Editing Bethany Beach, Delaware (section)

====World War II era====
[[World War II]] temporarily interrupted the Quiet Years. The [[United States government]] took an increasing interest in defending the Delaware coast after war broke out in Europe in 1939 and paved the road from Rehoboth Beach to a point south of Bethany Beach in 1940. The impact of the war on the area increased after the United States entered the war in December 1941: the town was blacked out at night beginning in 1942 to reduce the chance of German submarine attacks on ships offshore, and the beach and boardwalk closed at 9:00&nbsp;p.m. to make it easier for military personnel to patrol against landings by enemy agents and saboteurs. Many personnel of the various armed forces were billeted in the town or based nearby, German [[Prisoner of war|prisoners of war]] were held in the area, a radar station was built nearby to the west, and the [[United States Army]] built a gunnery control tower south of town to support the [[Coast Artillery]] guns at [[Fort Miles]] on [[Cape Henlopen]]. Patrol dogs intended for use along the entire [[United States East Coast]] were trained just north of Bethany Beach. Wartime gasoline rationing made frequent short trips to Bethany Beach impractical, and many of the visitors during the war years spent entire summers at Bethany Beach instead.<ref>{{cite book|title=Bethany Beach Memoirs: A Long Look Back|year=1998|publisher=Harold E. Dukes|author=James D. Meehan|edition=Fourth Printing|author2=Harold E. Dukes|page=85}}</ref>

During the war, a destructive storm struck Bethany Beach in mid-September 1944. It destroyed the Ringler Theater, which was not rebuilt, and badly damaged the boardwalk and the town's pavilion.<ref name="Meehan, p. 147"/> The boardwalk was rebuilt later that year.<ref name=history/>

The customary atmosphere of the Quiet Years resumed soon after World War II ended in 1945. By 1946, all Bethany Beach residents received water service.<ref name="Meehan, p. 147"/> In 1948, the all-volunteer Bethany Beach Fire Department was established, and the town acquired property for a fire station in 1949.<ref name="Meehan, p. 126"/>