Naughty Norfolk and East Main

[gary webb]

Reading Rick Atkinson's An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa,
1942-1943... for some reason... and came across this nugget on Norfolk,
reminded of the Norfolk and East Main one might find Pig Bodine romping
around...

"Naughty Norfolk catered to those looking for sin before shipping out,
notwithstanding the occasional sign that read "No dogs or sailors allowed."
The town's iniquity grew with the arrival of each regiment. Every night,
thousands of men swarmed down East Main Street, described as "the largest,
most solid block of beer joints in the world." Taxis became rolling
brothels, and fleets of "girlie trailers" served the concupiscent. On
October 18 (1942), vice officers arrested 115 people in the "largest morals
raid in local history." His jail cells bulging, Norfolk's police chief
asked the federal government to "give me a concentration camp... a camp
large enough to handle two or three thousand women." The strains of
war-including many U-boat attacks along the Virginia coast -pushed the town
toward hysteria. Widespread rumor had it that local Negroes planned to
massacre white citizens during a blackout; the plotters were even said to
have purchased 300 ice picks for the occasion. (pg.39)"

Paragraph describes the town during the 1942 build up of Operation Torch...
don't know if it compares to the Norfolk of 1955-56... but it's
interesting...
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