DUANE
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Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and it's quite a story. Way out in Wise County, sitting on the shores of Lake Bridgeport, there's a patch of Texas water and hill country that played a quiet but serious role in the Second World War. And I do mean serious.
So let's go back. When the United States was drawn into World War II in 1941, the federal government set about multiplying training facilities across the nation, fast. They needed room.
They needed water. They needed places where aviators could practice the kinds of things you don't want happening over a crowded city. Lake Bridgeport, built back in 1931, fit the bill just about perfectly.
Ideal terrain, enough distance from folks that the noise and the danger wouldn't land on anyone's doorstep, at least, not too often. The lake was designated as a bombing target area and an auxiliary seaplane base, tied directly to Eagle Mountain Lake Marine Corps Air Station over in Tarrant County. Come September of 1942, construction got underway, concentrated up in the northeast corner of the lake's main body.
They put up an administration building, a boathouse, a seaplane ramp with parking, something they called the east hill stone target, and various floating targets scattered across the water. Now let that picture settle in your mind for a second. Floating targets.
On a Texas lake. Because what happened out here wasn't just a little weekend drill. This site hosted amphibious troop glider training, night and day fighter and machine gun strafing runs, skip bombing, dive bombing, and here's the one that tends to make people stop and stare, testing of something called the TDR.
An early United States Navy radio-controlled assault drone. Out here. In Wise County.
In 1942. Hundreds of U.S. Navy and Marine Aviation pilots and crewmen trained at this lake.
Hundreds. And the schedule was as precise as a railroad timetable: bombing runs went off daily at ten-thirty in the morning, two-thirty in the afternoon, and four fifty-five. And if that wasn't enough, night bombings could occur at any hour.
They lit up the area with magnesium flares suspended under parachutes, floating fire in the Texas sky, drifting down over the water and the hills. Now and again, one of those flares would drift a little too far and catch a landowner's pasture. Which meant the neighbors would come out, not to complain, just to help put out the flames.
That's a detail that'll stay with you. The war coming down in flares over someone's field, and the neighbors just showing up to help. But not everything out here was heroism at a distance.
In 1944, tragedy came close. Two Marine aviators died in accidents during training. Lieutenant T.
S. Wharton, Junior, and Corporal A. J.
Paleszewski. And then, sometime after, a local guard named Thomas Troy Mitchum also died. Three men.
Gone in the line of duty on a lake in Wise County, far from any front line that makes it onto most maps. Lake Bridgeport served as an auxiliary training site for Eagle Mountain Lake Air Station, giving aviators the maneuvering room they needed to get ready for whatever was waiting for them on the other side of the world. Both sites, Lake Bridgeport and Eagle Mountain Lake, ceased operations after the war.
The water's quiet now. But something happened here that deserves to be remembered, and the marker makes sure of that.
What the marker says
When the U.S. was drawn into World War II in 1941 the federal government increased the number of training facilities across the nation. The area around Lake Bridgeport (built in 1931) made for an ideal site to train airmen and test equipment without undue impact on local residents. Lake Bridgeport served as an important military training site, designated as a bombing target area and auxiliary sea plane base for Eagle Mountain Lake Marine Corps Air Station (Tarrant County). Construction occurred generally in the northeast corner of the lake’s main body in September 1942, with an administration building, boathouse, seaplane ramp and parking, the ‘east hill stone target,’ and various floating targets. The site also hosted training and research activities including: amphibious troop gliders, night and day fighter-machine gun strafing, skip and dive bombing, and test area for the tdr (an early u.s. navy radio controlled assault drone.) Hundreds of U.S. Navy and Marine Aviation Pilots and Crewmen trained here. In tragic accidents during training in 1944, two marine aviators, lt. T. S. Wharton, Jr. And CPL A. J. Paleszewski, and later, a local guard, Thomas Troy Mitchum, died. Bombing runs were conducted daily at 10:30 a.m., 2:30 p.m. and 4:55 p.m., while night bombings could occur at any hour. Area-lit by magnesium flares suspended under parachutes, these flares would occasionally ignite a landowner’s pasture, which brought out neighbors to help extinguish the flames. Lake Bridgeport, as an auxiliary training site for Eagle Mountain Lake AIr Sation, provided valuable maneuvering room for aviators during the war. Both sites ceased operations after the war.