down there and visit him and his wife and his mother lived there also on the same property

Ruth Stanbridge:
Of the many people who lived along the trail at the very beginning Jones's pier and Richard Jones stands out in everybody's memory. Richard grew all sorts of vegetables and sold them at Jones's Pier. He also docked many boats there. And people enjoyed coming and just sitting in talking to Richard about the history of the area. And he could tell some pretty tall tales too

Steve Massey:
He had big groves in the back of his house. And he would go out there and boats would pull up, just like they did for the citrus houses, that along US1, the boats would pull up, and they buy their fruit from him out there on that dock, and then move on down the river and go to Miami or Fort Lauderdale, or whatever. And a lot of those boats were big, big yacht type things. And he also charged I think it was 25 cents or 50 cents for us to for some people who didn't have access to the water to go fishing on his dock.

Dale Sorensen:
And 1964 there was really very little on Jungle Trail. There was Mr. Jones and his fruit stand and his house and his dog and his crew.

Matilde Sorensen:
Every time I had clients, I would take them there. And Mary was swinging in a little front porch. And he would come right out and then show all of them, you know, mangoes, avocados, you know, grapefruit like red grapefruit and he would cut them up to taste them and then we will buy bags of them. I would just that was part of my tour when I was showing property and bureau many years ago. It was fun. It was like really old Florida

Dale Sorensen:
Most of the community, Mr. Jones and his fruit and his dog were pretty famous.

Alden Bing:
Some of my earliest memories of Jungle Trail were when old man Jones was still operating. I think he operated the house here and it's groves and the dock here all the way into his 80s. And when I was growing up, my family and I and family friends would spend a lot of time right here on the river. In fact, right this water right here out in front of this is where I first learned how to water ski. I always remember old man Jones right here on this Pier. he would he would open his doors, anybody who was driving through and he would sit down and just talk about whatever anybody wanted to talk about.

Bob Deniger:
Me and Mr. Jones. I'll never forget it. He was one interesting man. And many times my former deceased wife now and I ridden this Jungle Trail and stopped and had wonderful encounters with Mr. Jones. And he just seemed to be so caring. I remember one thing about i was i was really amused how he put out the water for the dogs. He always had a jug of water out there and they can fill a pan for all the people walking dogs down here. There's no doubt about he was a lovable character. But I'll never forget talking to Mr. Jones on Jungle Trail.

Ruth Stanbridge:
There's many aspects of Jungle Trail and one of them. One is very important is the fact that it is an entry to our first National Wildlife Refuge. That's Pelican Island.

Bill Miller:
So Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge was the first refuge established in the national waterproofing system established actually by Teddy Roosevelt back in 1903. And as you take a tour Pelican Island, you can see this history clearly. When you walk through Centennial trail, you get to a point on our observation deck where every refuge is etched the deck and the planks leading up to the deck itself. The deck itself then overlooks Pelican Island, so you get the full experience. There are over at anytime during the season during the height of the birding season, which is the winter season, over 1000 birds will find their way to Pelican Island, over 30 bird species will nest there. It's critical for these birds to have the sanctuary in place and it's right here in Indian River Lagoon at Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge.

Wendy Swindell:
Jungle Trail is really important to our conservation efforts because we have many conservation areas right along Jungle Trail that are linked by the trail itself and the history of the trail. And the working waterfront and all those aspects are really important to these conservation areas because we really are trying to link the history of Indian River County with the ecology and our restoration efforts. One of our main missions is to try and work with the schools and other educational groups to try and make sure that the future generations understand the significance of the trail. So the county is really excited. We're all engaged and we look forward to what opportunities we can put out there for the public in the future.

Ruth Stanbridge:
There was a time about 30 years ago who we all had to band together all the nonprofit's, the historical societies, and the preservation groups had to band together to save Jungle Trail. And one of those groups was the Pelican Allen Preservation Society which has done a wonderful job of helping us preserve and protect and promote Pelican Island.

Steve Massey:
Well, Pelican Island Preservation Society is a I'm president of that group. And we basically just try to help the refuge up there with certain things we raise money and help them up there on the refuge itself.

Ruth Stanbridge:
Jungle trail is listed on the National Register and that is very hard to come by. There's very few roads in the United States that are on that register. That is one of the reasons jungle trail is so important to our tourism and the people visiting our county.

Allison Mcneal:
Jungle Trail has played an important role in the history of Indian River County for years. It was important to citrus growers, also to our local fishermen. It was the lifeblood of our economy back in the 20s and 30s. So fast forwarding to present now it takes on a new important role and that role is tourism and recreation. It's off the beaten path location makes it the perfect spot for biking, hiking, fishing. Jungle Trail is a great way for our visitors to explore what old Florida was. There's so few sites that actually exist to this day. And it's important that we have one break here in Indian River County.

Ruth Stanbridge:
Over the years we've had to protect Jungle Trail from developers and different folks who wanted it abandoned. We all felt that it was a part of old Florida that should be saved. And Indian River County has always cooperated with us because it is a county road and has always been a county road. Just recently Indian River County, erected new signage. We're very excited about the new signage we have filled that after 97 years, Jungle Trail needs to be recognized as a special place in a Indian River County.

Anne Michael:
When the term Jungle Trail comes into my mind, it immediately takes me back to early Florida history and more particularly to early Indian River County history. Not only do my children and grandchildren deserve to keep jungle trail in their lives ahead, but everyone else's do as well. Residents, visitors, everyone!

Alden Bing:
Being originally from Vero and from Florida, I'm a Florida native. I've gotten around to see a whole lot of the state. And within my lifetime, I've seen a lot of changes along the way. And fortunately, Jungle Trail is still one of those spots in Florida that resembles a glimmer into the past and what old Florida used to be that this is truly one of our natural treasures that we need to protect. I knew very early on that this was a very special place not just geographically because of how pretty it is around here, but it's had such a major impact on who our community has become. And I think it's important for us to stop and recognize why we need to protect it. It's a very special place and protected into the future for for more generations to to experience it.

Bill Miller:
Pelican Island and Jungle Trail will be established and around for many generations to come. So that not only do we get to share in the experience in Jungle Trail in Pelican Island, but future generations do as well. Jungle Trail and Pelican Island are part of our history and part of who we are as a community,

Steve Massey:
Jungle Trail is really a, it's a great thing for all of us to have known. And thank goodness that the Historical Society and people like that knew that back in the old days, that you know, we needed to preserve and protect that road and keep it you know, was keep it as it is. So we're very lucky that has happened all of our lives.

Mary Massey Fredell:
Jungle Trail will always mean a lot to me. It's very unique. There's not many places like it left in this world.

Allison Mcneal:
As the director of tourism for Indian River County. I'm so proud to see how our community has grown and our businesses have grown and flourished. But it's so important to preserve these historical sites that are so important to our community.

Ruth Stanbridge:
Jungle trail is a little bit of old Florida still with us and we expect and hope that future generations will enjoy it as much as we have

Opening Credits:
The Indian River Historical Society presents Vero Beach Historical Series Episode One: Vero Beach Regional Airport. A Nick Verola film featuring Ruth Stanbridge, Alma Carney, Erison W. Menger, and Harry R. "Bump" Holman.

Ruth Stanbridge:
This is a story of a little airport that grew in 1928 there was only 100 acres of land deemed to be for the Vero Beach Airport and we needed an airport manager and Mr. Holman, Bump Holman was the one that was chosen and he went right to work.

Harry "Bump" Holman:
The airport here as far as I'm concerned was just wide open land really undeveloped. The thing that really broke it loose was my dad got a fuel tank from up in Daytona from a guy he knew up there he brought the fuel tank down here. So Eastern Airlines, which was Eastern Transport flying mail, up and down the east coast, from Jacksonville to Miami. And when he got the fuel tank and brought it down here that meant the airline had to stop here in Vero because there wasn't any place else because he had the fuel. So that put zero on the map was Jacksonville Vero Miami.

Ruth Stanbridge:
In 1932 Eastern started passenger service. And we were the smallest little airport in the state that had the Eastern Silver fleet. In 1935, the Army Air Corps, General Hap Arnold decided they would actually have war games in Vero Beach, this hundred acres now had over 200 planes playing war games.

Harry "Bump" Holman:
The army wanted to make a show of how strong they were. So my dad said, Well, why don't choose leave from Vero Beach? And they said, Oh, we have to have paved runways and my dad says yeah, I know, why don't you pave our runways for us. When the war was starting and we had a paved runway you know that brought a lot of activity here. But all of a sudden the Navy blue in the town overnight, and they had the place in just this blink of an eye the Navy took over. So that's how we became a Naval Air Station.

Ruth Stanbridge:
In 1941. after Pearl Harbor, our community was only about 8900 people. And now we had a full fledge facility. They brought in the young man to do night training to send them off to war.

Alma Carney:
World War Two does a lot of changing of our world as well as Vero Beach, and certainly this little airport. My husband to be was training here for three months during the war before we even met. But there were like about 10 barracks for the men, because it was at least 1000 men that were here. And one wooden barracks for the women wives. But it was a big part of his life. So we were delighted to have been part of Vero's beginning through the rest of his life has had a lot of meaning to him.

Ruth Stanbridge:
After the war, the Navy handed over all the buildings and this improved airfield to the City of Vero Beach. The Navy had built a huge terminal three storeys high framed during the war years. And now we needed a new terminal which was considered very modern.

Ericson W. Menger:
When the city of Vero Beach was deeded the property from the Federal Government after World War Two, the city of Vero Beach was interested in seeking some businesses that would come and operate and take some of the land that you know that the Navy left us in order to create a revenue stream to maintain the actual airfield.

Harry "Bump" Holman:
My dad had all these buildings and all this property and everything and what to do with it? And my mother came up with ideas of why don't you think about bringing a baseball club in here. Well my dad didn't already know first base from second base. He said, "Well, who has the biggest organization?" "Well" they say, "well, the Dodgers do" my dad said, "get me an appointment with them in Brooklyn". So he talked the Dodgers into coming here just practically overnight

Ruth Stanbridge:
City of Vero Beach entered a new era in the airport development when the Dodgers came to town

Harry "Bump" Holman:
Had such a tremendous bigorganization 500 or 600 people and really, really brought to town to live.

Ericson W. Menger:
After the the Dodgers business arrangement came Piper. Piper actually came on to the airport in 1957. And they were also able to purchase some of the airport property and they've been here in Vero Beach since 1957. And following that came a third large business entity which was Flight Safety International and Flight Safety started business here in 1966. With all the activity that came with the business development at the airport in the 50s 60s, and into the 70s, we needed to have an air traffic control tower and actually the first air traffic control tower at Vero Beach Airport was built in 1973 and was in operations as for for 30 years. And then in 2003, of course, we we built with a Federal Aviation funding the air traffic control tower that is currently at Vero Beach Airport. And it wasn't until 2015 that commercial airline service returned to Vero Beach airport with the arrival of Elite Airways

Ruth Stanbridge:
This little airport that grew and grew and grew and today we have a very modern facility with a brand new airline.

Harry "Bump" Holman:
My family home was only about three or four blocks down the street here so I kind of grew up out here. I think back to what was here before, which here now just seems impossible.

Ericson W. Menger:
As airport director, it's really been an incredible journey for me and my staff to see the Vero Beach Regional Airport be as successful as it is and it's going to be really exciting to see what the 21st century will hold for Vero Beach Regional Airport.

Ruth Stanbridge:
As a Historian often you don't find a story that begins like this one. I see a very exciting future for this little airport that has grown and grown.

Ruth Stanbridge 0:44
Winter Beach is really a community that's looking for it's personality. And even before Florida became a state in 1845 are those people settling along the Indian River in small little towns, and one of these little towns was Woodley. That was the first name for Winter Beach. They had a post office as early as 1893. A decade later, they changed their name to Quay. And the reason I changed it to Quay was because Senator Matthew Quay of Pennsylvania, had allocated over $200,000 to dig a canal in the Indian River Lagoon. And then much later, in the 20s, they changed the name again, because no one wanted to come to Quay. So they had a contest and the winner was Winnter Beach. So now they have found their personality. You always come back to your hometown and one of the ones that came back was Dr. Harry Hearst.

Harry Hurst 1:46
I'm Harry Hearst. I'm a native of Indian River County. Winter Beach was basically a farming community, made up of people who had moved down from different parts of the northern part of the state, because I'm sure it's cheaper land and farming possibilities. Of course, that over to your schools, which are established well in the 19 teens, so schools were develop that was available. They had their churches, that Primitive Baptist Church, you had the fishing, which was very popular at that time. And of course, later on, the bridges would be coming in. But that basically was a rural farming community. I'm guessing if we had 600, we're lucky is a very small community. I grew up in Winter Beach. We all were poor people. But we didn't realize we were poor. We know just like our neighbors. Most of us, we own our little practical houses. Remember, in those early years, there was no electricity and no running water. The church was very vital in our community. Schools were vital. Over the years we saw the school close. The church was very active, very vital in our life, the Baptist church. It was really part of the key of our social life. Years later, the church disintegrated. We begin to see all the older people begin to die out or move away. There are very few people living in Winter Beach area that are native to that area. Probably 12 if we're lucky. I have a paints very special to me. It's a reconstruction of the Wigfield house as it was on John's Island. Of course it was moved over to the mainland and the early 19 hundred's is a prime example of the progress had been made in the housing of the people. Winter Beach's personality was one of a loving, caring, supportive group of people sharing common interests and goals.

Ruth Stanbridge 3:41
The Walker family were bridge tenders. Mr. Walker was the bridge tender for the Winter Beach bridge, and his daughter grew up in the middle of the river as a bridge tender's daughter,

Janet Walker Anderson 3:53
Growing up on the river was really great, I was about five years old when we moved over there. My dad was the bridge tender he would let the river be our playground. The Indian River to us was the way of life, so it was it was a great community to grow up in. Weybridge was the bridge that drew the people to from one side of the river to the other. We felt like a part of the community because everyone walked over to the bridge and we go swim just about every weekend during the summer, and they were very friendly. We got along really great. It was very important that we were able to be there 24 hours because he had to open the drawbridge for the boat whatever hour it was. Yeah, it does make you proud to know that you are part of history like that.

Ruth Stanbridge 4:43
Every community has post offices. One family had a particular role in a post office and they asked us can tell us all about the post offices that were in these communities.

Faye Dukes Estes 4:55
Winter Beach is where I grew up. Winter Beach is also where my mother grew up. And where my grandmother grew up. Used to play on the sand ridge, and also we I played in the post office. I still remember before it was closed down, walking on the platform of the railway station, and you could hear the train coming from quite a distance away. My grandmother would attach the mail sack to this arm that would, she would swing out, train would come along with this big hook on the side of it, snatch it up, take off with it. Well, the Winter Beach post office was just where everybody would come to pick up their mail. They built the first free standing post office, and that was whenever it was changed from Quay to winter beach. My great grandfather, Carrie Fletcher. He was the last postmaster of Quay. Right as it changed from Quay to Winter Beach, that's when in 1930 my grandmother was installed as postmaster. She was postmaster for 41 years. And she was the one and only female in the whole state of Florida. My grandmother retired in 71. And then my my mother became postmaster in 72. And then I became my mother's clerk. I retired my reign as a clerk to start my own family. That's one of the things I'm proud to say that I'm a descendant of the early pioneers of Woodley, Quay, and winter beach.

Ruth Stanbridge 6:59
The Hamilton family is a prominent family in Winter Beach area. They were here when it was Woodley and Quay and of course Winter Beach. In fact, the development that they wanted to do on the barrier island and on the mainland called Winter Beach Estates was the catalyst that changed the name from Quay to Winter Beach.

Peggy Hamilton 7:26
My name is Peggy Hamilton. My great grandfather Edward Hamilton moved to the narrows in 1905. His wife had died in childbirth, and his 15 year old son had died from the yellow fever. So he came down with oxen and wagon, looking for a better life. They were farmers. The Winter Beach cemetery, a Mr. Charles Benedict in 1896 and a Leopold Fergot and they bought 40 acres of acres of land in that Winter Beach area donated a half an acre of land for burial. It started out with that half acre and then later in 1910 Felix Popple and his wife they donated one and a half acres and in 1938 I think it was Samuel and Martha McCullers Hamilton, they're also relatives of mine, donated 10 acres. Today it's on 15 acres with approximately 2700 graves dating back to the Civil War and 1919 Mr. Charles Browsell moved to Fort Pierce, he was a real estate developer and land developer. He came up with this grand plan for a huge development in Winter Beach was one of Vero Beach as well. Plans started around 1921 1922. It was an 8000 lot development from the railroad track, a mile and a half on Old Dixie right there and going all the way over the proposed bridge all the way to the ocean. It also included an 18 hole golf course, for marketing purposes. They wanted a better choice of names instead of Quay, they put an ad in the paper and a lady named Mrs. Robert Brown in Fort Pierce won the contest. She won two lots they named it Winter Beach, where sunshine spends the winter. It was huge, big, big plans very exciting times. It never came to fruition. There are several different reasons why Indian River County had been formed. There was also an embargo at that time was the LAM boom or bust. So they couldn't get the building supplies to build. Plus, they'd lost the county seat to Hurricane Ted. And the Depression came. So those were the great things that came out of it was the bridge, and they changed the name. That was the story of Winter Beach Estates.

Ruth Stanbridge 10:00
Bobby Lindsey is one of the longtime residents of Winter Beach on both sides with his family. And he has a special story about his grandfather, and the old road that went from Quay to Fort Drum which is 28 miles and to the interior of Florida.

Bobby Lindsey 10:20
My great grandfather, DC Cox moved to the winter beach area in 1904. Along with his family, one of whom was my maternal grandfather, WF Cox, around 1910. The only place he could go to high school was in Fort Pierce, following High School and acquisition of a teaching certificate from the University of Florida, he started teaching School at Fort Drum. And that meant once a week, very early Monday morning he made the trip from Winter Beach along Quay Dock Road to where it intersected with the Fort Drum Road, traveled by horse through the marsh. All the way out to Fort Drum stayed there during the week. However, there was one occasion we left Fort Drum too late and got caught in the marsh black dark, he couldn't see the lights of the coast yet scared to death didn't have a clue which way was north, south, east or west. But he said he gave the old horses rains. And the horse found his way through the marsh. And I've been out there after dark, it's not a spot I would want to be amongst the mosquitoes and alligators and other critters that time a night. So I guess we're the descendants of some pretty hardy pioneers that develop this area.

Ruth Stanbridge 11:57
Were trying very hard this historical society to capture all Florida and Winter Beach is one of those little communities that produced a lot of exciting and innovative people that have gone out into the world and come back to make Indian River County a special place. We're very happy to share their history and we look forward to bring in more stories about our little communities.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Ruth Stanbridge 0:54
In the 20s and 30s there was a area where the black community could build homes and churches and businesses. And the Booker T Washington subdivision was platted, which was on the northern edge of the city of Vero Beach but adjacent to the main relief canal, which had a spillway.

Anthony Brown 1:17
My name is Anthony Brown. I'm currently the president of the Indian River County branch at NAACP. I graduated from Vero Beach High School. A lot of people don't understand why it's called spillway. But in black communities, communities of color, we often make things our own. Booker T. Washington was given to us. But because of the canal that's north of us, or the relief canal, it had a spill, because you going from freshwater to saltwater going into the river. So we call it a spill, the water was spilling over,

Ruth Stanbridge 1:54
Over the many, many decades, the original name of that little piece of property was lost,

Anthony Brown 2:02
Black history lost stolen or forgotten. And what Ruth is doing now is allowing our children to have a better understanding of who they are.

Ruth Stanbridge 2:13
I think the one of the reasons that the Booker T Washington subdivision was placed there would be so that the white community would have workers, domestic workers, nannies, and also workers in their yards and but it worked out well for the black community because they they had their own homes, their own churches, their own businesses

Annie H. Hartison 2:36
I would say Spillways was a little community inside of Vero Beach. That was predominantly a black family community. It was about 25 or 30 families that lived in spillway. We had access to come the Vero we could walk cross the the spill, which was there, or we could come around by the hospital and walk downtown Vero Beach from spillway. We had very close assets to the city of Vero Beach. And our neighbors were a few, maybe two or 300 yards behind us. But they were all in this community of Vero Beach, which all was the white community. And in the spillway community it was just all black families and little stores and little people had their businesses there. My aunt who raised me she had a beauty shop there. Her and her husband, he was a barber. She was a beautician. So they shared a shop there together,

Willie Otis Cobb 3:38
We realized that not much to do other than go to church or go to the bar and a lot of people didn't particularly didn't take to go into the bar so frequently. They stayed themselves and went to church. They had what they call swinging choirs and choirs in the church singing. It used to be a good time at the church and at the bar really well. We call at the time "poppin".

Ruth Stanbridge 4:10
They were very self sufficient. Education was a major part of their home life. And so they worked very diligently to have their children go off to school and many of our teachers came back and they had lived in the spillway community.

Gloria Bagley Willis 4:29
Education was very important to my dad. The goal was to go to college. That was the goal period. My mother told me what she said, Gene, she called me Gene she said, I don't want to do what I'm doing, you have to go.

Annie H. Hartison 4:51
I went to high school to elementary school and high school, but all black high school and my year was the last year that Gifford High school was all black. Then the integration came in. And you know, everybody was going to mix schools at that time. But that wasn't my experience. I never went to a mix school. The only school there at the time was Gifford High School. And we attended Gifford High School from first to 12th grade. And that was people from Spillway, Gifford, Wabasso Fellsmere, everybody came to Gifford High School

Ruth Stanbridge 5:26
Today the community there the Booker T Washington subdivision is the home of the county commission administrative buildings.

Jason Brown 5:38
So most people are familiar with this location as the seat of county government, right. But not a lot of people know the history of the spillway community many years ago, and that that unique African American community that was here that was a special place in our in our county, and it's good to have the ability to just for people to know that history. And remember that history.

Anthony Brown 6:01
We're here at spillway, which is now the county administration building, it's the complex, but as a little boy, it was spillway to me.

So spillway was all I knew growing up. I knew all my friends was there. Part of my family was there

Back in that time your the black community was close. You didn't have anything. I didn't have anything. So we didn't have this ego. I'm better than you. We played in the streets. We shot marbles. We played Jack Stone, Tic Tac Toe, jump rope. It was a family environment where it was so condensed that everybody knew everybody's business.

Richard Lasker Morris 6:43
I did meet a lot of wonderful people in Spillway and Gifford. They were some of the friendliest people and the best people that I actually know. They would have coffee waiting for me because I'd be there before daylight. I had very good friends, dear friends from spillway

Ruth Stanbridge 7:02
It was a very progressive community because they could own their own homes and their own businesses. And they were close to schools in the Gifford area for the blacks and later, you know, to the Vero Beach High School when integration came in. So they were very progressive in the way that they handled their businesses and all. And also later as the county grew, it was obvious that the seat of government in Vero Beach needed to be larger. The county commission offices, the supervisor elections, the tax collectors, the property appraisers, and what better place was just in that one little area.

Jason Brown 7:47
So for many years, we were considering the need for a new county administration building, it went through several iterations we were thinking of, there were things considered like looking at it the old Vero mall, locating a new building in the central part of the county. At the end of the day we had some property just across the street over here in spillway. And the decision was made that we wanted to move over and build the new county administration building on this site.

Ruth Stanbridge 8:16
And as the residents in the real community of spillway moved, our was deceased, the county would buy their property and the community the spillway community knew that. And so they knew they always had a ready buyer for their land. And so over this 15 or 20 years, the county acquired this property one piece at a time, in the early 2000s, the county began to plans for a complex there that would accommodate the growth of the community,

Richard Lasker Morris 8:51
Maybe an acre of a circle because houses are built completely around. And that's where they would have their church services, or funerals or anything like that. And I've attended those, because the people around knew for seven or eight years I've delivered ice to them so if there was a funeral, I would attend or festival. So actually, to me, it was just another way of life, you know?

Anthony Brown 9:22
Well, an exciting time and Spillway and for African Americans in Indian River County was Jackie Robinson.

Annie H. Hartison 9:29
I wasn't a baseball fan but my grandfather was. So he would take me out to the Dodger town to watch the Dodgers play. Even as a kid I didn't like the heat too much. It was always so hot out there. But I would stay there and watch him because he was so excited to be among the black players that was coming to Dodger town. Any black professional player back in the day brought a lot of highlight to our black community because it wasn't a lot of them. So Jackie Robinson and a lot of the rest of them that played it came to Dodger town. They was the talk of the town. Everybody loves the Dodgers, so, whether they liked the baseball or not, they was crazy about the Dodgers.

Willie Otis Cobb 10:12
Jackie Robinson meant a lot to all black people.

Ruth Stanbridge 10:17
Spillway is of historical significance for many reasons. But one of the things that the citizens and residents of spillway should be proud of is that now, it is the seat of local government.

Jason Brown 10:30
So, you know, we had to to acquire several different pieces of property from people that had lived here for many years. And when we were going through that process, we wanted to make sure that we were doing that in a respectful manner. And working with people to make sure that as time came in, as folks were ready to make that transaction and can move if you will, we were working with them in a collaborative manner, to make sure that we were we were acquiring the property, being respectful of the history, and the people too.

Anthony Brown 11:01
Fredrick Douglas, W.B. Dubois says that a man does not know his past cannot have a future. And our children don't know. They don't know what they don't know that they don't know. So this will allow them to get a peek. That Wait a minute. There was a town before us. There was a life before us there was a people of color doing things before us. There was entrepreneurs that was already they had nothing but they made something, what we're doing and what Ruth has been doing, keeping the history alive, so that generations to come can understand. We are not the Genesis, we just a continuation of the journey we need to know from whence we come and within that journey we in order to calculate where we go

I'm Tony Young, Colonel United States Army, and today have an opportunity to share an important story about the men who are honored on Memorial Island with their families and also with veterans that had served during the war as well as other veterans who understand the story behind it. The stories of the men that you'll hear are vital because when Alex McWilliam created the island he said “Lest we Forget”. But today there are so many people who don't understand the stories. So, we need to share with them so they can learn about the heroic sacrifice that they made and their families. It's crucial. What you're about to see are the accounts of the men that gave their lives in World War II by their families and friends.

Screen, Title: “Understanding the Sacrifice”
Presented by Indian River County Historical Society

Screen: William Loudermilk,
Brother of James P. Laudermilk, a WW II Iwo
Jima USMC Casualty, and Specialist James E. Laudermilk
An Army Casualty in the Viet Nam War

William Loudermilk. My brother was James Powers Loudermilk. When he got out of the high school he joined the Marine Corps and he got deployed to the Pacific. He was a wire runner I called him, who haul the communications wires between all the units. He landed on Iwo Jima and on the second day he died in a mortar attack.

The one thing I always thought about, even when I was in Viet Nam, was the people that stayed there - the people that were killed were the heroes, even the ones that had done great in mind things you know, I still consider those that gave everything. Those were the heroes.

Even though he didn't get off of the beach, he was doing his job. Thing I enjoyed about that when you go over to the island, and you look there, to me it's a very emotional thing. What I like most of all is parents that have children there and they walk them children, especially the young ones, and they talk to them about what sacrifices these men made. That to me is very important, Let the people today take care of the history. Teach the history. Because they're not teaching it in schools.

Screen: Karen Anderson Vatland
And Peggy Hamilton
Neices of Charles and Robert Harlock daughters of
Wanda Harlock Anderson and
Alice Harlock Hamilton, Robert’s sisters.

Karen Anderson Vatland: Charles was on a merchant ship and he sailed the Atlantic Ocean twice in 1942. He was only 20 years old when he enlisted. And he was in London he was hit by a taxi. It was a hit and run. So, Grandma was notified in August of 1943. I don't think she got notified until a little bit later, but anyway August of 1943, that her son Charles Adrien Harlock was killed.

His older brother was commissioned to a brand-new submarine the USS Dorado and a month later Robert Edward Harlock was lost at sea on the submarine. The submarine was shot down either by enemy fire or by friendly fire. Because it was a brand-new USS Dorado between Cuba and the Yucatan never been found. So, Robert and Charles, two brothers, my poor grandmother lost two children that were still young you know. And the third son was also in the Navy. Arthur Harlock, Art Harlock, was brought home. Because Grandma had already lost two boys, he was brought home and served at the Naval Air station here in Vero.

Peggy Hamilton. Kind of like Saving Private Ryan. They got the third boy home. Then he was in an accident here with a train crash and a car. It was during the blackout. So she almost lost him. He lived.

Karen Anderson Vatland: I will tell you that I went to Hawaii and Hawaii has a submarine Memorial besides the Arizona and everything else and El Dorado's memorial was there. And the name of the men. And when I saw Robert Edward Harlock's name, even though I never knew him, and I knew he was my mother's brother, it just brought tears to my eyes. So, history needs to be remembered. History needs to know what a sacrifice it is for freedom that families give. And for this family to have given two up, almost the third one, is just amazing, you know, and how they survived and continued. And, that's why I'm here.

Peggy Hamilton. I learned from my mother Alice Hamilton, Alice Harlock Hamilton, she
attempted for years - I have letter after letter after letter that she sent to the city, she sent to the county she sent all over the place because during I don't know what hurricane it was the markers over there on Memorial Island they were not to be found. So, I read those letters and the effort that she put into it, and Aunt Wanda, and I guess Uncle Art was on some of those too. All three of them –

Karen Anderson Vatland. Yeah, but mostly your mom.

Peggy Hamilton. It was mostly my mom, yeah. She wanted them to be remembered. And she finally did get them. She got the markers -

Karen Anderson Vatland. The markers are there now.

Peggy Hamilton. They're there now at Memorial Island. So, I learned from Mom the importance of remembering those fallen in the war.

Screen: Harold L. Granitur,
Private First Class, Charlie Company, 358th Infantry Regiment,
90th Division, US Army, veteran of the European
Theater of Operations, 12 August 194-29 October 1945.

Colonel Tony Young. I'd like to introduce Harold Granitur. And, Harold is a soldier that fought in the 90th Division in World War II in Germany. And, his story is very special because not only did he fight with the 90th but he was there in the Normandy Invasion.

PFC Harold Granitur. I landed with the first army and 3 months later I was with Paton's Army when he landed.

Colonel Tony Young. And what I think is important is this is the Purple Heart and …

PFC Harold Granitur. …with leaf cluster

Colonel Tony Young. …with oak leaf cluster which means he was wounded twice.

PFC Harold Granitur. I got this medal because I talked 180 Germans into surrendering and they gave me a medal. We went into the woods and they had roads inside the woods. Crossroads. And the Germans had tanks in there. Mortars. Rifle fire. And we walked right into them. They had everything zeroed in. And before the end of the day in those woods, who like my, I don't know my squad had seven guys left at the end of the day. Two officers were gone. And I was there with seven guys and there was nobody to say “Hey, I'm going to be the sergeant. I'm going to be this; I'm going to be that.” You, everybody, did what they had to do.

Screen:
Barbara Hurst Rice
Neice of Robert L.A. Hurst
And daughter of Louise Hurst Bass, Robert’s sister.

Barbara Hurst Rice. My name is Barbara Rice and I'm going to be talking about my Uncle Robert Lee Anders Hurst. My uncle was born in Winter Beach and was raised in Winter Beach and Wabasso. And went to school at Wabasso School. Graduated from the eighth grade there. 1939. He was my mother's brother. During World War II he enlisted in the Army and was sent to the Philippine Islands where he was captured by the Japanese and participated in the death march at Batan and succumbed to malaria there. And since that time has been buried in the Philippine Islands.

So, my grandmother, after the military informed her that her son had died, never believed that he was not coming home. For the rest of her life, she felt like he was going to show up at her door. She would not accept it. And so even though I never met him, he was dead many years before I was born, I heard about this Uncle my entire life. His life, his short life and his death, was remembered by his family.

I have had the honor of being able to go to a couple of military cemeteries in Europe at Omaha Beach and in Luxembourg. And just seeing cross upon cross upon cross and understanding that the average age of the men that are buried in those cemeteries is 19 years old, it really brings home the sacrifice that these young men made for our country. That, like my Uncle, they died without ever having been married, without ever having children. They lived a very short life and died for me. For our country. For our freedom. And that should never be taken lightly nor taken for granted.

But Memorial Island has always been a special place to me and my family attending Memorial Day services and Veterans Day Services I've always made a point to take my children with me and their friends, if they were in town with their friends or whoever, they we always attended ceremonies there. We always walked around the islands and looked at the cenotaphs of the men and women from this County who have died in the various Wars. I think it's very important for them to remember, for us to remember the sacrifices that have been made for our freedoms and I think it's altogether too easy for them, for us, to forget history and we should never do that.

SCREEN:
Lloyd A. “Chuck” Pickard
Corporal, Charlie Battery, 17th
Air Defense Battalion, Heavy Artillery Group, Veteran of the Pacific
Theater of Operations, 15 December 1942 – 7 December 1945.

Lloyd Pickard is my real name but I've been known as Chuck. Quit High School. Joined the Marines at 17.

Tinean in the meantime, after the air strips were finished and in flying condition, they brought in the B-29s. They took a portion of our 17th group and swore them to secrecy and they disappeared down on the docks at Tenian where the heavy cruiser Indianapolis came in with the parts for the first atomic bomb.

And due to the secrecy of the whole thing they kept those guys separate and they unloaded the parts of the bomb and trucked them around down to a segment of the B-29s down in one corner that was fenced in especially. They had to modify a couple of those B-29s in order to carry the atomic bomb. Had to open the bomb bays and refix them, open them up different, big deal. So anyway, finally unbeknown to everybody, the Enola Gay took off from right down there below us and dropped the bomb. And then the other B-29 followed suit and dropped the other one. Yeah. Felt pretty good just like you saw in the news reels everybody running and jumping around going crazy. It felt pretty good. And of course the from the fighting branch we should be very proud of those that lost their lives in doing it and accomplishing that, yeah.

Screen:
William A. (Bill) Keegan
Private First Class, 78th Medical Battalion,
8th Armor Division, medic, European Theater of Operations,
1943-1945

Bill Keegan. I was born in the little village of Slatersville, Rhode Island. And
after that, course that was during the war, and I my older buddies they were already in the service. So, I thought hmmm I'm going too. Yes, I don't know if that was most probably right near the end of the war, I think. It's hard to pinpoint exactly when it was.

And I was sent, cause you're always in a position you're doing what you were told, sent to this this camp. At that time, I had no idea what, well I knew what it was going to be a concentration camp but I didn't know where I was and as it turned out I remember the name Langenstein or I thought I did. I didn't know if it was the name of the town or the camp. So, I was sent there to take some of these people that were uh, well, uh let's say almost starved to death and like skeletons, to take them to a hospital. I have three Battle Stars and I have this combat medic badge that you see right here and I have a Bronze Star. And I think this combat medic badge is something I'm the most proud
of.

Screen:
Leon Barnwell
Son of Clifford Barnwell who was killed in the 1944
Pearl Harbor West Loch Disaster. His brother Augustus was born
in 1939 following Clifford’s report for duty. The two never met.

Leon E. Barnwell; with (l-r) Rev. Jack White, Sylvester McIntosh, AI Davis.
My name is Leon E. Barnwell. Clifford came from Titusville Florida and he went over to Hawaii I think it was in 1941 the uh Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. And they blew the boat up. And for a while they said that he was just missing in action because they didn't know there but I think in 1944 they declared that he was dead. And from there I seen a picture they had a beautiful Monument of that division over there in Hawai, I'm proud of that because he is considered as the first black that died in World War II in River County. And, it's you know, it's not nothing to exactly be proud of but he died serving his country. And that was the main thing about it you know, he died serving his country.

As the younger ones come up don't nobody knowing anything about Clifford Barnwell. Well, I know that AI and Slyvester know but them younger kid they don’t know who is Clifford Barnwell, you know. And, as time goes on the old and the brave is left behind.

Screen:
Jackson (Jack) McAfee and
Bret Ernest McAfee
Nephew of Ernest Sheffield and his son,
Bret Ernest McAfee. Bret’s middle name is in honor of his
Granduncle who died as a German Prisoner of War,
December 25, 1944.

So, I'm Jack McAfee and we're here because of our my uncle Ernest Sheffield who was killed in the Battle of the Bulge.
Bret McAfee. And my name is Brett Ernest McAfee. Always knew that my middle name was after my grandmother's brother, so that would have been his uncle. And in 1941 he graduated and he also tried to later enlist in the army. With glasses they wouldn't take him at the time, the way I heard it. And then they end up drafting him.

We went to the reunion in 2007, the first one (they attended). Turns out that several of the men at that reunion, there's only like 11, but several of those men actually knew him
Personally. These were the people he served with in that headquarters battalion. He had been captured as a POW. The Germans were using POWs to clean up towns where they were before getting shipped off to a camp necessarily and they were cleaning up the streets when the Allies passed over Bitburg on a bombing mission and, whether it was a secondary target or whatever, they dropped their bombs on Bitburg and people with the POWs, you know you're not there with your group you're there and you become part of a group, and the commanders and everyone. Those folks knew that he had passed. They knew he was in an area that to direct hits.

Jack McAfee. Pearl Harbor happened. You know the call went out for young men to go and fight for their country and he answered that call like so many did. And then, ultimately, made the ultimate sacrifice. But I just hope that we today will never forget what these young men went through. And the courage and dedication that they showed. It's just - it just thrills me no end today at what they were able to do.

Screen:
Michael Gerbhardt
Son of Hazel Metz Gerbhardt. Hazel met and married
Reverend Gerbhardt while serving in Vero during WWII.

My name is Michael Gerbhardt. I am the youngest child. I have three older sisters. Our mother, her and all her friends wanted to get into the war effort. She was, unbeknownst to us kids, was a specialist. She had what was called a Specialist X rating as a Navy Wave person, a service person. And she could not speak about what she did because what she did was classified until I was a senior in high school. She had a cover story that they told us and it was not until I was a senior in high school that she actually came out with the truth which floored all of us. Cause we just couldn't believe my mom that, couldn't you know, change a light bulb, was working the radar which was classified. at that time. She sat in the top of the control tower out at the Navy Air Station and she had a headset on and she watched the radar and she would talk on the radio communicate with the pilots and as part of the training exercise. She also kept track of them in case something happened- they went down, or there's an accident, or they had a malfunction, or whatnot. And she would then relay on her headset down to the ACC, the Air Control Center, which is the strategic room that was below her in the tower where they did had dead reckoning and all the other maps that they had icons on that they would place and track and keep track of the aircraft as they were flying around.

She was very committed. She didn't talk about it much. I think partially because she didn't want to. She wanted to keep her oath of office and the secrecy about what she did so she wasn't very verbal when we was growing up about what she did. She, of course, was not in a position to see any combat herself but she trained men that she heard later that she knew perished in action. And I think that affected her and I don't think she chose to talk about that much either. I know it was probably a very exhilarating time for her. It was probably the thing that made her the most relevant, or feel the most relevant, about what she did in her contribution to the war. Because everybody - big job, small job - it was important. When the news of VJ Day came and she was the one that relayed it to everybody in the ACC - that came from her voice so she was kind of proud of that as well.

On her deathbed you know, I asked her I said “Since you served in the military”, because I knew how important that was to her, “since you served in the military, would
you want us to request a military service at your funeral?” Just kind of a very sensitive thing for a son to ask your mom and something I didn't choose to want to discuss with her but I felt compelled to ask. And she said “Oh, no. Don't go to any of that kind of trouble. Don't go to that kind of trouble for me.” I said “What if we would want it?” And once again, she broke out in tears. Only the third time I saw her cry. But it was
incredibly important to her.

It was a time that I would not have known much about if it weren't for her stories, her photographs, her scrapbook from those days, and how it changed her life, completed my dad’s life, was responsible our family being here in Vero Beach, and everything that came from that time forward.

As she had an incredible experience here and I think a very valuable story that people might want to hear.

Dr. Michael Fortunato
United States Navy Veteran

Hi, I'm Dr Michael Fortunato. I'm a Navy veteran. I don't think that the importance of the war in the South Pacific can be overstated. It was crucial to us to win that South Pacific. Otherwise Japan would have had Naval power and air power and the outcome could have been very, very different.

So, these guys that spent years of their life isolated, dealing with terrible living conditions, the humidity, almost all of them got malaria at one point, plus all the other heat illnesses, and then with injuries – they did not have the quick medavacs that we had. You got to remember Iwo Jima is pretty much out there and to get sent off that Island was a of major feat.

Our current generation needs to understand the sacrifice that not only the men and women who served went through but their families. A lot of these guys left behind wives and children. They left behind entire families that they weren't in contact for long periods of time. And when they came back it was a different time as well. So they are truly to be commended and honored and we hope to do that through this World War II Memorial.

John Matthews
Chair of the Memorial Island Sanctuary Committee

My name is John Matthews. I'm the chair of the Memorial Island Sanctuary Committee. It is hard to imagine what they went through. I mean it's very important that we hear those stories and hear the sacrifice and the heroism that went into, again, basically saving the world.

And, fortunately like my father was a World War II veteran he wasn't a marine but he came back and just went to work which is the case of most of the World War II veterans. They didn't really talk about it much. And of course, not everybody engages the enemy, you know eyeball to eyeball so to speak but of course many did in these campaigns. But all of those were important and even though the veterans - many didn't pass on and many of them have passed on, those that are still with us need to we need to hear their story and capture it. And thank you for helping to capture those stories because it is important for the country's history.

Future generations need to hear these stories and need to know what those veterans did for our country and for them. And without stories like these being told it really kind of dissolves or dissipates and nobody knows those stories. So, it's very, very important and why we're building the tribute to the World War II veterans on Memorial Island. And it will not only be important to Vero and Indian River County but it'll be a regional monument people will come from all over for that purpose so really very, very important.

Juli Summers
Daughter of Edward Ochylski who served in the
379th Infantry Regiment. Corporal Ochylski fought as a heavy
weapons soldier in the thick of combat in France, Belgium &
Germany and was awarded two Purple Hearts for battle injuries.

Good morning, I'm Juli Summers and I'm here to speak about my father Edward Ochylski, Jr.

Well, I think I should start with the fact that my father was the son of Polish immigrants and he was very proud of being an American probably especially because of that. His parents really instilled upon him that it was fortunate to be able to be in the United States. He didn't learn English until he was 7 years old when he started to go to school. And throughout his grade school and high school again it was just instilled upon him to be proud to be an American and lucky to be here. Like his parents came from communist Poland.

And, of course with the war starting, right out of high school he immediately enlisted like they all did back then. And he was very proud of that. He would - when he tells the story he didn't talk a lot about being in the war so much unless he was asked specifically. But what he did really talk about was how he and everybody else just lined up. So there was no question whether they were going to go in a service or not - it was an automatic, it was their duty, and it was their privilege. It was - the big thing was it was a privilege to be able to serve for our country.

Well, he went off to the war a boy first of all of course like they all did, and that's one thing he told me too that when he went to the war he - they didn't know exactly what to expect. Never traveled to these places - foreign places, never been away from Mama. And he did also say that when he went to the war in combat, one thing that he pressed upon, was that the kids there were kids. And two things - one is that they would cry out for Mama when they were getting shot, they were literally crying out for Mama - he heard it all over the battlefield he'd say. And also, there were no atheists in the war because everybody was praying to some God. He said that was one thing that became very clear no atheists allowed in the war. And, in fact, I have his army prayer book that was given to him when he went into the war.

He wrote me a letter when I was asking him about the war and his medals. He says:

“Julie,
Early this year Kathy (this is his assistant at work) was looking at my Army discharge certificate and said you have many medals. I said no only a Purple Heart given to me in the field hospital. And for the first time, I carefully read the certificate sure enough it was cited other medals including a coveted Bronze Star. We went to the Veterans Administration to inquire. The clerk said you don't have the medals because you never asked for them. The medals arrived 3 months later.

I've had the medals for 2 weeks now but not until today, as I was writing this letter to you, did I notice the inscriptions on the back of the medals. Three of them had my name inscribed and the Purple Heart had an oak leaf cluster for twice. So much about how closely your father checks and notices - 60 years to read the discharge certificate and two weeks to notice the inscriptions.

The VA also sent to me arms proficiency medals. One for carbine another for rifle. I think they owe me two more for 81 mm mortar and for heavy machine gun. That was really my bag. I led a heavy weapon squad. Next time in Des Moines I will inquire about them. As to my deserving the medals, some question marks. The three shooting iron medals, okay I'm still pretty good at it. Venison every year. The campaign medal, yes I was there. The good conduct medal, question mark, question mark, question mark. I'm sure you doubt that too. The Bronze Star I don't remember being brave just scared. I lost my hair. The double Purple Heart, yes. The first-time concussion rattled my brain and left a couple of scars. Second time, lost 50% of my hearing for which I continued to receive compensation. Started at $30 a month now it is 367 per month cost of living index feature. So, Jewel - he always called me Jewel, J-e-w-e-l, enough about the history of the medals. Enclosed is the Purple Heart I received in Europe and one of the two dog tags which I wore around my neck. The other medals are yours as you requested. I told your mom to make certain you receive them. You may want to give one of the Purple Hearts and the lapel pins to one of your siblings. I hope that my grandson Edward, that's my son who was named after him, I hope that my grandson Edward will never receive such hardware. Let there be peace on earth.

Love, Dad.”

Really wanted future generations to understand how valuable this country is and how many people have been to war and fought for this country and should continue to. And we should always honor this country.

And I think values are changing and unfortunately because, maybe like my dad being a Polish immigrant, he got the value of living in this country. He didn't take advantage of it. He called people the bad guys and the good guys. People who, when we were growing up as kids, you know the bad guys they broke the law the bad guys littered. I mean the bad guys - and that's the words he used. And I think nowadays he thinks there are a lot of bad guys out there because they don't appreciate what we have here in this country. I mean it's being fought for every day, continually, and it needs to continue.

And I think that this is a lesson and a learning tool and hopefully an inspiration for others. It's a reflection place. You know some folks come and reflect and understand and unless kids can - not just kids but young adults, adults my age who maybe didn't grow up with some of the background I grew up with to appreciate.

Colonel Tony Young. We're here on Veterans Memorial Island. A sanctuary for those
that have made the supreme sacrifice. The World War II tribute is an honor of 42 that actually gave their lives during World War II. So it's crucial - like World War I and the other campaigns - to recognize these men and the families that have sacrificed so much.

It's important to remember the stories that you've heard from the families because the most important aspect is to teach others how vital it is to be a selfless servant to our country.

If you look at the tribute you will see a stage where people can gather together to honor the men and hopefully inspire future leaders. The medals that are there, the Defense of America, the Pacific Campaign, the European Campaign, the American Campaign all are honors to those that have given their lives throughout the world so that we don't speak German and we don't speak Japanese and we're here with the liberties that we all enjoy.

Thank you to all that made this tribute possible. It will be here for decades to come. And our hope is, that in decades to come, we continue to have the leaders that represent our community in such a noble fashion.

Screen:
Presented by Indian River County Historical Society
Irchistorical,org
Production by VerolaStudio
Photo & Cinema