Nine months after the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, the headline news in Charleston was about Nazi forces in Europe and Japanese losses in Burma. Or about the controversial rationing of goods and a fear of empty shelves.
But what people in the Holy City didn’t know was that a German U-boat was laying explosive mines in Charleston Harbor hoping to blow up military or commercial ships. Along other parts of the East Coast, the Germans landed saboteurs to infiltrate the United States. But most were caught, and some were executed.
The threat to the Lowcountry coast soon surfaced, leading the U.S. Coast Guard to launch a mounted patrol to watch for any water-borne threats.
Folly Beach’s role in the war
Coast Guardsman Ed Stringer of Folly Beach usually rode his horse on Folly Beach with a submachine gun slung over his shoulder.
Stringer, who was trained at a special Hilton Head Island facility, had an assignment to patrol Folly Beach to look for suspicious people. In a declassified report “The Coast Guard at War,” the Beach Patrol had orders to question whoever landed on shore, and if a command to “halt” was ignored, the guardsman could fire a warning shot. If that didn’t work, he could shoot again to try to disable the person or a vehicle.
The Coast Guard Beach Patrol rode horses so they could travel faster and see better. In other regions, similar outfits used attack dogs to prevent German saboteurs and spies from getting into the United States. And they were also on the lookout for U-boats and domestic ships that were sunk or in trouble.
Soon after the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, the U.S. Armed Forces realized the beaches and coastline on the mainland were at risk. Patrols were a nationwide effort, but the Lowcountry’s barrier islands in the 1940s were particularly vulnerable: isolated, swampy and hard to access by local vehicles.
The 6th District Beach Patrol, headquartered in Charleston, guarded the shoreline from southern North Carolina to northern Florida. The threat here was real — in May of 1942, the Coast Guard cutter Icarus sank the German sub U-352. It offloaded 33 survivors at the Charleston Navy Yard and marched them up the street under heavy guard.
Mines placed in Charleston Harbor
Just four months later, a U-455’s commander spent two days off Charleston’s coast laying mines to blow up ships. His logbook outlines how he had a good view at night.
“Charleston is recognized as a bright glow on the horizon. … On land, more and more lights have now come in sight, of which the most prominent are the streetlights of two (SIC) high bridges over the Cooper River with their red-aircraft beacons. The grid work can be seen clearly.”
The U-boat went on to lay six mines in the harbor. There were no reports they did any damage.
The U-boat subs hunted U.S. military ships and commercial vessels hauling goods and supplies across the Atlantic. During the war, Germany built 1,162 U-boats, 785 of which were destroyed and 377 of which were surrendered or scuttled, according to the National Park Service. German U-boats destroyed about 3,000 Allied ships during the war with many casualties.
Learning from people who were there
Local historian Gretchen Stringer-Robinson sat down to interview her father Ed about family and Folly Beach history, including his stint riding his horse “Sis” on four-hour shifts up and down the beach. Stringer-Robinson wrote a book on Folly Beach history and now lives on Wadmalaw Island.
“I asked him what it was like being in the Coast Guard on the beach. What’s funny is that mostly he said it was kind of drudgery,” Stringer-Robinson said, adding two guardsmen were always paired on a shift.
“They would ride for four hours each, from each end of the beach, and meet in the middle at Center Street. When their shift was done they would go to McNally’s and put their submachine guns in the closet and go have a beer because they were off duty.” McNally’s was a bar located in the center of town.
The Stringer’s family lore tells of perhaps the most exciting personal thing that happened one day on Stringer’s patrol.
“The family story is that my mom was sunbathing with her friend and dad rode up with on his horse,” Stringer-Robinson said, “and you know, that was that, like VAVOOM! They had to be together!”
To this day, Stringer-Robinson says she doesn’t know if the tale is true, but Ed and Joy married in 1943, right before her dad was sent overseas.
Folly Beach Commandos
No doubt the servicemen on horseback were a hit on Folly Beach. A photo shows a group of seven guardsmen, including Stringer, beaming with smiles and swagger with “Folly Beach Commandos” scrawled at the bottom. Another shot shows one of the guardsmen standing on his saddle on top of his horse.
Each horse and dog had their own military “papers” and names of course. Stringer’s “Sis” was reddish brown and had a blaze on her face. In the Coast Guard history of the beach patrols, you can find a photo of a dog, “Poncho,” with special booties on his feet to protect from hot sand.
“The Coast Guard from the beginning had decided to call on man’s two great allies in the animal kingdom, the horse and the dog,” said one historical publication.
There was soon a magazine entitled “Hoof Pounders,” which covered the exploits of all the mounted beach patrols on the barrier islands from Daufuskie Island to Sullivan’s Island. There was a lot of bragging about the virtues of man’s best friends, and the publication was censored, only included drawings and no photos.
The editors ran public service ads — warning guardsmen about venereal disease. “Tut, tut … think nothing of it.” And a racy GI cartoon depicting a busty woman in lace in front of a Christmas tree.
One recurring cartoon titled “The Wolf” depicted a man in uniform with a wolf’s head, usually leering at women in uniform. The female guardswoman tells her commander, “Your new orderly, Sir, his CO says he needs, er, overseas duty.”
In 1943 the U.S. started winning against the German U-boats and the focus of the war moved to Europe and the Pacific. The horse and dog patrols were discontinued and many of the men who served went overseas to fight. Horses and dogs were sold or returned to owners.
After Folly Beach, Ed Stringer served in the Coast Guard overseas on a supply ship. After the war, he returned to his wife Joy in Folly Beach. He went to law school and the couple raised seven children.
Ed’s family law practice, Stringer and Stringer, still sits on Folly Road, now run by his son, Rick, and Rick’s daughter, Liz. Gretchen Stringer-Robinson became a history professor.
“I was in my 20s when I sat down to interview Dad. I was young and probably didn’t ask all the questions I should have.”
But Stringer-Robinson collected all the photos she could find and donated them to the South Carolina Historical Society.
In grainy photos, Ed Stringer smiles broadly. His horse Sis would soon no longer be needed. Stringer-Robinson remembers her Dad telling her Sis then had a new career as a racehorse.
Stringer-Robinson said her father didn’t talk much about his overseas service. Like most veterans, he didn’t reminisce about the dangers he experienced. But he liked to joke about the good times, riding his horse with his buddies, keeping Folly Beach safe.
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