Book details unique history of Coast Guard station

Written by Staff Reports Monday, December 24, 2012 01:00 am

Book details unique history of Coast Guard station

CAPE MAY – A new book by Joseph E. Salvatore, MD and architectural historian Joan Berkey explores the history of the U.S. Coast Guard Training Center in Cape May.

The authors’ second book for Arcadia Publishing’s Images of America series, “US Coast Guard Training Center at Cape May” was released on Dec. 10 and is now available for purchase at the Naval Air Station Wildwood Aviation Museum gift shop or online at www.usnasw.org.

Naval Air Station Wildwood (NASW) Aviation Museum is located at the Cape May County Airport and is operated by the non-profit NASW Foundation. Salvatore is chairman of the NASW Foundation and Berkey is a historic preservation consultant. Both are long-time Cape May County residents.

Their previous collaboration “Naval Air Station Wildwood” was also published by Arcadia.

The new book details the unique history of the only Coast Guard recruit training center in America. Hundreds of photographs are used to help chronicle the history of the base from its earliest days when it was used to house dirigibles, submarines and minesweepers during World War I to its present role as an active training center graduating more than 4,000 recruits per year.

Commissioned as Navy Section Base 9 in 1917, the U.S. Coast Guard Training Center stands on the site of a former amusement park. The station protected the coast line from German U-boasts during World War II. The Coast Guard took over the facility in 1946.

The Images of America series celebrates the history of neighborhoods, towns, and cities across the country. Using archival photographs, “US Coast Guard Training Center at Cape May” presents the distinctive story of the base and how it has shaped the character of Cape May.

Naval Air Station Wildwood Aviation Museum is located in Historic Hangar #1 at the Cape May County Airport. The airport was formerly Naval Air Station Wildwood, which served as a World War II dive-bomber training center.

The museum is dedicated to the 42 airmen who perished while training at Naval Air Station Wildwood between 1943 and 1945.