In June 1942 the U.S. War Department selected a 155,000 acre section of coastal Franklin County for an amphibious warfare training center. Originally called Camp Carabelle, the base was renamed in January 1943 to honor Colonel Gordon Johnston, who had died in 1934. The 3rd Engineer Amphibian Brigade arrived for training on September 10, 1942. One of the largest army facilities in Florida during World War II, the base was known by troops stationed there as "Hell-by-the-Sea" because of its crude living conditions and dangerous training programs. The 4th, 28th and 38th Infantry Divisions also trained there. Its mission changed in September 1943 to training personnel to operate small harbor craft and amphibious vehicles. In 1944, German and Italian prisoners of war were interned at the camp. The end of World War II in August 1945 made the camp obsolete, and it was decommissioned in 1946. By 1948 the property had been transferred to private ownership and most of the buildings and structures had been demolished or removed. Today, the former officers' family quarters that remain standing in the vicinity of Parker Street are used as housing in Lanark Village Retirement Community.