World War Two

World-War II Munitions Removal Work Resumes at Cape Pogue
Tuesday April 4, 2017
Sara Brown

A large project to remove World War II-era munitions from Cape Pogue is scheduled to resume this month, with additional work required because of the large quantity of practice bombs found in the area.

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Vineyard Roll of Honor
Friday May 4, 1945
Vineyard Gazette
The roll of service men is printed herewith in revised form which the Gazette hopes is accurate. Every effort is made to keep the list up to date. All official sources of information are used when possible, but the Gazette is heavily dependent upon the families and friends of service men for their listing in proper classifications.
 
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D-Day: A Day That Will Live Forever with Honor Through Memory
Friday June 8, 1984
Michael F. Bamberger

Linwood J. Belisle of Edgartown — you’ve seen his Lin’s Lawn Mower Repair shingle on the Vineyard Haven Road — enlisted as a parachuter 42 years ago looking for adventure and some extra cash.

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Final Figures Show $705,367.50 Bonds Sold
Friday January 12, 1945
Vineyard Gazette
Final figures for the Sixth War Loan drive, so far as It applies to the Vineyard, are now available, and stand at sales of $705,367.50, compared with the quota of $203,218. The amount is somewhat increased since the total given at the formal end of the drive, since all sales of E bonds made dur­ing the month are credited to the drive. According to S. C. Luce Jr., chairman, the Tisbury and up-Island towns, listed as one district, turned in $59,350 in E bond sales, with a quota of $35,000, and $521,400 in all other bonds, with a quota of $105,518.
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4 Men of E.A.C. Lose Lives Off Skiff's
Friday July 2, 1943
Vineyard Gazette

Four men of the Engineer Amphibian Command lost their lives in the boiling and racing currents in back of Skiff's Island, off the South Shore of the Vineyard, before daylight on Wednesday morning. The bodies of three have not been recovered. The tragic accident occurred when a staff boat of the familiar cabin cruiser type, accompanying a number of so-called invasion craft which had been dispatched from the Cape on a maneuver problem, struck a shoal in the heavy seas near Skiff's Island. The accident took place at approximately 2 a.m.

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Edgartown Is Taken, Not a Shot Is Fired
Friday June 18, 1943
Vineyard Gazette

Edgartown was invaded at about supper time last Friday by a force whose numbers are not accurately known, but which many believe to have been large as the year-round population of the town. No casualties were suffered and the inhabitants, not a Quisling among them though, seemed to enjoy their conquest.

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Navy Takes Part of Squibnocket Pond for Duration
Tuesday August 3, 1943
Vineyard Gazette

The Navy has taken a leasehold right for the duration of the war from the commonwealth of Massachusetts and others on that portion of Squibnocket Pond which lies west of a line drawn north and south through the westerly shore of Beachgrass Island, so called. This line is marked by a series of buoys. The area around the pond has been conspicuously posted, warning people off the waters of the pond.

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Experimental Base a Well-Kept Secret
Friday August 31, 1945
Vineyard Gazette

The well-kept secret of the Army's experimental base at Katama during the fall and early winter of 1943 is disclosed at last, in this issue of the Gazette.

Ten miles of heavy pipe were delivered, with other equipment, beginning in August, and during the following months five one-mile lengths of pipe were laid in the ocean with the aid of tugs, and welded together into an experimental pipeline under conditions similar to those which would be encountered in laying a gasoline supply line under the English Channel.

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Vineyard Will See Many Soldiers Soon, Here For Maneuvers
Tuesday July 7, 1942
Vineyard Gazette
Martha’s Vineyard is going to see soldiers, and many of them, during the next two or three weeks.
 
Large scale maneuvers are to be undertaken here, and the Army is announcing the plan in order to obtain the cooperation of the public. It is important that no one should feel disturbed by the field exercises or by the appearance of troops simulating conditions of an actual campaign.
 
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4,883 Register for Sugar on Vineyard
Friday May 8, 1942
Vineyard Gazette

Statistics released last night by Arthur B. Lord, superintendent of schools, who was in charge of the sugar rationing registration for the Island, show little evidence of hoarding, with one town, Gay Head, issuing books to every person who applied, and also reveal some interesting facts about the Island population as compared with the census figures for 1940. They show no such great drop in population as had been rumored and even believed, and one town, West Tisbury, has grown ten per cent since 1940.

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