Loading AI tools
World War II US Army training center in Florida From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Camp Gordon Johnston was a World War II United States Army training center located in Carrabelle, Florida, United States. The site's history is featured at the Camp Gordon Johnston Museum.
Camp Gordon Johnston | |
---|---|
Big Bend, Florida | |
Type | Military training base |
Site information | |
Controlled by | United States Army |
Site history | |
Built | 1942 |
In use | September 1942 – 1946 |
Garrison information | |
Past commanders | Brig. General Frank Keating |
Camp Gordon Johnston[1] opened in September 1942 as Camp Carrabelle and was later named after Colonel Gordon Johnston, a well-decorated soldier who served in the Spanish–American War in Cuba with the Rough Riders, in the Philippine–American War, and in World War I.[2][3]
The camp at 165,000 acres (670 km2) served as an amphibious training base housing around 10,000 troops at one time and rotating between 24,000 and 30,000 soldiers from 1942 through 1946. The nearby islands of Dog Island and St. George Island were used as landing points for exercises.
Units stationed at Camp Gordon Johnston:
In 1946, many buildings, facilities and the land was sold as war surplus. Officers quarters later became the retirement community of Lanark Village. Live munitions had been used in exercises, as well as dummies. In 2001, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers found that specially trained technicians were needed to clear certain areas that had been sold into private hands.[4]
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.