STUART, Fla. — There is so much military history in the area around the Stuart Air Show.
A big part of it is right down the road in Hobe Sound at Jonathan Dickinson State Park.
In World War II, Camp Murphy stood where the state park is now. According to local historian Josh Liller with the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse, the camp was a Southern Signal Corps School for the U.S. military in the war.
About 20,000 soldiers, airmen, and marines learned radar equipment skills and kept the camp operational.
These top-secret skills were used around the world by our military in the war.
"It's really important to preserve sites like this," Liller said. "People don't realize how much has happened around them, how much has changed, why things are the way they are today. If not for this camp this park wouldn’t be here."
In 1947, the state of Florida bought the 11,000 acres where the camp stood, and now it's Jonathan Dickinson State Park.
Many buildings, like the road to victory military museum in Stuart, were Camp Murphy buildings.
For more information about this weekend's Stuart Air Show, click here.
