US Army Training Center - Yearbook (Fort Dix, NJ)

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Piciorial sTory of barracks being buili in one day. posT and was succeeded I5 March l9l8 as Division Commander by Brigadier General James T. Dean who Turned over command 20 April l9I8 To lvlaior General James l-l. McRae. General McRae led The division inTo acTion overseas and remained in command oT The division unTil demobilizaTion. The 87Th lAcornl Division, selecTees Trom Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, whose iniTial Training was accomplished aT Camp Pike, Arkansas, compleTed Their Training here and aTTer de- parTure overseas were succeeded by The 34Th TSandsTorml Division, NaTional Guardsmen Trom lvlinnesoTa, iowa, Nebraska and NorTh and SouTh DakoTa. In The lasT Tew monThs oT World War l, The lO2d Division was acTivaTed aT Camp Dix and was The TirsT uniT demobilized. The Treasury DeparTmenT selecTed Camp Dix as an ideal siTe Tor moving picTures To spark The FiTTh l.iberTy Loan Drive. Over f1iI00,000 was invesTed in simulaTed acTions Tilmed near The waTer TilTraTion planT in The Trench area which circled easTward Toward PoinTville and incorporaTing The heavily wooded Terrain which sur- rounded iT. RecreaTional and morale acTiviTies were widespread. The l.iberTy TheaTre was erecTed aT New Jersey Avenue and 9Th STreeT. The Y.M.C.A. mainTained nine lcil huTs and an audiTorium, The KnighTs oT Columbus Three l3l huTs and an audiTorium and a swimming pool, The Jewish WelTare Board a building aT 5Th STreeT and New Jersey Avenue, The Episcopal Diocese oT New Jersey The ST. George Club in PoinTville, The American Red Cross, a building aT 8Th STreeT and New York Avenue and a convalescenT secTion in The base hospiTal, The SalvaTion Army, a building in WrighTsTown llaTer a Service Clubl on The main corner in 'VVrighTsTown now occupied by The ForT Dix inn. This club was operaTed under The managemenT oT The War DeparTmenT Commission on Training Camp AcTiviTies. The ChrisTian Science OrganizaTion operaTed a recreaTional cenTer aT New Jersey Avenue and 8Th STreeT. A l-losTess l-louse was locaTed on Delaware Avenue iusT beyond 8Th STreeT and The Camp CommuniTy Service consTrucTed iTs acTiviTies building on The edges oT camp on The road To WrighTsTown. A Service Club was consTrucTed Trom salvage maTerials by The 303d Engineers Tor iTs own use aT The corner oT Delaware Avenue and The WrighTsTown-PemberTon Road. lT was laTer Turned over To The KnighTs oT Columbus Tor iTs No. 4 huT. There was a PosT OTTice aT New Jersey Avenue and 8Th STreeT wiTh a sTaTT OT TorTy-Three T431 clerks. During May I9l8, 75,000 pieces oT mail were received and 6l,000 dispaTched. From l May To 23 May I9I8, 26,000 special delivery leTTers were received. The American Library AssociaTion esTablished The Camp library wiTh a branch aT The Y.M.C.A. No. I huT. WiTh The cooperaTion oT The TrenTon Times, Two l2l newspapers were published, The Trench and Camp Weekly and The Camp Dix Times. The laTTer was

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Camp Dix rapidly became a good sized selT-suTTicienT ciTy capable OT handling iTs own problems and many which relaTed To neighboring communiTies. Adjoining Townships delegaTed by ordi- nance To The Army The righT To police, regulaTe and resTricT TraTTic wiThin reasonable regulaTions on The WrighTsTown-New Lisbon and PoinTville-PemberTon Roads. The Camp Dix Fire DeparTmenT was organized in OcTober I9l7 and operaTed six lol sTaTions and a Tire Truck and hose company. A huge bakery wiTh a daily capaciTy oT ThirTy-six Thousand l36,000l pounds oT bread was builT and soon addiTional ovens were required. CompleTe uTiliTy TaciliTies including a 3,000 gallon per minuTe pumping planT Tor waTer, a sewage disposal plan+ and sewerage sysTem was consTrucTed. EighT and one-halT l8V2l miles OT sTandard gauge Track were laid inTo The camp by The Penn- sylvania Railroad. The 200,000 gallon sTeel waTer Tower on The WrighTsTown-PemberTon Road, one oT The TirsT proiecTs compleTed, sTill sTands. No picTure oT The acTiviTy oT Camp Dix during World War l would be compleTe wiThouT menTioning The animals which played such an imporTanT parT in l9l7-I8. Over 7,000 mules and horses, sTabled aT a large remounT sTaTion, were used. The TirsT Army division acTivaTed aT The posT was The 78Th lLighTningl Division. This uniT consisTed principally OT NaTional Guardsmen Trom New York, New Jersey and Delaware, wiTh a Tew selecTive service men Trom Pennsylvania. Maier General Chase W. Kennedy, TirsT Commanding General, 78Th Division, became The TirsT Camp Commander. General Kennedy was succeeded by Major General Hugh L. ScoTT, who remained Commanding General oT The

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published Tor The Y.M.C.A. and was regarded as one oT The besT Camp papers. The NaTuralizaTion CourT, convened TrequenTly aT The LiberTy TheaTre, perTormed imporTanT service in World War I. On I9 June I9I8, Tor example, Judge J. Warren Davis OT The Federal DisTricT CourT oT New Jersey presided over The naTuraIizaTion oT I,I84 aliens sTaTioned aT Camp Dix. EnTerTainmenT and Tamous names in The enTerTainmenT world were presenTed aT The numerous recreaTion cenTers. I-Tarry Lauder and Elsie Janis, noTables oT The period, appeared here. The aThIeTic programs Tor The KnighTs oT Columbus were arranged by Frank Wandle, The noTed Yale Trainer. AT The conclusion oT The war, The Teverish acTiviTy oT The camp, which had housed as many as 80,000 Troops, was concenTraTed on demobilizaTion and The posT became noTed Tor The dispaTch wiTh which our TighTing men were reTurned To civil liTe. By OcTober I9I9, The pealc oT demobilizaTion had been passed and The daily separaTions did noT exceed 500 men per day. Camp Dix BeTween The Wars Once demobilizaTion was accomplished, acTiviTies aT Camp Dix came aImosT To a halT. The camp became a lonely spoT aT Times wiTh only a small careTaI4ing deTachmenT on The posT. Buildings and roads decayed and many sTrucTures were desTroyed by Tire. The camp became a cenTer oT acTiviTy again in March oT I933 wiTh The esTablishmenT oT The Civilian ConservaTion Corps and The adapTaTion oT Camp Dix as a condiTioning camp. ExTensive improve- menTs were made To many insTallaTions. SeIecTees, men beTween I7 and 28 years and veTerans oT World War I, poured in Tor enroIImenT, processing and assignmenT To worlc companies. From March I933 To July I936, over II5,000 C.C.C. enrollees were processed aT Camp Dix and over l00,000 shipped To worlc camps ThroughouT The counTry. Discharge acTiviTies were also conducTed here, 43,000 men were reTurned To civil life. More Than 200,000 men in The Civilian Con- servaTion Corps passed Through The Camp. Two I2I C.C.C. companies were permanenTly sTaTioned aT Camp Dix. C.C.C. Company I294 was aT Camp A-2 lArmy 2I locaTed aT The riTle range. This company did much imporTanT work on The reser- vaTion mainTaining Tire brealcs, pIanTing, soil erosion, and incidenTaI duTies in connecTion wiTh The processing oT TransienT personnel. C.C.C. Company 32 I 3 Tcl was aT Camp RemounT IocaTed in The area ThaT IaTer became The RecepTion CenTer. This company did exceIIenT work combaTTing soil erosion on Tarms in neighboring communiTies. In I938, C.C.C. Company I294 was TransTerred To The WesT CoasT and replaced by C.C.C. Company 3263