World War 2 - Freedom Magazine Presents The History of Clearwater Florida Part X

Hotels Change Hands—and Faces

Rumors circulated that the U.S. Army would take over the Belleview Biltmore Hotel. These rumors proved true in early 1942 when the Army moved in. All luxurious furnishings were removed and the hotel repainted olive drab. Up to 3,000 soldiers and airmen would be housed there at any one time until the end of the war. Tents were erected on the golf course to house even more soldiers and Army Air Corps personnel.

Belleview Biltmore Hotel
The Army moved into the Belleview Biltmore Hotel in early 1942, removed the luxurious furnishings and painted it olive drab.

The Fort Harrison, Gray Moss Inn, Dunedin Isles Hotel and literally every other hotel in the area served as supplemental housing for soldiers stationed at MacDill and Drew fields in Tampa.

The Fort Harrison, Gray Moss Inn, Dunedin Isles Hotel and literally every other hotel in the area served as supplemental housing for soldiers stationed at MacDill and Drew fields in Tampa. The Army took over the Pinellas County Master Airport on Tampa Bay and billeted troops there as well.

Army personnel drilled in the streets and raised the Stars and Stripes daily in front of the Pinellas County Courthouse. Thousands of soldiers, traveling by bus to save badly needed (and strictly rationed) gas, enjoyed time in the sun at Clearwater’s beaches before shipping out for foreign shores and the dangers of combat.