Editing History of the Bahamas (section)

===World War II===
[[File:The Duke of Windsor (1945).jpg|thumb|upright|left|The Duke of Windsor in August 1945, several months after he stepped down as the governor of the Bahamas]]
Oakes Field, the Bahamas first airport, was opened in Nassau in January 1940. It was named after [[Harry Oakes]], a millionaire who made a large contribution. Prior to that, aviation in the Bahamas was largely carried out by seaplanes.<ref name="bahamapundit">{{Cite web |title=The Origins of Bahamian Aviation - Bahama Pundit |url=http://www.bahamapundit.com/2005/11/the_origins_of_.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060323071142/http://www.bahamapundit.com/2005/11/the_origins_of_.html |url-status=usurped |archive-date=March 23, 2006 |access-date=7 December 2014 |publisher=bahamapundit.com}}</ref><ref name="google">{{Cite book |last=Owen, J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PrA0BNGP_wsC |title=A Serpent in Eden: 'The greatest murder mystery of all time' |date=2008 |publisher=Little, Brown Book Group |isbn=9780748109739 |access-date=7 December 2014}}</ref>

The [[Edward VIII|Duke of Windsor]] was installed as [[List of governors of the Bahamas|governor of the Bahamas]], arriving at that post in August 1940 with his new [[Wallis Simpson|wife]]. They were appalled at the condition of Government House, but they "tried to make the best of a bad situation."<ref name="Windsor installed">{{Cite book |last=Higham |first=Charles |title=The Dutchess of Windsor: The Secret Life |date=1988 |publisher=McGraw Hill |pages=300–302}}</ref>  He did not enjoy the position, and referred to the islands as "a third-class British colony".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bloch |first=Michael |title=The Duke of Windsor's War |date=1982 |publisher=Weidenfeld and Nicolson |isbn=0-297-77947-8 |location=London |page=364}}</ref> He opened the small local parliament on October 29, 1940, and they visited the 'Out Islands' that November, which caused some controversy because of on whose yacht they were cruising.<ref name="Windsor opened">Higham, pp. 307–309.</ref>  The British Foreign Office strenuously objected when the Duke and Duchess planned to tour aboard a yacht belonging to a Swedish magnate, [[Axel Wenner-Gren]], whom American intelligence wrongly believed to be a close friend of [[Luftwaffe]] commander [[Hermann Göring]].<ref name="Windsor opened" /><ref>Bloch, pp. 154–159, 230–233.</ref> The Duke was praised, however, for his efforts to combat poverty on the islands, although he was as contemptuous of the Bahamians as he was of most non-white peoples of the Empire.<ref name="ziegler">[[Philip Ziegler|Ziegler, Philip]] (1991). ''King Edward VIII: The official biography''. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. {{ISBN|0-394-57730-2}}.</ref>  He was also praised for his resolution of civil unrest over low wages in [[Nassau, Bahamas|Nassau]] in June 1942, when there was a "full-scale riot,"<ref name="Windsor unrest">Higham, pp. 331–332.</ref> even though he blamed the trouble on "mischief makers – communists" and "men of Central European Jewish descent, who had secured jobs as a pretext for obtaining a deferment of draft".<ref>Ziegler, pp. 471–472.</ref> The Duke resigned the post on 16 March 1945.<ref name="matthew">[[Colin Matthew|Matthew, H. C. G.]] (September 2004; online edition January 2008) [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/31061 "Edward VIII, later Prince Edward, duke of Windsor (1894–1972)"], ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, {{doi|10.1093/ref:odnb/31061}}, retrieved 1 May 2010 (Subscription required)</ref>{{Efn|Higham places the date of his resignation as 15 March, and that he left on 5 April.<ref name="Windsor resigned">Higham, p. 359.</ref>}}

==== Canadian garrison ====
In April 1942 the United Kingdom asked Canada to provide military support in Nassau, in part to provide protection services to H.R.H. the Duke of Windsor. The No. 33 company of the [[History of the Canadian Army#Second World War|Veterans Guard of Canada]] was raised and arrived in June. No. 33 company were relieved in 1943 by a company of [[The Pictou Highlanders]]. The Canadian garrison left Nassau in 1946. <ref>{{Cite web |last=Stacey |first=C. P. |date=1955 |title=Official History of the Canadian Army in the Second World War- Volume I -Six Years of War |url=http://www.cmp-cpm.forces.gc.ca/dhh-dhp/his/docs/Sixyrs_e.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.cmp-cpm.forces.gc.ca/dhh-dhp/his/docs/Sixyrs_e.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |access-date=July 31, 2016 |website=National Defence and the Canadian Forces |publisher=Government of Canada |page=181}}</ref>