Col. Henry S. Barrett

In the record (3)

1. 1942 · 1942-04-03

   On the night of 3 April 1942 — with thirteen dead men from a shelled freighter lying at its Coast Guard station — Ocean City was plunged into total darkness by an order that was never meant for the town at all.

   'Ocean City, April 4 — An emergency blackout that plunged Ocean City into sudden darkness last night was lifted later with the explanation that the total blackout was a mistake in orders from the Fifth Naval District. Even town officials were taken' by surprise, the Salisbury Times reported under the headline 'Emergency Blackout At Ocean City Is Mistake' and the deck 'ORDER PLUNGES SEASIDE RESORT'. The man who explains it is the Commander of the town's own home defence corps: 'When Fifth Naval District headquarters heard Ocean City was blacked out, the city was called immediately to learn why, Corps Commander Jack Lynch said.' 'When informed that the black out order came from their headquarters, through the Coast Guard, naval authorities explained a mistake had been made, Lynch said. The instructions to "extinguish all lights seaward" was intended only for the Coast Guard station. The "dim-out" adopted by Ocean City last week was sufficient for the remainder of the town.' And: 'Lynch said, removes the possibility at first voiced that Ocean City may remain under blackout for the next several nights.' Two things in that story matter beyond the anecdote. The first is the date. The David H. Atwater had been shelled to pieces on Winter Quarter Shoal on the night of 2 April, and at 2355 on 3 April the Eastern Sea Frontier's own diary recorded that thirteen of her dead were at the Ocean City Coast Guard Station. The town went black on that night, and its officials did not know why. The second is the chronology of the dim-out itself: Ocean City had adopted one 'last week' — that is, in the last days of March 1942, five weeks before the Army's county-wide dim-out order and five weeks before the town's own council got round to passing a blackout ordinance. The resort dimmed itself before anybody made it.

   Ocean City Home Defense CouncilUnited States Coast GuardEastern Sea FrontierJohn B. Lynch

   Source · checked 2026-08-11

2. 1942 · 1942-05-08

   The Army dimmed out the Maryland coast in May 1942 to stop U-boats silhouetting ships against it — and inside Ocean City and Fenwick Island a car could show nothing but its parking lights.

   This is the order the campaign has been missing. On 8 May 1942 the Worcester Democrat printed it under the headline 'Eight Towns In Co. Fast Blacking Out'. 'All sections of Worcester County are complying fully with the dim-out orders issued last week by Major-General Milton A. Reckord, Third Corps Area Commander, as a precautionary measure to avoid silhouetting of ships at sea.' The eight towns, 'as far as street lighting is concerned', were Bishopville, Showell, Berlin, Ocean City, Newark, Snow Hill, Girdletree and Stockton. The chain of command is in the paper too: 'In Worcester County the official Army dim-out order is being carried out through Chief Air Raid Warden John I. Timmons, of Worcester County, and his staff of Senior Air Raid Wardens in county towns, with the cooperation of Home Defense Corps units at Pocomoke City, Ocean City, Berlin and Snow Hill. Chief Air Raid Warden Timmons receives his orders from Colonel Barrett, the State ARP Director.' And here is the rule that made the war visible from a car window: 'all motorists traveling along U. S. Highway No. 113 or east of said state road, must show only down beam headlights on all vehicles. And upon approaching the coastal area of Ocean City or Fenwick Island (Maryland Beach), all lights on vehicles must be limited to parking lights only.' Every car owner registering for gasoline rationing on 12, 13 and 14 May was to be handed a copy of the regulations. The preamble of the Army's proclamation says why: 'the seriousness of the situation along our Eastern Seaboard requires strict regulation and control of all lighting which may in any way assist the enemy, either in disclosing locations along the coast or creating silhouettes which might prove detrimental to shipping'. The Atwater had been shelled and sunk on Winter Quarter Shoal five weeks earlier. This is what a town does after that. One correction the same pass supplies: this was not the beginning. The Salisbury Times of 4 April 1942 records that a 'dim-out' had been 'adopted by Ocean City last week' - the last days of March - so the resort had dimmed itself more than a month before the Army dimmed the county, and before its own council passed a blackout ordinance on 2 May. — 1943 FULL PASS, 2026-08-11 [confirmed]: The regime this fact describes now has a terminus. Army dim-out regulations at Ocean City were still in force and expressly UNCHANGED on 30 April 1943 ('Army regulations for the dimout at the resort remain the same as last year' — Salisbury Times, 30 April 1943, p5), and the Army-proclaimed coastal dim-out came to an official end on the night of Monday 1 November 1943 across Wicomico, Worcester and Somerset counties (Salisbury Times, 2 November 1943, p1). The 1942 order therefore ran roughly eighteen months. Col. Henry S. Barrett — already a personRef on the 1942 fact — is the source at both ends, which is a pleasing confirmation that the campaign has the right man on the right chain of command.

   Ocean City Home Defense CouncilWorcester County Council of DefenseJohn I. TimmonsMaj.-Gen. Milton A. Reckord

   Source · checked 2026-08-11

3. 1943 · 1943-11-01

   The Army-proclaimed coastal dim-out ended on the night of 1 November 1943 — and Ocean City left its dimmed boardwalk lighting exactly as it was, in case the order came back.

   Source · checked 2026-08-12