Guantanamo Bay Latin America Resources
The monumental work which is presented here is
actually the culmination of two volumes on the history of both the area and of the base.
Part one covers Columbus' discovery of the bay in 1494 and goes through "modern
times" of 1953. Volume two, written in 1964, takes up from there, recounting
important events in the base's first few years as a closed facility, including the Cuban
Missile Crisis, and the famous "pipe incident."
The Public Affairs Office is not responsible for the contents of The History of
Guantanamo Bay. Most of it was written more than 40 years ago, and contains some now
irrelevant information, and even remarks which may be found offensive by some audiences
today. The work is presented unabridged and unedited (except for minor grammatical and
spelling corrections) to keep it within its historic context. We would like to thank the
base museum and cultural resource center for contributing many of the pictures and
artifacts which are displayed on this site.
The Public Affairs Staff
U.S. Naval Station
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
The History of Guantanamo Bay Volume I
Foreword, acknowledgements,
and Chapter One, "Under the Spanish Flag"
Chapter Two, "How the
Spanish Lost Guantanamo Bay"
Chapter Three, "Naval
Reservation Leased"
Chapter Four, "First Few
Years of the Naval Station"
Chapter Five, "Naval Station
Relocated and Built Up"
Chapter Six, "Between
Wars"
Chapter Seven, "Early Days
of Aviation"
Chapter Eight, "Marine Corps
Activities (1898-1940)"
Chapter Nine, "Non Naval
Activities"
Chapter Ten, "Water
Supply"
Chapter Eleven, "Resume of
Various Station Activities"
Chapter Twelve,
"Mobilization and War Years"
Chapter Thirteen, "Naval
Air Station - War Years"
Chapter Fourteen,
"Marine Corps - War Years"
Chapter Fifteen, "Naval
Supply Depot - War Years"
Chapter Sixteen, "Post-War
Years"
Chapter Seventeen, "Recent
Times - Base Expansion Since Korean Outbreak"
The History of Guantanamo Bay - Volume II
Introduction to Part II and
Chapter Eighteen, "Naval Base General Information"
Chapter Nineteen, "Cuban
Crisis, October 1962"
Chapter Twenty, "Other
Developments: Post-1962 Crisis"
Chapter Twenty-one, "The
1964 Water Crisis"
Chapter Twenty-two,
"Incidents During Water Plant Construction"
Commands 1953-1964:
Chapter Twenty-three,
"Naval Station"
Chapter Twenty-four, "Naval
Air Station"
Chapter Twenty-five,
"Utility Squadron TEN"
Chapter Twenty-six, "Fleet
Training Group"
Chapter Twenty-seven, "MCB
Operations at Guantanamo Bay"
Chapter Twenty-eight,
"Naval Supply Depot"
Appendices:
Appendix A, "Brief of
Noteworthy Events and Landmarks"
Appendix B, "Flora and
Fauna"
Appendix C, "List of
Commandants, Base Commanders, and Commanding Officers"
Appendix D, "Texts of United
States - Cuban Agreements and the Treaty of 1934"
Appendix E,
"Bibliography"
Additional History of Guantanamo Bay:
Chapel Hill: Yesterday, Today,
Tomorrow by RP2 Sharon A. Hay
From "My Memories of
Cuba" by John H. Clifford 1st Marine Battalion, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
We called it Gitmo; by Leo
Lawton
The Rock; by Joyce Hughes
Mathews, 60-62 resident
Memories of GTMO in the Early
70's, by Jack Scott