PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — It's a story of conspiracy, treachery and a plot to terrorize the United States during World War II, and it's based right here on the First Coast.
Nazis invaded the United States. No, this isn't the plot of a movie, it really happened in 1942. Let's go back 80 years for a history lesson that continues to be a mystery.
These days the beaches around Ponte Vedra are packed with people, but they weren't always this crowded. In fact, on June 16th, 1942, Ponte Vedra Beach was the site of a Nazi invasion codenamed "Operation Pastorious".
Baldwin Middle School history teacher Drew Overmyer has studied Operation Pastorious extensively and says a U-Boat dropped off Nazis in Long Island and then came down to do the same in Ponte Vedra Beach.
"They took a row boat to shore," says Overmyer, "came across these dunes, over the berm and buried a huge parcel of explosives, fake IDs, clothes and money. After they buried it they walked to shore. There's several cases of them going straight to Jacksonville."
Operation Pastorious was a Nazi mission to terrorize the United States and scare US citizens enough to demand that our military exit World War II.
"Their main mission for these groups was the Tennessee River Valley," says Overmyer, "they were going to the aluminum plants. They thought if they could destroy these aluminum plants they could put our aircraft production in jeopardy. They had military targets, they had domestic targets, some were bridges that would cripple the interstate system."
But the plot unraveled within days of the Nazis landing in the US. The leader of the Nazi group, George Dasch, turned everybody in.
"Dasch, being the leader, took a suitcase with cash and bombs to the FBI in Washington D.C. and ratted out the whole conspiracy," says Overmyer.
Dasch gave the FBI key information about German U-Boat codes. He and the 2nd in command were sentenced to prison, the rest were executed.
There's another turn. A 2017 Washington Post article by John Woodrow Cox details how the National Park Service found a granite monument dedicated to the executed Nazis on federal land in Washington D.C. in 2006.
The monument had never previously been discovered and according to an inscription on the monument it was donated by the American Nazi Party. In 2010 the monument was exhumed and taken to a secret storage facility outside of Washington D.C.
This story takes still another turn. The Nazi invasion of Ponte Vedra Beach had an effect on another American war, but this time in the 21st century.
"Dasch wanted the trial to be a military tribunal," says Overmyer, "with a military tribunal it's usually private and nobody knows anything."
The Presidential war powers that FDR used to execute the Nazi invaders after the military tribunal are the same Presidential war powers that George W. Bush used to justify the trials of terrorists in Guantanamo Bay.
"The way they interrogated them, had complete power over them," says Overmyer, "but since it was a military issue and wasn't publicized. The average person had no idea about it."
It's a story fit for Hollywood with origins in our own backyard.
"It's just a crazy story," says Overmyer, "a lot of times we look to fiction for creating a story. Meanwhile, there's plenty of things throughout history that are real and did happen to real people and real events that are crazy."
Even if some parts of the story are lost to history.