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CAMP
BARKELEY
Now DYESS AIR FORCE BASETaylor
County, Texas
Caps, Texas
11 Miles SW of Abilene
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Camp
Barkeley Gate
Photo courtesy Mike
Price, 2007 |
During
World War II, this camp
(originally meant to be temporary) enclosed 77,000 acres and included 1/9th of
Taylor County's land.
The camp was named (on January 10th 1941) by the
War Department to honor David Bennes Barkley, winner of the Congressional
Medal of Honor for his sacrifice in World
War I. The discrepancy in the spelling of the Camp's name has been attributed
to a misspelled document. |
Private
David Barkley's Story
A
native of Laredo,
Barkley enlisted in the Army while still in his teens. His family stated that
he hid his Mexican heritage because he felt it would impede his assignment to
the front lines. He succeeded in making it to the front and volunteered for a
mission to swim the Meuse River to gather information on German troops. While
he and another volunteer accomplished their mission, Barkley contracted cramps
on his return across the river and drowned. His death came just two days before
the armistice. Barkley was one of three Texans awarded the CMH in WWI.
An elementary school in San Antonio
was named for him in 1921 and he lay in state at the Alamo,
the second person to have that honor. He was interred at San
Antonio's National Cemetery. |
| | L- This picture
of Private Barkley hangs in the new Barkley/Ruiz Elementary School in San
Antonio.
R- Gravesite of Private Barkley at the San Antonio National Cemetery.
Photos courtesy Terry
Jeanson, May 2007 | |
Construction
of the camp began in late1940. The estimated cost to be around $4 million. It
was completed in July of 1941 at a cost of $7 million.
Home to the 45th
Infantry Division, the camp was also the temporary home of cartoonist Bill Mauldin,
who later became famous for his cartoon featuring cynical Infantry privates "Willie
and Joe." The unshaven, cigarette-smoking characters were frowned upon by the
brass, but so popular with the enlisted ranks that calls to remove the cartoon
from the Stars and Stripes worried officials that it would negatively affect
troop morale. |
2 Lt. Calvin
S. Chin, 28 NYC
2 Lt. Anthony Loo Wung Wong of Honolulu
These two Chinese-American
Officers were the first graduates of the Army Medical Corps Officer Candidate
School.
Photo courtesy Library of Congress |
Other
units at Camp Barkeley included the 90th Infantry Division and the Eleventh and
Twelfth Armored divisions. The Army's Medical Administrative Officer Candidate
School was established at Camp Barkeley in 1942 and they even found room for nearly
900 German POWs. To the embarrassment of the MPs, twelve prisoners escaped from
Camp Barkeley shortly after their arrival, although all were soon recaptured.
The
camp was deactivated in April of 1945 and dismantled in September of that year.
The cost to the government was over $27 million for 66 months of service. Leased
land reverted to its original owners. Because of the fine example set by the partnership
of Camp Barkeley and Abilene,
Dyess Air Force Base was built there in the 1950s. |
Camp
Barkeley Historical Marker
Photo courtesy Mike
Price, 2007 |
Historical
Marker TextCamp
BarkeleySite of
main entrance to Camp Barkeley, one of the nation's largest military camps of
World War II. At peak, 60,000
men were in training here. Named for Private David B. Barkeley of the 89th Division,
who died on a secret scouting expedition behind German lines during the Meuse-Argonne
Battle of World War I. Among famous
units trained here were the 45th and 90th Infantry Divisions and the 11th and
12th Armored.
A medical replacement training center, the largest in the
country, was also established here, with 15 battalions. In May, 1942, the Medical
Administrative Corps Officer Candidate School was activated and graduated about
12,500 candidates.
Camp Barkeley eventually grew to be a complete city
unit twice the size of Abilene
of the 1940s. It had a 2,300-bed
hospital, 2 cold storage plants, a bakery, 4 theaters, 2 service clubs for enlisted
men, 15 chapels, and 35 post exchange buildings.
The military personnel
were housed in hutments, except for some 4,000 in barracks. Part of the post was
also a German prisoner-of-war camp. Once some of the prisoners escaped, to the
alarm of Abilene
citizens, and others attempted to tunnel under the fences. Camp Barkeley was declared
surplus in 1945. |
| Photographer's
Note:
Very little remains visible from the roads of the camp. There's
a series of brick structures like the one shown. Have no idea what they were.
There's a lot of concrete roads, but not open for access.
The sign is
over the one part that is used, the rife and pistol range used by the National
Guard and by Dyess MP's(?). The hillside behind the range is littered with what
is probably millions of spent bullets that have eroded out of the ground. As a
teenager I could sit on the ground and pick up more than I could hold within a
space you could reach without moving.
Satellite photos show how large it was in the built up area. The rest stretched
for miles, and up until the late 50's or 60's there were roadside signs warning
of unexploded munitions. I believe it was in the 70's that a ranch hand was killed
by one he picked up. - Mike
Price, October 15, 2007 |
Cactus
in Camp Barkeley
Photo courtesy Mike
Price, 2007 |
One
of the many roads in Camp Barkeley
Photo courtesy Mike
Price, 2007 | |
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