March 2, 1946
February 1946. World War II is over and wartime production jobs were ending. During the war, Carl and Georgie worked a number of jobs in several places, finishing the war in Pocatello, Idaho. They elected to return to Iowa, where they both had family, but opted to make a grand tour of the west on the way. Georgie wrote a journal of the trip. The story starts here.
Drove to Oceanside and Encinitas where we stopped and got some pralines. Drove along a boulevard here with eucalyptus trees on both sided and in the parking. Went to Solana Beach and then to San Diego. There was a lot of camouflage there left over from the war. There were large nets across the streets and in some places they were covered with canvas painted to look like trees and vegetation. Stopped to see an old sailing boat “Star of India.” Spent several hours on board – it was very interesting.
Drove to National City, then to Palm City, and then drove up the Coronado Peninsula to look for seashells. Drove to San Ysidro and Tijuana, U.S. There we inquired around and finally decided not to take the car and trailer into Mexico as we might have to unpack the trailer at the border. Had lunch and crossed the border where a batch of assorted Mexicans greeted us. Some had cabs, some were advertising the races and the bull fights. One asked Carl if he wanted to get married. Carl told him he was already married and he asked him if he wanted to get a divorce. Took a cab into Tijuana, Mexico, where we walked around, shopped and took pictures. Bought a Mexican straw hat, some pottery and a basket. Got some Mexican Tacos but we threw them away as we couldn’t decide what was in them and everything was so dirty. The only thing that impressed us was the dirt. Decided that Tijuana was a poor example of Mexico as it was full of American sailors. Had a beer at the longest bar in the world. It really was a block long, had trick mirrors, strolling musicians, one of them a blind guitar player. All the people looked underfed and very poor. Later found their condition was caused by the fact that tourist had caused inflation as nothing was rationed in Mexico and Americans went there to buy rationed articles. Stopped at a little café where they had some pretty good string music but it looked a little rough so we didn’t stay.
Decided to go back to the U.S. so got another cab (they were all very old). Drove back to San Diego – were lost for a while as we couldn’t find any road signs but finally got to La Mesa then El Cajon – couldn’t find a place to stay as it was Saturday night so drove to Alpine where we stayed at a tourist camp on the edge of town. It was built on a hillside.
Walt’s Comments
The Star of India is still afloat, and still sailed! You can see it at the San Diego Maritime Museum.
Hiding San Diego
In the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Californians realized there wasn’t much between California and the Japanese fleet except empty ocean. Military officials immediately saw the need to camouflage strategic assets like aircraft factories. Colonel John F. Ohmer, head of a camouflage engineering battalion at March Field, was tapped for the job. He, in turn, got assistance from Hollywood in the form of artists, set designers and painters.
They first set about camouflaging the Lockheed factory in Burbank, and then worked their magic in other cities. San Diego was home to Consolidated-Vultee, manufacturers of the B24 Liberator, among other aircraft.
The camouflage was done by erecting netting on poles above the facilities, and painting vegetation and buildings on it. The roofs of the huge assembly buildings became rolling hills, with dummy houses built on top. The overall effect was to make the area look like a residential suburb.
The idea was that this would confuse enemy pilots who were attempting to bomb the factories, or to use them as a landmark to find their way to some other important facility. Of course, the Japanese never were able to mount a bombing campaign against the mainland US, so we’ll never know if it would have worked.
Digging Deeper
This article in the LA times discusses San Diego in WW2.
Here is a photo archive of San Diego in war time.
Lockheed has a page about the use of camouflage.
Look here for even more information.
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