THE MOUNTED BEACH PATROL
(The Silver
Thatch Inn)
"RL" Landers (RL, initials only) was born on a farm in Bedias Texas in 1922 . After graduating from high school in 1942 World War II had been under way for some six months and "RL" knew he would be getting drafted and before that happened he decided to enlist.
The recruiter for the Air Force had his quota of enlistments, so "RL" went to the Navy, same thing, They also were not accepting enlistments at that time.The Navy recruiter told him to try the Coast Guard. "RL" had to ask what the Coast Guard was not having ever heard of them. The Navy recruiter told him it was just like the Navy, even operated under Navy orders and the only way to tell them apart was the white shield the coast guardsmen wore on his "blues" and a blue shield worn on the right sleeve on their "whites."
"RL" was accepted into the Coast Guard, they were sent to an Army camp in New Orleans where they marched and drilled for several weeks, not even having any clothes except the civilian clothes they were wearing. "RL" said they would wear their clothes during the day and wash them at night.
They were eventually placed on a troop train and spent three or four days traveling to an unknown destination. They finally arrived at St. Augustine and "RL" said that was the "prettiest place" he had ever seen. The huge trees, the flowers and stone buildings. They were billeted in the "Ponce De Leon"" hotel and there were still maids, butlers and a complete staff there at the time. "RL" said most of the guys slept on the carpet, because it was thicker than the cot pads they had.
After finishing their "boot training" volunteers were asked for. No one in his right mind would volunteer for anything so several of them were told to step out and on the basis of past experiences, they would be placed in the "mounted patrol" being formed.
Being from Texas and a farm boy he was a natural for this job, although not to enthusiastic about it. "RL" was shipped to Ft. Lauderdale and their barracks were located on south beach East of A1A right on the beach, across from where the Bahia Mar Hotel is now. After being moved around to several other locations he was assigned to the Silver Thatch in Pompano and then his training, at least what he got, began.
The Silver Thatch was then a small two story inn located on the beach North of Pompano. The accommodations were changed drastically once the Government acquired it. Each of the rooms now housed eight men sleeping on bunk beds. Meals were prepared and served by Coast Guardsmen and eaten in the dining room. Recreation consisted of a softball diamond and very little else. But it didn't matter because there wasn't much time left for pleasure after the daily chores and dutiess were finished. Shortly after they arrived and their training had ended, a large group of men arrived that were from New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and other northern states, "RL" said some of them had never seen a real horse and it fell upon them to train them from scratch.
The barns for the horses were completed by the tennis courts and the horses arrived. They were Army cavalry horses from Ft. Sill Oklahoma. Every man was assigned a horse and took full responsibility for it as long as he was on mounted duty. "Pluto" was the name of the horse assigned to "RL". They came with saddles, blankets, bridles and all necessary equipment to maintain them. The men were shown how to wash, rub-down, dry off and often they were taken into the ocean to swim. They arrived by rail, were unloaded at the "mule lot" located at the corner of Flagler ave and NE 6th St in Pompano and walked to the Silver Thatch Inn on the beach.
The saddles were the army issue, "Mc Clellan" saddle that had the opening down the middle, "RL" said they were the most uncomfortable. hardest saddle ever made and some of the men wanted to buy a western type saddle but were not allowed.
The mounted patrolmen from Pompano went North to the Boca Raton Inlet and back. South it went to about Las Olas blvd Ft. Lauderdale and back. The patrols left out around 4PM each day, seven days a week. One rider going North, one going South and another pair leaving at 30 minute intervals with the riders making one trip per night.
The patrols were timed so when the first rider reached the Ft. Lauderdale turn around spot, the last rider was leaving Pompano and on the return trip and the rest of the night there was a mounted patrol passing any given place every 15 minutes and this beach coverage extended from Miami to Daytona Beach in Florida through-out the war.
Riding the beaches was a hard, tough job, "RL" says the saddles were so hard and tiring that the men walked the beach leading their horses about as much as they rode. Sometimes a horse would show-up riderless at the Silver Thatch and later on a rider would come walking up, having been thrown from his horse.
There were a few injuries on these nightly patrols but the look-out towers on the beaches that were manned by civilian volunteers had a telephone and the Coast Guard ran a jeep on the road for emergencies.
The patrollers were armed, they carried a .45 cal side-arm plus in a saddle scabbard they had a sub-machine gun so they were not defenseless. Occasionally they would be surprised by some planned" landing operation" to see how they would react and if they could apprehend any "invaders."
"RL" says the sound of engines off-shore in the dark of the night was commonplace, so were lights and the glow of burning ships. The beach was littered with the debris of sunken ships, one night their may be bananas, the next night pineapples, oranges, etc,etc, depending on the type of ships being torpedoed off shore by German submarines.
The life of the "mounted patrol" was not glamorous, or even fun, it was a tough with little or no chance of advancement within the group. After riding all night, tending to the horses and their gear, the stables had to be cleaned and fresh hay spread every day, so the days were not spent sleeping or loafing. The only break came every eighth day when they were given eight hours of leave time.
So went this very unique part of the war that had to incorporate units such as the mounted patrol to bring it to its conclusion. We cannot begin to imagine what we would have had to contend with, here on our South Florida beaches had it not been for the men that "got into that hard saddle every night and set-out not knowing what or who the night might bring."
The small town of Pompano and the beach area (they were separate then) became an essential part of these activities and are afforded a place in the history books because of young men such as "RL"landers and his fellow patrollers.
Even with the constant patrols, rumors were rampart about German submarines landing men and English speaking spies on our beaches at night. Local residents tell these stories to this day, but because of wartime censorship many of the incidents have never been confirmed.
Shortly after he arrived in Ft. Lauderdale, "RL" Landers met a girl at the servicemen's center in the Blount building. She was Helen Herriott , a student at Florida State College for Women in Tallahassee whose mother was the founder of Fern Hall, a private school in Fort Lauderdale.
Just before he was discharged from the Coast Guard in 1946, "RL" and Helen were married. They went to Texas where "RL" enrolled in Baylor University and Helen got a teaching job. After graduating from Baylor they returned to Ft. Lauderdale in 1954.
Dr. "RL" Landers taught at Broward Community College for 27 years before retiring. Helen Landers is the Broward County Historian.