USS Okaloosa (APA-219) Bell
at the Okaloosa Regional Airport
Okaloosa County Parks Geocache Trail
Quadrant Zone 3
USS Okaloosa (APA-219)
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On 28 November, 1944 the United States Navy commissioned a vessel named the USS Okaloosa This ship was a Haskell-class attack transport during World War II. During her 6 years in the Navy fleet, she toured to several locations all over the world. She left Seattle 26 January 1945 bound for Honolulu, HI. 29 March she left for Eniwetok, Ulithi and Okinawa. During the invasion of Okinawa, she arrived on 26 April and offloaded troops during the next four days despite enemy air attacks. After that she sailed back to San Francisco. After a short stay in California she sailed Manila and Leyte in the Philippines. During her stay in the Phillippines, transporting troops and cargo, she also traveled to New Giunea for a short time. She left the Philippean Islands and headed to Tokyo Bay with occupation units. After surviving the war, USS Okaloosa sailed to Guam, Tsingtao, Manila and Haiphong. She was also assigned to Operation Magic Carpet where she assited in repatriating military personnel from the European, Pacific and Asian theaters. During her commission she also visited: Jisen (Korea), Tacoma (WA), the Panama Canal, Norfolk (VA), Bermuda, Puerto Rico and other Caribbean Islands. The USS Okaloosa was sailed from Norfolk, VA to Orange, TX for decommission on 15 April 1949. Upon dismantling, Baldwin County, AL requested the ship's bell for a war memorial at its courthouse. Her bell stood at the memorial for more than 50 years before it was given to Okaloosa County for the memorial at this geocache site. Below are several links for more information on the USS Okaloosa and her history.
Information about the
USS Okaloosa cited from
Wikipedia.
Plaque dedication by WWII Vetrans who were on the USS Okaloosa
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US Navy Honor Guard at plaque dedication
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Military Order of the World Wars - Tom McLaughlin
AL.com article
USS Okaloosa (Wikipedia)
AL.com article
Fox 10 article
Hullnumber.com Crew Roster
This cache is located in Zone 3 of 4 in the county. In order to qualify for Okaloosa County's Custom Geocoin you will need to log 4 County Geocache Trail geocaches in each of the 4 zones and a total of 20 Okaloosa County Geocache Trail geocaches as well as log the code word for the caches in the official passport. You can get a copy of the passport
here. For more information on the Okaloosa County Parks Geocache Trail, please visit the
County Geocache Trail Page.
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Please visit our
parks department page and see where all of our parks are located and see the amenities available also. We are located in the panhandle of Florida with a diverse array of habitat areas, from crystal white sand beaches to densely vegetated forest.
We have partnered up with the Florida Department of Forestry, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the Panhandle Geocachers to begin our geocache trail. It will encompass several of our county and state parks located in Okaloosa County. Please e-mail us through this website or
geocaching@co.okaloosa.fl.us with any questions or comments or to request more information.
