 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(February 2014) |
Camp Forrest, located in a wooded area east of the city of Tullahoma, Tennessee, was one of the U.S. Army's largest training bases during World War II. An active army post between 1941 and 1946, it was named after Civil War cavalry Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest.
Built in 1926 by the Tennessee National Guard, the 1,040 acres (420 ha) facility was named Camp Peay after then-Tennessee Governor Austin Peay.
In 1940, the U.S. Army took over Camp Peay and expanded it to 85,000 acres (34,000 ha) just beyond the camp's old boundaries. In 1941, the camp was renamed at the direction of Army Chief of Staff General George C. Marshall, because "it was not Army practice to name an installation used by federal troops after a local politician who did not have a distinguished military background," the Center of Military History would write. [1]
Because the Army had leased Peay, he instructed the National Guard Bureau to contact the Tennessee state authorities for their recommendations on a new name. Furthermore, he directed that “the desires of the State authorities will be followed unless it is found that the name selected is unsuitable for psychological or other reasons.” The Tennessee adjutant general recommended Nathan Bedford Forrest, a native Tennessean whose birthplace was nearby. Despite the notorious reputation of Forrest, a prewar slave trader and then a founder of the Ku Klux Klan after the Civil War, the Historical Section and the G–3 accepted this recommendation. In January 1941, Deputy Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. William L. Bryden approved the name change. The Chicago Defender , an African American newspaper, took great umbrage at the name, and the Illinois legislature attempted (without success) to get the name changed when the state’s National Guard division reported there for training. [1]
Camp Forrest was a training area for infantry, artillery, engineer, signal organizations, and cooks. It also served as a hospital center and temporary encampment area for troops during maneuvers. Major General George Patton brought his 2nd Armored Division from Fort Benning, Georgia, for maneuvers.
William Northern Field, an air training base, was an addition used by the Army Air Forces to train crews of four-engined B-24 bombers.
Incoming troops had amenities typical of military installations of the era: service clubs, guest houses, a library, post exchanges, a post office, hospital facilities, a chapel, theater, and barracks buildings. The camp was also home to Red Cross and Army Emergency Relief facilities. Recreation facilities included swimming, archery, tennis, a sports arena, and a nine-hole golf course.
Camp Forrest officially became a prisoner-of-war camp on May 12, 1942. The camp housed Italian and German POWs. Prisoners became laborers at Camp Forrest in the hospitals and on farms in the local community. The camp also held Japanese, German, and Italian-American civilians who were arrested at the outbreak of the war under a program called "Alien Enemy Control". Many of these internees were incarcerated without legal process. Official government documents made available in the late 1990s indicate that over 25,000 "alien enemies" were held at various locations throughout the United States. Camp Forrest's population was over 700, of whom about 200 were of Japanese ancestry. [2] German internees at Camp Forrest published a newsletter titled The Latrine. [3] In 1943, Camp Forrest internees were transferred to other internment camps to make room for actual POWs captured on the field of battle.
In 1945, the U.S. government implemented an Intellectual Diversion Program to educate Germans on the American way of life. This program used educational and recreational media to change views of POWs, and the government claimed success with many prisoners.
Tullahoma was greatly affected by the installation of Camp Forrest. The acreage used, for both Camp Peay and Camp Forrest, came from federal government confiscations from area families who had owned and worked the land for generations. This was usually done with little or no monetary compensation for those families. (One such family is the Baytes/Bates family of Franklin & Coffee Counties.) Because of maneuvers and operations, civilians had to adjust to blocked roads, traffic jams, crowded stores, the absence of mail delivery and driving at night without lights. Soldiers camped out on lawns and fields; many crops and fences were destroyed (without any compensation to the owners).
In 1940, the population in Tullahoma was 4,500. By the end of the war, the population had grown to 75,000. Many military people who moved in for construction and operation of the camp remained after the war. The sudden increase of population caused a drastic cost-of-living increase for the original inhabitants. Property values, property taxes, and everyday necessities all increased dramatically.
In 1946, the war was over and Camp Forrest and Northern Field were declared surplus property. Buildings were sold at auction, torn down and carted away. Water, sewage, and electrical systems were sold as salvage. All that remained were roads, brick chimneys, and concrete foundations. The camp's Sports Arena was bought by Lincoln Memorial University and moved to Harrogate, Tennessee, where it was rechristened as the Mary E. Mars Gymnasium. The building is still in use today by the school's volleyball teams and their academy's athletic teams and classes. [4]
Soon after the close of the camp, instead of giving the land back to the original owners, the Air Force used it to build Air Engineering Development Center. In 1951, the center was dedicated by President Truman and renamed the Arnold Engineering Development Center in honor of General of the Air Force Henry H. "Hap" Arnold. General Arnold was World War II Commander of the Army Air Corps and the only air force officer to hold 5-star rank.
Fort Carson is a United States Army post located directly south of Colorado Springs in El Paso, Pueblo, Fremont, and Huerfano counties, Colorado, United States. The developed portion of Fort Carson is located near the City of Colorado Springs in El Paso County.
Fort Lewis is a United States Army base located 9.1 miles (14.6 km) south-southwest of Tacoma, Washington. Fort Lewis was merged with McChord Air Force Base on February 1, 2010, to form Joint Base Lewis–McChord.
Tullahoma is a city in Coffee and Franklin counties in southern Middle Tennessee, United States. The population was 20,339 at the 2020 census. In 2019, the population was estimated to be 19,555. It is the principal city of the Tullahoma micropolitan area, which consists of Coffee and Moore counties and is the second largest micropolitan area in Tennessee.
Fort Sam Houston is a U.S. Army post in San Antonio, Texas. Known colloquially as "Fort Sam," it is named for the U.S. Senator from Texas, U.S. Representative from Tennessee, Tennessee and Texas governor, and first president of the Republic of Texas, Sam Houston.
The Arnold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC), Arnold Engineering Development Center before July 2012, is an Air Force Materiel Command facility under the control of the Air Force Test Center (AFTC). Named for General Henry "Hap" Arnold, the father of the U.S. Air Force, AEDC is the most advanced and largest complex of flight simulation test facilities in the world.
Camp Shelby is a military post whose South Gate is located at the southern boundary of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, on U.S. Highway 49. It is the largest state-owned training site in the nation. During wartime, the camp's mission is to serve as a major independent mobilization station of the United States Army Forces Command (FORSCOM). Camp Shelby Joint Forces Training Center is the largest reserve component training site, covering 136,000 acres (550 km2), allowing up to battalion-level maneuver training, Gunnery Table 8-12, field artillery firing points and a wide range of support facilities. This is the normal Annual Training location for National Guard and Reserve units located in Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee. However, units from across the country use its assets to support a variety of missions. The 2nd Battalion, 114th Field Artillery conducts its gunnery training and has the bulk of its combat equipment stored in the Mobilization and Annual Training Equipment Site (MATES) located there.
Fort McCoy is a United States Army Reserve installation on 60,000 acres (24,000 ha) between Sparta and Tomah, Wisconsin, in Monroe County. In 1909, there were two separate camps named Camp Emory Upton and Camp Robinson; in 1926, these camps were joined together to form Camp McCoy. Since its creation in 1909, the post has been used primarily as a military training center. A part of Fort McCoy is also used by the Wisconsin State Patrol as a training facility.
Arnold Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located in Coffee and Franklin counties, Tennessee, adjacent to the city of Tullahoma. It is named for General Henry "Hap" Arnold, the father of the U.S. Air Force.
Fort Johnson, formerly Fort Polk, is a United States Army installation located in Vernon Parish, Louisiana, about 10 miles (15 km) east of Leesville and 30 miles (50 km) north of DeRidder in Beauregard Parish.
Fort McClellan, originally Camp McClellan, is a decommissioned United States Army post located adjacent to the city of Anniston, Alabama. During World War II, it was one of the largest U.S. Army installations, training an estimated half-million troops. After the war it became the home of the Military Police Corps, the Chemical Corps and the Women's Army Corps. From 1975 and until it was closed in 1999, Fort McClellan was home of the Military Police Corps and the One Station Unit Training (OSUT) Military Police School. Also after World War II and until it was closed in 1999, it was home of the Chemical Corps School, which trained soldiers in chemical warfare. In 1988, Fort McClellan was used as an alternate training academy for the United States Border Patrol. Before its closure by the Base Realignment and Closure commission (BRAC), the post employed about 10,000 military personnel and about 1,500 civilians. It underwent unexploded ordnance (UXO) clean up from 2003 to 2014. Since 2010, about 3,000 acres of the post's brownfield land have been redeveloped as a mixed-use community. The portion of the post which has not been redeveloped is currently owned by the Alabama Army National Guard and is used as a training facility for units from all across the state, also housing the Alabama Army National Guard’s Officer Candidate School, for enlisted soldiers looking to earn their commission.
Fort Wolters was a United States military installation four miles northeast of Mineral Wells, Texas.
Camp Atterbury-Muscatatuck is a federally owned military post, licensed to and operated by the Indiana National Guard, located in south-central Indiana, 4 miles (6.4 km) west of Edinburgh, Indiana and U.S. Route 31. The camp's mission is to provide full logistical and training support for up to two brigade-sized elements simultaneously. The Camp offers a variety of training ranges, live-fire venues, managed airspace with air-to-ground fighting capabilities and an LVC simulation and exercise center. It is also the normal Annual Training location for National Guard and Reserve forces located in Indiana.
Camp Bullis Military Training Reservation is a U.S. Army training camp comprising 27,990 acres (113.3 km2) in Bexar County, Texas, USA, just northwest of San Antonio. Camp Bullis provides base operations support and training support to Joint Base San Antonio. The camp is named for Brigadier General John L. Bullis.
Fort Custer Training Center, often known simply as Fort Custer, is a federally owned and state-operated Michigan Army National Guard training facility, but is also used by other branches of the armed forces and armed forces from Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. It is one of the most heavily used Midwest training facilities and is used mainly for company level small arms and maintenance training.
Camp Livingston was a U.S. Army military camp during World War II. It was located on the border between Rapides and Grant Parishes, near Pineville, 12 mi (19 km) north of Alexandria, Louisiana.
Camp Maxey is a Texas Army National Guard training facility that was originally built as a U.S. Army infantry-training camp during World War II. It was occupied from July 1942 to early 1946, and located near the community of Powderly, Texas in the north central portion of Lamar County, Texas. Its main entrance was located nine miles north of Paris, Texas. Planning for the 70,000-acre military post began in 1940, soon after the National Military Draft was ordered; the planning accelerated in 1941 shortly before the United States entered World War II in December 1941.
The history of New Mexico during World War II is characterized by dramatic and lasting changes to its economy, society, and politics. The state played a central role in the American war effort, contributing a disproportionately high number of servicemen and natural resources; most famously, it hosted the sites where the world's first nuclear weapon was designed, developed, and tested.
The Temporary Detention Camp for Japanese Americans / Pomona Assembly Center is one of the places Japanese Americans were held during World War II. The Pomona Assembly Center was designated a California Historic Landmark on May 13, 1980. The Pomona Assembly Center is located in what is now called the Fairplex in Pomona, California in Los Angeles County. The Pomona Assembly Center was called Los Angeles County Fairgrounds in 1942.
California during World War II was a major contributor to the World War II effort. California's long Pacific Ocean coastline provided the support needed for the Pacific War. California also supported the war in Europe. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, most of California's manufacturing was shifted to the war effort. California became a major ship builder and aircraft manufacturer. Existing military installations were enlarged and many new ones were built. California trained many of the troops before their oversea deployment. Over 800,000 Californians served in the United States Armed Forces. California agriculture, ranches and farms were used to feed the troops around the world. California's long coastline also put the state in fear, as an attack on California seemed likely. California was used for the temporary and permanent internment camps for Japanese Americans. The population grew significantly, largely due to servicemen who were stationed at the new military bases/training facilities and the mass influx of workers from around the U.S. in the growing defense industries. With all the new economy activity, California was lifted out of the Great Depression. Over 500,000 people moved to California from other states to work in the growing economy. California expanded its oil and mineral production to keep up with the war demand.
Camp Haan was a US Army training camp built in 1940, near March Air Force Base in Riverside County, California Camp Haan was opened in January 1941 as a training camp for Coast Artillery Antiaircraft gunners. The 8,058 acres camp was about four miles by three miles with tent housing. The camp was named after Major General William George Haan of World War I. By the end of 1941, the camp had a wood service building, 28 miles of streets, five chapels, and a hospital. The first troops trained were sent for the defense of Los Angeles and San Francisco. The Attack on Pearl Harbor and the Battle of Los Angeles–Bombardment of Ellwood had put all of California on high alert. The Army Service Depot was added to the camp in March 1942. The site of the former Camp Haan is next to California Interstate 215 at the Van Buren Boulevard exit.
This article incorporates public domain material from Camp Forrest. Arnold Air Force Base, Tennessee: United States Air Force. Archived from the original on 2003-06-26.