The Naval Amphibious Training Base Fort Pierce,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...

is a former training base centered around

Fort Pierce, Florida Fort Pierce is a city in and the county seat of St. Lucie County, Florida, United States. The city is part of the Treasure Coast region of Atlantic Coast Florida. It is also known as the Sunrise City, sister to San Francisco, California, the Sunse ...

. The site extended from near

Vero Beach, Florida Vero Beach is a city in and the seat of Indian River County, Florida, United States. Vero Beach is the second most populous city in Indian River County. Abundant in beaches and wildlife, Vero Beach is located on Florida's Treasure Coast. It is thi ...

to near

Jensen Beach, Florida Jensen Beach is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Martin County, Florida, United States. The population was 12,652 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Port St. Lucie, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. Histo ...

. It included

North Hutchinson Island North Hutchinson Island is a coastal barrier island in Indian River and St. Lucie counties on the east coast of Florida in the United States. The island is adjacent to the Atlantic Ocean and is separated from the mainland on the west by the Ind ...

and Hutchinson Island South. The site was used as a training facility for amphibious troops for invading

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. There were as many as 40,000 troops stationed there. There were 450 buildings, and the base was demobilized and closed in 1946. Training offshore were

Underwater Demolition Teams Underwater Demolition Teams (UDT), or frogmen, were amphibious units created by the United States Navy during World War II with specialized non-tactical missions. They were predecessors of the navy's current SEAL teams. Their primary WWII func ...

. In the 21st century, the government has attempted to identify and remove explosives which were buried there at the end of the war.

Footnotes

Amphibious Base Fort Pierce Military installations in Florida Military installations closed in the 1940s Fort Pierce, Florida Closed installations of the United States Navy {{navy-stub