US Army Training Center - Yearbook (Fort Leonard Wood, MO)

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OF FORT LEONARD WOOD Only a handTul oT oTTicials were on hand 3 December I940 To wiTness The ground-breaking cere- monies oT ForT Leonard Wood. The ceremony sTarTed Tive seeThing monThs oT acTiviTy which resulTed in The compleTion oT l,600 buildings and all The uTiliTies necessary To provide Tor one oT The naTion's largesT army posTs. Close on The heels oT The ground-breaking ceremonies came The Tour Iowa consTrucTion companies - Klinger, Neuman, WesTern, and LyTle - who became known as KNWL. They 'hired men by The Tens oT Thousands. ln March l94I The payroll numbered a peak oT 32,000 civilians, besides The 3.000 working Tor The posT quarTermasTer and oTher deparTmenTs. The mud was TerriTic - so bad as To give The budding camp naTion-wide publiciTy. BUT The excavaTors and The wielders oT hammer and Trowel and saw surged on in Their work. AlmosT all work- men lived oTT The posT, and vehicles oT all descripTions passed in a consTanT sTream beTween nearby Towns and The TorT. ln spiTe oT The diTTiculTies The work proceeded aT a Turious pace and was virTually compleTed The middle oT May. Soon aTTer The TirsT oT The year The TirsT adrninisTraTive oTTicers came To The posT. On January 3 The War DeparTmenT issued The order designaTing The area as ForT Leonard Wood, insTead oT The SevenTh Corps Area Training CenTer. LT. Col. Leo B. Crabbs was The TirsT posT commander, and posT headquarTers was TirsT locaTed aT I lTh and Colorado avenues. ' By 22 January l94I There were only Tour barracks Tor enlisTed men and one Tor oTTicers. The comTorTs oT hoT running waTer, elecTric lighTs and sewage disposal were as yeT unknown. WaTer Tor shaving had To be heaTed on a coal sTove and TransTerred To wash basins on a bench around The walls oT The improvised wash room. BaThs could be had only in The surrounding Towns. Soon aTTerwards cadres began To arrive To occupy The newly compleTed barracks. Engineer Replace- menT Training CenTer lERTCl headquarTers was organized under The command oT Brig. Gen. U.S. GranT Ill, in March and The 2oTh BaTTalion received The TirsT shipmenT oT Trainees in April. The SixTh Division lnoT To be conTused wiTh The presenT SixTh Armored Divisionl came Trom ForT Snelling, Minn., and oTher poinTs and oTTicially Took over Their new home on I5 May. The 72nd Field ArTillery BaTTalion arrived by moTor convoy Trom ForT Knox, Ky., on 3 June. WiTh The compleTion oT The 340,000,000 TorT and The 22-mile railroad leading To iT, Trainees began coming in Tull speed. Famous divisions Training here aTTer The SixTh include The 8Th, 75Th, 97Th, and 70Th. From The early parT oT January l94l unTil The posT closed in T946, ForT Leonard Wood Trained some 300,000 Troops. PosT commander when The posT was inacTivaTed was Col. WalTer J. WolTe. During The years The TorT lay dormanT, only a handTul oT groundskeepers were on The premises. Buildings gradually Taded, roads Tell inTo disrepair, grass grew wild in The Tields. When SepTember I950 rolled around, ForT Leonard Wood was again puT on an acTive basis, wiTh Col. A. J. DeLorimer assigned as posT commander. Fle was succeeded by Brig. Gen. Frederick B. BuTler, who held The posT unTil February l95l when lvlai. Gen. Samuel D. STurgis assumed command. During The presenT naTional emergency ForT Leonard Wood has been The home oT The SixTh Armored Division, a replacemenT Training uniT7 The 20Th Engineer Brigade, an engineer Training uniT7 The 94Th lnTanTry BaTTalion lSeply and The Engineer SpecialisT Schools associaTed wiTh The SixTh Armored Division. PresenT sTrengTh oT The posT is approximaTely 28,000 miliTary personnel and 2,000 civilian em- ployees. The TorT was named aTTer Mai. Gen. Leonard E. Wood, chieT oT sTaTT OT The UniTed STaTes Army Trom I9I0 To I9l4, and a hero oT The Spanish-American war.

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0F THE CORPS OF ENGINEERS . . . Increasing The combaT power oT The Tield Torces . . . is The mission oT The Corps oT Engineers. WheTher iT be by consTrucTion or desTrucTion, The Engineers are primarily concerned vviTh TaciliTaTing The movemenT oT Triendly Troops and impeding ThaT oT The enemy. IT is Tor ThaT mission ThaT men oT The 6Th Armored Division are Trained. Upon compleTion oT Their Training aT The world's largesT engineer Training cenTer, men oT The Super SixTh have received insTrucTion in providing passage Through obsTacles. boTh naTural and man-made. DeTile operaTions, river crossings, bridging, passage oT obsTacles, beachheads, airheads and demoliTions all come wiThin The scope oT acTiv- iTies oT The Corps oT Engineers. T-lindering enemy movemenT, by means oT hasTily erecTecl barriers, such as road blocks and mine Tields, as well as deliberaTely prepared zones oT obsTacles is buT a porTion oT The Corps' responsibiliTies. OTher missions underTal4en by The Engineers include waTer supply: producTion, reproducTion and supply oT maps, mosaics, map subsTiTuTes and relieT models, reproducTion and disTribuTion oT aerial phoTographsg operaTion oT uTiliTiesg supply of consTrucTion, TorTiTicaTion and camouTlage rnaTerials and oTher engineer equipment operaTion oT landing craTT in amphibious operaTions3 beach operaTions: combaT as inTanTry, and baTTle- Tield illuminaTion. Such is The mission oT The Corps. In pasT wars and in The presenT con- TlicT, The Corps oT Engineers has been ciTed Tor a job well done. Aiding The Corps in The successTul compleTion oT iTs mission in The currenT acTion have been many men oT The 6Th Armored Division and EorT Leonard Wood.

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T' 'I NICKNAME: MSuper SIxIh. ACTIVATION: I5 February I942 aI ForI Knox, I4enIucky. INACTIVATION: I8 SepIember I945 aI Camp Shanks, New York. REACTIVATION: 5 Sepjrember IQSO aI ForI Leonard Wood, MIssourI. TRAINING: ISIaIesIdeI AIIer Ihe DIvIsIon was orqanIzed, II IeII ForI Knox, KenIucky, Ior Camp AChaIIee, Arkansas, Io beqIn IraInInq Ihere In March I942. I'IavInq Iaken parI In ThIrd Army maneuvers In I.ouIsIana In AuqusI and SepIember I942, Ihe DIvIsIon wenI Io Camp Younq, CaIIIornIa, Ior IraInIng In Ihe DeserI TraInInq CenIer In OcIober I9-42. I.aIer Ihe DIvIsIon was assIqned Io Camp Cooke, CaII- IornIa, commq under Ihe II Armored Corps and Ihe XVIII Corps whIIe aI IhaI sIaIIon. In November I943, sIIII assIqned Io Camp Cooke, Ihe unII became a parI oI Ihe FourIh Army Command. DEPARTED UNITED STATES FOR FOREIGN DUTY: II February I944 Irom New York ForI oI Embarkahon. TRAINING: IOverseasI TraIrIed In Ihe UnIIed Kmqdom Ior IIve monIhs prIor Io oornbaI. RETURNED UNITED STATES: I7 SepIen'wber I945. BATTLE CREDITS: IDIvIsIonI Normandy, NorIhern France, RhIneIand, Ardennes, and CenIraI Europe. DATE ENTERED COMBAT: IDIvIsIonI 28 JuIy I944, IFIrsI eIemenIs oI DIvIsIonI 27 JuIy I944. COMBAT DAYS: IDIvIsIonI, 226. SUCCESSIVE COMMANDING GENERALS: MaIor GeneraI WIIIIam FI. FI. MorrIs, Jr., Irom February I942 Io May I9433 MaIor GeneraI RoberI W. Grow Irom May I943 unIII DIvIsIon InacIIvaIIon. CONGRESSIONAL MEDAL OF HONOR WINNER: SIaII SerqeanI Archer T. Gammon, Company A, NInIh Armored InIanIry BaIIaIIon Ior acIIon near BasIoqne, BeIqIum, II January I945. OFFICIAL CITATION: AIIer he had charged Ihrouqh hIp-deep snow Io knock ouI an enemy machIne qun and IIs Ihree-man crew wIIh a grenade, he aqaIn rushed Iorward Io desIroy anoIher auIomaIIc weapon posIIIon and IIs crew oI Iour. He Ihen advanced Io wIIhIn 25 yards oI a TIqer RoyaI Iank, kIIIInq Iwo hosIIIe rIIIemen enrouIe. As Ihe Iank sIarIed Io wIIhdraw II Iired poInIbIank and kIIIed hIm. N I Icol cembjrus jgirmanif V I Arfngred I Re can of Ihe 86 .con BaH'aInon en-,ers