US Army Training Center - Yearbook (Fort McClellan, AL)

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HISTORY OF FT the Military Police Corps The area known today at Fort McClellan first attracted interest among military circles around 1898, during the Spanish-American War, when it was discovered that the Choccolocco Mountains formed an excellent background for artillery firing. From 1912 through 1916, high officials and Army officers from Washington were sent to Anniston to study the possibilities of the location as a camp site. The War Department issued an order establishing Camp McClellan, Ala., July 18, 1917. The camp was named in honor of Major General George B. McClellan, general- Vin-chief of the US Army from 1861 to 1862. Newly activated, the 29th National Guard Division from the Mid-Atlantic states, commanded by Major General Charles G. Morton, arrived in August 1917. Two months later there were 27,753 men training at the camp. The 29th went to France in June 1918 and took 5,570 casualties in Meuse-Argonne offensive. Camp McClellan was redesignated Fort McClellan, a permanent post, July 1, 1929. New construction went up at a rapid rate. The cornerstone of the first group of permanent barracks was laid September 11, 1929. From 1933 through 1936, under the government's relief program, almost two million dollars was spent on permanent construction and improvements to already existing structures. srrrf A 7 'f f 1 . . .iff-51-Lf 5 . ' ' ,. 1 ' 4 A Q ' 'G fififf, ' :5fi':'fM?3i2' f .. t 'f , I .... P -1 ,- .f ' i - ' 'V tg ff- r ' 774 , V if 1' T ,VVVVVVVVVSVVVVVVVVM ' 1' K .i 5 . K W-kk F :Y -mt, - ' . ,. '1 af, , 5 ' . V , .. 5 l 'QV 9 . , . V, V . V, in .N .,, ., . ,, ,gy , V , M . W , ,ft V gr W ,V,'., 1 V V r V , M tt' , .j , 5 QW- , ' .,r.,..., -'f-zwmikffs 1 V af' 1 if ? f W 5 x t .2 r- 72. it M- -V, ,V , MVMLV , , ,VV wh- l., 1252121 VV V .V,V V . V' ...M 1 N-f-M--3 l :J . . ' . www 9' f ' ' .iz , . ' W K 'W , e A I 1131729 , 7 ' The 27th National Guard Division arrived from New York in October 1940. One of the first units to depart for war, the 27th had overseas orders 12 days after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. The 27th fought in the Marshall and Gilbert Islands, Saipan, Guam and the Philippines and later was on occupational duty in Japan. A 3,000-capacity Prison internment Camp for prisoners of war was completed in 1943. Reminder of this era is a memorial cemetery where 26 Germans and three Italians who died while in prison are buried.