As I write this chapter, we are sitting in Hermosa, South Dakota, just south of Rapid City.
We have driven a long way since our last Blog chapter but that is because it is more fun to be out driving and looking at amazing things than it is to sit in this chair and get you caught up, but here we go.
After the Flagler Mansion, we drove a short distance north to a campground near Fort Pierce, Florida so that we could visit the Navy UDT/Seal Museum.
After the start of World War II, it was quickly determined that the only way to defeat Adolf Hitler's armies that had captured all of Europe was to directly assault the European Continent and take it away from them.
The Allied Forces decided that the invasion would begin with an assault on the beaches of Normandy, France. The problem was that the Nazis also figured that would be a good place for the Allies to invade so they prepared very complicated defenses along all of the French beaches to counter any Allied attack.
Some of these defenses were passive obstructions to impede the Allied landing craft and slow the establishment of a beachhead from which to begin the Allied assault.
These passive obstructions were meant to impale and sink landing craft and prevent tanks and other armored vehicles from getting to the beach.
Something had to be done to determine what types of obstacles were present and figure out a way to defeat them.
It was decided in June 1943, to establish the Naval Combat Demolition Unit (NCDU) training school at Ft. Pierce, Florida.
This new demolition unit took volunteers from the Navy Bomb and Mine Disposal School and from the Navy Civil Engineering Corps. and Naval Construction Corp (Seabees) and began intense physical training to weed out anyone that couldn't meet the physical qualifications necessary for the upcoming mission to the beaches of France.
This harsh training is given credit as the beginning of the infamous “Hell Week,” a period of intense instruction that remains a fundamental component in modern-day Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) training program.
By the end of Ft. Pierce training there was an overall attrition rate of 65-75%, much like it remains today in BUD/S.
After completing their training, these newly minted "Frogmen" were sent to England where they transferred to ships and were then taken close to the shores of France. There, under cover of darkness and horrible weather, they transferred to smaller boats that took them close to shore. Then, they slipped into the water and swam to shore, all alone except for their swim buddy. They were armed only with a knife and a slate tablet and pencil.
Once they arrived at the beaches, they snuck around in the dark, mapping the obstacles as well as testing the density of the sand to determine if the sand would support tanks and trucks that needed to be brought to shore.
After completing their recon, they swam back out to sea where they were recovered by the small boats and returned to their ships where final plans were made for the invasion.
On the day of the invasion, these same heroes would precede the landing craft, swimming to the beaches to blow up the obstacles so that as many landing craft as possible could make it to the beach.
The plan worked and that is a small part of the reason we speak English and not German.
The Underwater Demolition Team Frogmen also played a very large part of the beach landing preparations during operations in the Pacific theater as well.
The museum explains the beginning of the UDT/SEALS and then has numerous displays of equipment.
This was a large, fast attack boat that would carry a large number of SEALS and their gear into very shallow water.
Helm area
Team seats. You can tell by their construction that they are made to absorb tremendous shock from the high speeds and rough conditions these boats operate in.
Fast underwater deployment vehicles
We learned that Suzie's head is too small to be a SEAL
This museum did a very good job of explaining why we need to have people ready to fight and it really makes you wonder where they find such men!
Our trip continues and we will write about more amazing places soon,
Tom & Suzie
We are on the road again for our annual winter travels.
Our first visit took us to Palm Beach, Florida where we visited the Flagler Mansion.
Many of you know that we now call Marathon, Florida our home and since moving to the Florida Keys, we have grown to greatly admire Henry Flagler, who was one of the main people responsible for opening the Florida Keys to everyone by building the Overseas Railroad from Miami to Key West in the early 1900's.
Henry Flagler was the original partner with John Rockefeller and together they founded Standard Oil in 1870, back when oil was just beginning to be recognized as a commodity of great value. It made Rockefeller and Flagler rich.
When in his 70's, Flagler brought his first wife to St. Augustine, Florida from New York City because he thought the warmer winter climate would be helpful to her failing health. In 1888, while in St. Augustine, he built the first of many of his large hotels in Florida, the Hotel Ponce De Leon.
Mr. Flagler eventually had 3 huge hotels in St. Augustine and began to realize that expansion south to still warmer parts of Florida would be a good project for his later years in life.
Web photo of Hotel Ponce De Leon
Web shot of Hotel Alcazar
Web shot of Hotel Cordoba
As you can tell from the web shots of his St. Augustine hotels, Mr. Flagler didn't mess around once he started a project.
Eventually, Mr. Flagler's wife died and he remarried, only to have that wife quickly succumb to mental illness and require institutionalization for the rest of her life. Their marriage was annulled.
A third wife was acquired and thrived with Henry, also enjoying his love of Florida in the winter.
As a wedding present, Mr. Flagler took his new wife to Palm Beach where he built her a new home for them to enjoy during the times they fled cold New York City in the winter.
We were able to take a self guided tour of his winter home. The tour included hand held wands that provided a room by room narration of the sights we were seeing.
The tour starts at the entryway just inside the front door. Mr. Flagler wanted your first impression of his home to be grand and it is.
To get a feel for the size of the entry room, the red arrow in the picture points to Suzie!
Mr. Flagler felt that since his home was being built in what we now call the "Gilded Age," it should demonstrate all of the finer things that mankind had developed to that point and be presented in a manner that could continue as a museum after he was long gone.
Mr. Flagler brought in many talented craftsmen who were able to create amazing details to the walls, ceilings and doors as well as all of the woodwork.
The preceding picture of a ceiling panel is all hand carved 3D images that are then gilded with thin pieces of gold foil. The detail was amazing and every ceiling on the first floor of the mansion was covered in beautiful detail like this one.
The library was another huge room that defied proper photography. It was very dark and cozy and masculine. This is where the men would come to discuss business or smoke cigars.
Next to the library was the music room. The women could meet here to discuss the topic of the day, play cards or listen to music.
The room was equipped with a very large pipe organ which was the rage of the day and a supreme status symbol.
You can't have an organ without someone to play it so the Flagler's had a full time organist that lived year round at the mansion, just so he would be available if someone wanted to hear some organ music. This is really significant because the Flagler's only spent 6-8 weeks a year at the Mansion.
This is one of the chandeliers in the music room with the pipe organ on the wall in the background. Notice all of the intricacies of the ceiling.
The pipe organ has 1, 249 pipes and has been electrified so you don't have to push the pump pedals to play it.
No, Suzie is not on the phone, she is listening to the guided tour wand.
As we continued through the mansion, we were amazed that Mr. Flagler built such a huge structure. We eventually came to the ballroom.
It is the second largest room in the mansion and is over 3,200 square feet.
It must have been a real exciting time to receive an invitation to one of the gala events.
Elaborate ceiling at the entry to the ballroom.
We continued the tour for over 2 hours and were only allowed to visit a fraction of the 75 rooms in the 100,000 square foot mansion.
Dining room
Breakfast room
Drawing room where Mrs. Flagler could entertain, read, or knit.
Master bedroom
Master bath
Several of the many guest rooms.
The full-time staff of cooks, maids and servants all had quarters on the second floor, away from the guest rooms. They were much less fancy than the guest rooms but still large, clean and functional for the times.
We didn't get to visit the third floor but there were additional bedrooms there where the servants of the guests to the Flagler Mansion were housed. They were not as fancy as the Flagler staff quarters.
Outside was a beautiful palm coconut grove that is the only remaining coconut grove from which Palm Beach got its name.
We enjoyed our visit to "Whitehall,"Henry Flagler's winter home in Palm Beach and would recommend a visit there to anyone that travels to the Palm Beach area.
We appreciate everything that Henry Flagler did to help develop Florida and make it our home.
Our travels continue and I will try to find rainy days to complete the next chapter of the blog.
We hope you are having fun out there and please keep us posted on what you are up to,
Tom & Suzie
