Editing Point Clear, Alabama (section)

== Point Clear in World War II ==
[[File:Grand Hotel, Point Clear Alabama.jpg|thumb|[[Grand Hotel (Point Clear, Alabama)|Grand Hotel, Point Clear Alabama]]]]
In 1944, Point Clear's Grand Hotel served as the base of operations for Operation Ivory Soap in [[World War II]].  In the Pacific Theater, the United States utilized the [[Leapfrogging (strategy)]] as a means of capturing islands held by the Japanese that were of strategic or tactical advantage.  The commander of the U.S. Army Air Corps, [[General Henry H. Arnold|Henry "Hap" Arnold]], understood the American planes needed mobile air depots to support their efforts in the Pacific. Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Thompson, oversaw Operation Ivory Soap from a suite in the Grand Hotel.  The nineteenth-century Alabama hotel housed soldiers and served as a maritime training facility training troops in skills including swimming, special calisthenics, marching, drill, navigation, ship identification, signaling, cargo handling, ship orientation, sail making and amphibious operations.  The school produced 5,000 trained Army seamen who took part in operations in the [[Philippines]], [[Iwo Jima]], and [[Guam]].  The training these troops received thanks to Operation Ivory Soap allowed the soldiers to help save countless lives and aircraft. The name "Ivory Soap," according to Col. Thompson, was derived from the fact that, like the experimental Aircraft Repair Units the military wanted to deploy, Ivory soap floats. The Grand Hotel is still in operation on the eastern shore of [[Mobile Bay]] today.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CRECB-2000-pt15/html/CRECB-2000-pt15-Pg22129.htm|title = Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 15 - OPERATION IVORY SOAP|website=Gpo.gov}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.mobilebaymag.com/Mobile-Bay/December-2016/Operation-Ivory-Soap/|title = Operation Ivory Soap|website=Mobilebaymag.com|date = December 2, 2016}}</ref>