Excerpt from "San Francisco: Gibraltar of the West Coast"

Written by La Verne Bradley.

Published in National Geographic Magazine, March 1943.

"The impact of San Francisco at war comes like the kick of a big gun to anyone who hasn't seen it since Pearl Harbor."

In "San Francisco: Gibraltar of the West Coast," wartime San Francisco, California, comes alive as the author describes the sights, sounds, and bustle of a war industry center and military hub. Navy sailors and pilots and army soldiers by the thousands crowded the city. San Francisco was a premier staging area for the war in the Pacific. Thousands of military ships loaded with men and supplies moved in an almost continuous line under the Golden Gate...