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NORAD Peterson AFB Schriever AFB USAFA
The land on which Fort Carson is built was never the permanent home of any Indian tribe, although many tribes--among them the Utes, Commanches, Kiowas, Cheyennes, Arapahos and Sioux--did live here from time to time. Other tribes, such as the Pawnees and the Jicarilla Apaches frequently hunted in this region. Except for the Utes, these tribes came from east of the Rockies. They had been gradually pushed west by white settlers. In the early 1700s, the Ute Indians occupied the Rocky Mountains and the South Park region, traveling the Carson area to forage and hunt. Other tribes moved to the Carson area, but then migrated south to the Arkansas River. Evidence of the different tribes can be found in the petroglyphs and pictographs, arrowheads, pottery fragments, camp sites and Indian burial sites found on the Fort Carson reservation. The decline in the Indian population in the fort area came in 1861 when the government made a treaty with the Cheyennes and Arapahos. The tribes, according to the treaty, would give up some 80,000 square miles which included what is now Fort Carson. The land would go into the new territory of Colorado. In exchange, the tribes were to receive $450,000 to be paid in 15 yearly installments. Reserved for their use was a tract of land along both sides of the Arkansas River and a portion of their southeast Colorado holdings. This treaty attempted to settle land ownership, but violations by both sides led to a war of terrorism through most of the 1860s. The United States, engaged in a Civil War, could not spare the troops needed to enforce the terms of the treaty. Meanwhile, settlers in the Fort Carson area fortified their ranches and retreated to Fountain or Colorado Springs to escape Indian attacks. By 1869, hundreds of U.S. Cavalrymen were in the region and most of the Indians left. Further contact with them by white settlers was sporadic. In 1873 the first stage road to cross Fort Carson was built. It carried passengers and light freight loads from Denver to Canon City. Discovery of gold in Colorado and the need for better and faster routes to Denver led to the building of the stage route. The demand for transportation was so great that stages began running day and night, stopping only long enough for a change of teams and for meals. Outlaws plagued the lightly protected stages and "traffic jams" were often created along the route by grazing herds of buffalo. A major stop on the old route was the stage station of Glendale, located one-half mile outside the southwest boundary of the Carson reservation at the junction of the Red and Beaver Creeks. Most of the station was destroyed on a rainy night in June 1921 when a dam on Beaver Creek broke and a wall of water swept through the stage stop. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Railroad A little-known railroad called the Kansas-Colorado, incorporated in 1898 and without a single section of track for its first 10 years, ran from Pueblo to an area on Fort Carson called Stone City. The railroad carried the clay and limestone quarried at Stone City. When limestone lost its popularity as a building material the quarries at Stone City and Turkey Creek closed in 1930. In 1911, the Kansas-Colorado Railroad Company became the Colorado-Kansas. The corporation was dissolved in 1934, but Colorado Railroad, Inc. was formed to reopen it. The tracks were dismantled in 1958. Another track with an even shorter life span ran across Fort Carson. Incorporated in 1909 and called the Beaver, Penrose and Northern Railroad, its main purpose was to carry trains of prospective land buyers to sites near Penrose, Colorado. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Settlers The men and women who homesteaded the land that is now Fort Carson were a tenacious breed. They had to be to survive the rigors of life that revolved around the hardships of "running cattle." The semi-arid meadows and rocky foothills often posed problems. It was no small accomplishment to keep a handful of cattle together until they could multiply into a herd large enough to support a family. Names of many of the original homesteaders are forgotten, recorded only in old archives. At one time a man by the name of Booth lived down range, but time has erased all traces of him and his family. Only the unchanging mountain bears his name. Other names imprinted on the reservation are the Avery, Early, Ingle and Mary Ellen ranches. All are now part of history, as are the Mesa View and Cheyenne Valley Ranches. W.D. Corley owned the Cheyenne Valley Ranch. Corley was a Mississippi cotton farmer who brought his young wife to Colorado Springs to recuperate from tuberculosis. Among his many business ventures, Corley had the urge to become a "gentleman rancher." The ranch house and the other buildings are gone now. All that remains of the ranch, on which Carson's cantonment area was built, is the foreman's house. The building, called Corley House, is home by tradition to the division Command Sergeant Major. Guy Parker, for whom the education center was named, was a homesteader of land purchased by Fort Carson in 1965. The second white male child born in El Paso County, he was a man whose self-education never ceased. Despite the demands that running a ranch and raising a family placed on his time, Parker embodied the positive attributes of continued education. Further south on the reservation is Turkey Creek Ranch. It was originally owned by Frank Cross whom later sold the ranch to Spencer Penrose. He used it for entertaining guests, who came to the region to hunt. Today, the beautiful Turkey Creek Ranch is a recreation area for Carson soldiers. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Birth of Camp Carson In 1941 the nation was climbing out of its worst depression. Poland and Norway had been crushed by Hitler's blitzkrieg, as had the Netherlands, Belgium and France. Great Britain, putting up the greatest resistance in its history, faced the prospect of starvation by blockade. Japan declared its alliance with Germany and Italy. There were signs all over the world that the struggle would soon spread. The United States, leaning steadily to the side of Britain, was sending supplies to that country in increasing amounts. In an unprecedented act of faith, the people of the United States had returned Franklin D. Roosevelt to a third term as President, indicating their willingness to go all-out in an effort to aid Britain. Only the year before, Congress had passed the Selective Service Act calling for Conscription of an Army with a potential strength of four million men. Following Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the United States declared war on the Axis powers. Officials in Washington, D.C., in charge of selecting new military installations, lost no time. Less than one month later, on January 6, 1942, it was officially announced that Colorado Springs had been selected as the site of an Army camp. Russell D. Law, Douglas C. Jardine, J. Raymond Lowell, and Dr. George J. Dwire especially welcomed the announcement. These four men had poured more than a year of determined effort into ensuring the city would be selected. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A $28 million town wins a $30 million contract The backers of the camp could testify to the fact that military installations are hard to win. An Army post has to be wanted. The requesting community must provide incentives to the military to have a post built at its doorstep rather than elsewhere. In addition, that community has to guarantee not only the soil on which future soldiers will live and train, but also a lifetime of water, utilities and a multitude of other necessities. The Pikes Peak Region had the primary inducements--miles of prairie for large-scale training maneuvers and a climate that would permit year round training. There was never any doubt in the minds of the four visionaries that Colorado Springs could provide for an Army training camp, but much had to be done to convince the townspeople and the federal government. The first step was to persuade the citizens of Colorado Springs to buy land which, if the city were successful in its bid, would be offered to the government for a cantonment area. The best choice seemed to be the 5,533-acre Cheyenne Valley Ranch, just south of Colorado Springs. It was ultimately purchased by the city for $36,500. At the same time, city-planning engineers moved to gain additional water resources and power-generating facilities for a camp. Almost immediately, squabbles arose among the town's residents over whether the proposed camp would bring disaster to the town's water supply. A few irate citizens protested that their peaceful town would never be the same. However, many saw a need for dramatic change. A survey in 1940 indicated that 1,500 homes in Colorado Springs were vacant. Additionally the war in Europe threatened the town's tourist trade, its prime source of income. Without change, the economic future of the city looked bleak. Next, the War Department had to be persuaded. Despite intense competition for the camp, Law, Jardine, Lowell and Dwire counted heavily on the fact that the climate of Colorado Springs was ideal for year-round training. Where else, they maintained, were the summers so invigorating and the winter snows so temporary? Even though they offered what they believed were strong incentives, the tightly knit committee needed help. Two men whose abilities were uniquely suited to the needs of the committee, J. Chase Stone, a New Yorker by birth and a banker whose diplomacy proved invaluable, and Charles L. Tutt, then head of the Broadmoor Hotel, contributed heavily to the team effort. The group became a formidable organization for selling Colorado Springs. No avenue was left unexplored, no detail overlooked to increase the appeal of Colorado Springs. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Appeals went out to Colorado Senators Alva B. Adams, a member of the War Department Subcommittee on Appropriations, and Edwin C. Johnson, later Governor of Colorado. The help of Assistant Secretary of the Interior Oscar Chapman, also a Coloradan, and newly elected Representative J. Edgar Chenoweth was also solicited. That summer, crews from the U.S. Corp of Engineers, Omaha District, were sent to Colorado Springs to survey Cheyenne Valley Ranch. The crews encountered trouble within the first few days when they discovered the area had a huge rattlesnake population. The engineers favored calling the survey off and reporting that the land was unsuitable for soldiers. Only after someone observed that "rattlesnakes move out when men move in" did the engineers submit a favorable report. On several occasions, Law and Stone went to Washington, D.C., staying as long as was necessary to solve a variety of problems that threatened the project. Jardine and Dwire were frequent visitors there as well. By then, the men were bound by a determination that Colorado Springs would be selected. The death of Senator Adams on December l, 1941 was a severe blow. Without his backing it was feared that past efforts might have been in vain. Stone moved to Washington as the selection date for the site drew near. Not until all investigations were completed did the War Department decide in favor of Colorado Springs, and then only after the disaster at Pearl Harbor made a decision imperative. On February 22, 1942, Colorado Springs newspapers reported that the camp would be called Camp Carson in honor of Brig. Gen. Christopher "Kit" Carson, the famous frontiersman. The original military reservation consisted of 60,048 acres of land. 5,533 were donated by the city of Colorado Springs, 29,676 were purchased from private owners, 262 were acquired from the Department of the Interior and 24,577 were leased from the state of Colorado. Thus ended months of hopes, doubts, frustration, travel and fatigue borne by the few who refused to swerve from their goal, to lead their beautiful resort town from oblivion to economic stability. Despite threats of closure after the war, the camp was declared a permanent fort in 1954; and in 1964 it was enlarged to more than twice its original size. With its growth, the Mountain Post has increasingly benefited the community, and interdependence has developed between Fort Carson and Southern Colorado. Just as important is the steady influx of culture and intellectual enterprise channeled into the city by former military families who fell in love with the Front Range communities while serving at Fort Carson. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Construction Committed to war, the United States was desperate for trained soldiers. Camp Carson was to help meet that need. Construction moved ahead with surprising speed. Specifications had been completed for bids by mid-January. Of the three bids received, the lowest--$31,500,000--was submitted by Colorado Springs Construction, Incorporated. Even though it was the lowest, the bid was considered high and had to be reduced to $30,054,390 before it was accepted. The contract was signed February 14, 1942, in Omaha, Nebraska. Signing the document were the heads of five firms which had teamed together as one corporation. The firms were the Edward H. Honnen Construction Company of Colorado Springs; Peter Kiewit and Sons of Omaha; Condon-Cunningham Construction Company of Omaha; C.F. Lytle Company of Sioux City, Iowa; and Thomas Bates and Sons of Denver. Each company had proven its capability. Kiewit and Condon-Cunningham were recognized nationwide for their experience with large projects. The Bates Company brought experience in hospital construction. Lytle was expert in job management. Honnen specialized in grading and earthwork. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The concept of a "package" of contractors rather than one large company was fairly new. It had been conceived by bonding companies prior to construction of Boulder Dam to reduce liability risks in event of death or financial loss. Within the framework of the contract, each company was responsible for only the percentage it agreed to perform. Honnen, a native Coloradan, was named contractor/sponsor of the project. His experience included work on an Army installation at Cheyenne, Wyoming and completion of construction at Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois. At the time he undertook the Camp Carson project, he was engaged in the construction of Peterson Field, east of Colorado Springs. By January 31, 1942, the first building on the new camp site was completed: a headquarters built by the U.S. Army Engineer Office of Omaha. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- With a July 13 deadline, Honnen ordered his heavy grading equipment moved onto the site the day before the contract was signed. Huge floodlights were set up and work went on around the clock despite the winter weather. Some grading and other tasks that did not require daylight were done at night. Carpenter shops were open 24 hours a day to allow as much prefabrication as possible. To avoid unnecessary grading, the camp was designed to conform to the contour of the land, accounting for the "banana" shape of the post. As fast as one area was leveled, workers hauled pre-cut lumber to the building sites. It was the extensive use of prefabrication units that allowed the buildings to rise so rapidly despite a severe winter and heavy rains in April and May. In one two-week period, crews finished a large segment so quickly that a Kiewit representative was sent from the firm's home office to verify the achievement. At the construction's peak, nearly 11,500 workers were employed, many of them having moved here from neighboring states. The Colorado Springs Bus Company bought a fleet of new buses to provide transportation for workers. Even so, a solid line of privately owned automobiles poured in and out of the construction area daily. As the tempo increased, Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph Company joined in the -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- activity, hurrying to keep pace with the demand for communication. The Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad laid a spur connecting the warehouse district with Kelker, Colorado. Lines for electricity rose with precision while gas, water and a city-sized sewer system went underground. One critical problem was keeping enough building material on hand to keep production at full speed. Carson was only one of many installations being built, and lumber and pipe were in short supply. By April 1, the list of materials ordered but not received reached the $20 million mark. Signs urging the workers to "Work, boys! We'll drown `em in our sweat!" and "Nail down the planks--Here come the Yanks!" boosted morale and stepped up production even more. The payroll for the entire period amounted to $7,468,175.33. The first segment of two-story frame buildings was turned over to the Army on June 2, about six weeks before the July 15 activation of the 89th Infantry Division. The division itself was ready ahead of schedule as advance parties of soldiers had been arriving since May. Facilities were provided for 35,173 enlisted men, 1,818 officers and 592 nurses. Nearly all of the buildings were of the mobilization type construction with wooden siding exteriors. The hospital was of the semi-permanent type concrete block and had space for 1,726 beds with the capability of expansion to 2,000 beds. Shortly before the contract deadline, the Army requested -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Over 11,500 people were employed at the peak of construction of Camp Carson. (PHOTO in center of page) additional construction to house a prisoner of war internment camp, plus barns to shelter 3,310 horses and mules. Needed along with the barns were more barracks for the additional men. The supplemental contract raised the original cost to approximately $41 million and extended the completion date to November 4. All work was completed within the required time. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A "re negotiation" clause was included in the contract as an emergency measure that gave the government the privilege of a complete audit of all expenditures after work had been finished. It was accepted as a way of arriving at an overall cost which was fair to both the government and the contractors. If the audit showed that the contractor had been unable to operate at the agreed minimum profit, he would be reimbursed by the government. On the other hand, if construction costs amounted to less than the contract price, the contractors were obliged to refund all monies above the stipulated profit. The skill and experience the five companies brought together under Colorado Springs Construction, Incorporated enabled them to not only meet the imposed deadlines but also to refund nearly $2.5 million to the government. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The War Years With the acceptance of the first buildings by the camp commander, Col. Wilfrid M. Blunt, the war-time post was in business. Two days later, on June 4, 1942, Maj. Gen. William H. Gill arrived to assume command of the 89th Infantry Division. The first troops of the 89th arrived from Jefferson Barracks, Missouri on June 15 and one month later the division was activated. During World War II, a total of 104,165 soldiers trained at Camp Carson. Along with three other infantry divisions--the 71st, 104th and 10th Mountain--more than 125 units were activated at Camp Carson and over 100 other units were transferred to the mountain post from other installations. The camp trained nurses, cooks, mule packers, tank battalions, a Greek infantry battalion and an Italian ordnance company--soldiers of any and every variety. Toward the end of the war, after the departure of the divisions and established units, Camp Carson trained replacement troops and provisional companies. The peak troop strength of the installation was in late 1943 when approximately 43,000 military personnel were stationed at the camp. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Army Mules The first shipment of Army mules arrived here by train from Nebraska on July 30, 1942. The men of the 604th and 605th Field Artillery (Pack) had to take the wild mules, break them, and train them to carry a field pack over almost inaccessible terrain. It took six to eight weeks to break and train a mule and the battle could be spectacular. The mule was first introduced to the feel of the rigging. Later, heavier and heavier packs were placed on him until he got used to the load. Almost every Army unit has a goldbricker and so did the mules. His name was Useless, and he was assigned to the 602nd Field Artillery. They tried to turn him into a good "soldier", but it was useless. He was first a pack mule. Then he became a messenger mule. Then he was hitched to a wagon and used to draw hay, but even hay hauling was too much for Useless. The mules even contributed to the construction of the NORAD Combat Operations Center. Two were hired to haul cargo in areas beyond the reach of machines. The mules were paid $40 each while their keepers were paid $2. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hambone No story of Army mules is complete without a brief note on Hambone. Hamilton T. Bone was the pride of the 4th Field Artillery Battalion (Pack). Year after year, he carried the First Sergeants of the 4th up Ute Pass to Camp Hale or along the foothills of the Rockies to Cheyenne, Wyoming for the Frontier Days Rodeo. His silvery-white coat and entertaining antics as a jumper won him fame in July 1949 when Life Magazine printed a feature story on the four-footed soldier. After serving 13 years at Carson, Hambone was retired involuntarily along with the other mules. He spent his retirement years as a star attraction with the Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo and the Pikes Peak Range Ride. In the summer of 1970 Hambone showed signs of advanced age, and he was returned to Fort Carson for the "last mile" a few months prior to his death on March 29, 1971. Feelings for Hambone ran deep, and his death made newspaper headlines locally. He was buried with appropriate military honors in front of Division Artillery Headquarters. The legendary Hambone is still acknowledged as king of a great era. A memorial, made of stone quarried on the reservation, was erected over his grave. The saga of the Army mule and an Army tradition came to an end at Fort Carson on December 15, 1956, when Battery A of the 4th Field Artillery Battalion (Pack) was re designated, and the 35th Ouartermaster Company (Pack) was inactivated. More than 322 mules marched into retirement to be replaced by helicopters. Until the mule barns were razed in 1970 to make way for a unique central maintenance facility, pack mules returning to the post for ceremonial events would head directly toward the familiar surroundings of their former stalls. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The POW Camp The internment camp, opened on the first day of 1943, was later re designated a POW camp. Located just inside Gate 3 between the service and supply area and Highway 115, it originally housed 3,000 prisoners. In 1945, an additional 5,000 prisoners were housed in barracks located east of Pershing Field in the area now occupied by Division Artillery. A total of nearly 9,000 German, Italian, and some Japanese prisoners of war were interned at Camp Carson during World War II. During 1944, POWs alleviated the manpower shortage in Colorado by doing general farm work, canning tomatoes, cutting corn, and aiding in logging operations on Colorado's Western slope. They earned 80 cents a day. In the winter months at Carson, they worked in the Ouartermaster Laundry and other places on and off post. About 3,650 POWs worked at 17 branch camps located throughout the state. At Camp Hale, near Leadville, about 400 of the most incorrigible members of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel's Afrika Corps were confined under tight security. Each of the compounds of the camp had a canteen where prisoners could purchase personal necessities and a few luxuries. The prisoners built the canteens and made their own furniture in a prison woodworking shop. The prisoners also published their own newspaper, a 20-page mimeograph magazine-size publication called "Die PW Woche." The paper, printed in German, was staffed by seven of the internees. The staff had many American newspapers and magazines for reference purposes. Restrictions imposed on the paper were few. There was no board of censors as such, but Camp Carson personnel discussed the paper with the prisoners before it was composed. A cemetery was set aside for POWs who died here. After the war, their bodies were shipped to their homelands. Only one POW strike is recorded. The day after the war in Europe ended, Americans took all the food and cigarettes out of the canteen. The only items left were books and papers, and the POWs were decidedly miffed. The strike ended a couple of days later when the prisoners were told that if they returned to work, food and cigarettes would be returned to the canteen. In January, 1946, there were still a large number of German prisoners at Carson. By July 21, 1946, all had been returned to Europe or released. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Camp Hale and Mountain and Cold Weather Training Construction of Camp Hale, named for Brig. Gen. Irving Hale, began in April 1942 and was completed that November. The camp, located about 20 miles west of Leadville, Colorado, was the first U.S. training post for mountain troops. The Mountain Training Command was activated at Camp Carson on September 2, 1942, but was moved to Camp Hale in November, just in time for the arrival of the 10th Mountain Division. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- An increased need for troops trained in the art of mountain warfare led to the formation of the 10th Mountain Division, a unit devoted to moving appropriate weapons over mountainous terrain in any kind of weather. The 10th was initially trained by Norwegian General (then Colonel) Dagfin Dahl at Camp Hale. In 1946, with the return home and deactivation of the 10th, the doctrine learned in combat and during previous years of experimentation and training was kept alive by the creation of the Mountain and Cold Weather Training Detachment at Camp Carson. The Army assembled at Carson the best of its civilian mountaineering technical advisors. From 1947-51, training was extended by the school and the Detachment to such units as the 14th and 38th Regimental Combat Teams. In addition, a special battalion-level combat team for Operation Sweetbriar in the Sub-Arctic, nine Ranger companies and many civilian components were trained. Painful experience in Korea and realization of the scope of American commitments in Europe established the need for broader mountain training. This need was met by the Mountain Training -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Mountain and Cold Weather Training Command was the only unit of its kind in the Army. The mission of the MCWTC was two-fold: to provide technical assistance in mountain and cold weather training for selected infantry regiments and their supporting units, and to develop mountain warfare doctrine, tactics and techniques by conducting extensive research and special projects in both summer and winter phases. The foundation of all training for the command was the requirement that troops be able to maneuver over the most rugged terrain in the worst weather. This demand was satisfied by intensified instruction in mountain walking, balanced climbing, party (roped) climbing, cliff evacuation of wounded soldiers, rappeling, and construction of hauling lines and the use of ropes. Methods of supply by animals, man packs and the M-29 Cargo Carrier (Weasel) were also taught. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cold weather training focused on the problems of mobility over snow and survival under extreme winter conditions. Winter tactics and combat in extreme cold were also taught. In 1953 and through part of 1954, the MCWTC trained a cycle of 330 trainees every six weeks. These hand-picked soldiers then passed on their knowledge to others. In July 1957, MCWTC was transferred to Fort Greeley, Alaska, and Camp Hale became a training site for Carson ski teams. Camp Hale was declared excess to Army needs and closed in June 1965. In trade for Camp Hale, the Army acquired land on Carson's southern border. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Medical Services To provide immediate medical care for Camp Carson's soldiers, a Station Hospital was opened in August 1942. With a 2,000 bed capacity and 11 square miles of floor space, the Carson Hospital Center was the largest in the country during WW II. During their existence, the combined general and convalescent hospitals cared for more than 30,000 patients. The staff consisted of three Women's Army Corps (WAC) hospital companies, about 2,000 civilians, and hundreds of doctors, nurses and medical corpsmen. In the fall of 1945, a temporary separation center was established at the hospital. About 9,000 soldiers from installations in a four-state area were processed for discharge from the Army through this separation center. In addition to being a general and convalescent hospital, Carson Hospital Center was a major training center. The Army Nurse Training Center, activated on October 23, 1943, trained more than 3,000 civilian nurses in Army nursing techniques in less than two years. A large number of field, evacuation and general hospitals, and medical ship platoons were activated, trained and shipped to ports of embarkation by Camp Carson. When the war ended, the Camp Carson Hospital Center was inactivated. In its place, the 400 bed Station Hospital continued treatment of patients scheduled to be released before May 31, 1946. With the outbreak of the Korean War, the hospital was expanded to 1,500 beds. In addition to a greatly increased patient load, in July 1951 it was asked to assist the Camp Carson Separation Center. In a little more than two years, hospital personnel were responsible for complete physical examinations of more than 100,000 soldiers. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post War Activities at Camp Carson were greatly reduced following World War II. Thousands of soldiers were separated from the service or sent overseas for occupation duty, units were inactivated, and the prisoners of war were repatriated. By April 4, 1946, the military strength at the Mountain Post had dropped to around 600, not including 320 patients in the hospital. It appeared that Camp Carson would be closed. However, in mid-April 1946 the War Department announced that the camp would remain open and the troop strength increased. The 38th Regimental Combat Team was transferred to Camp Carson at the end of April 1946, and the 611th Field Artillery Battalion (Pack) arrived the following month. During the next few years, the 14th and 39th Regimental Combat Teams, the 4th Field Artillery Battalion (Pack), the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment and the 313th Engineer Construction Group were stationed at Camp Carson. The 40th Field Artillery Group was formed here early in 1951. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Families come to Carson During World War II, Carson was filled with soldiers who came here to be trained quickly before going overseas. There were no facilities for dependents. Families had to fend for themselves. By the late 1940s--with the war over-- assignments stabilized. A large block of two-story barracks was converted into apartments for families of enlisted men. They were concentrated in an area near where the junior high school now stands. By the mid-50s Carson was taking a hard look at existing structures that could double as housing for officers. The entire east wing of the hospital had been closed following the Korean War. It was decided that there were enough empty wards to create 36 sets of officers quarters. The quarters in the hospital were fairly large. The "apartment" occupied by the deputy post commander contained 3,450 square feet and had nine bedrooms, nine baths and two kitchens. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Using every possible building on the post that could be put into service as quarters, housing officials permitted an enlisted man's family to live in one of the old Mary Ellen ranch houses. The family accepted the quarters despite the fact that the building had no utilities. As familiar as we are with the modern Army post and facilities for families, many of these conveniences are relatively new. Army Community Services, as we know it, was not created until the mid-60s. The first school, housed in a World War II building, opened in September 1954, and a permanent elementary school was started in August 1956. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fire And Flood Due to the dry climate, every year there are several fires on post, but only two have caused extensive damage. In January 1943 the post was hit by a fire which was driven by nearly hurricane force winds. In the POW camp area 23 buildings were completely destroyed. In all, the fire caused over $1 million in damages. Seven years later, on January 17, 1950, the worst fire to strike the post started in the Broadmoor area and was driven eastward by 50 mile-per-hour winds to Camp Carson. By 5 a.m. Carson troops were moved to the northern part of the post to fight the fire. Gusts of 80 to 90 mph vaulted the fire across Highway 115. Soldiers armed with nothing but burlap bags and pack shovels brought the flames under control in that area. Post engineer bulldozers cut a fire break across the northern part of the post in front of the abandoned prisoner-of-war area. The flames leaped the cut and burned down the POW barracks. Including the POW buildings and some warehouses more than 33 buildings were leveled. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The winds then blew the fire all over the post. Fires appeared where there were no men or equipment to fight them. By mid morning, civilian volunteers and fire fighting equipment from surrounding towns came to Carson's aid. The NCO housing area was evacuated, the families sent to Pueblo, Colorado. At one point it looked as if the Carson Hospital would have to be emptied. At noon the entire camp appeared to be in danger of being destroyed. At dusk the wind died down, and the fires were finally extinguished by midnight. However, by that time 92 buildings were totally destroyed and two others were heavily damaged. Total damage was estimated at $3 million. Approximately 150 soldiers and civilians were treated for minor burns and an additional 21 were hospitalized. One soldier died that day, and seven soldiers and one civilian died later of burns received fighting the blaze. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nine streets at Fort Carson were named in honor of the victims of the fire. They were: Harley McCullough, a 14 year old junior high school student who answered a radio appeal for volunteers; WO William J. Tripp; Cpl. Kenneth Watson; Pvt. Marvin Tevis; Pvt. Lawrence Elwell; Cpl. Bobby Coleman; Pvt. William Rau; Pvt. Robert Moore; and Pvt. Joseph A. Weston. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Probably the worst disaster in the history of Colorado occurred in June 1965 when a flood caused property damage in excess of $100 million and the loss of several lives. Although the damage to Fort Carson was not great, troops and equipment were used to aid suffering civilians and to assist in flood control. Hundreds of troops worked night and day until the flood water subsided. Helicopters evacuated thousands of stranded civilians, many of whom were given medical care in the Fort Carson hospital. Food, blankets, and cots were provided by the Army. On the weekend of July 24-25, 1965, Carson was struck by a major flood, plus damaging and deadly flash floods. More than $160,000 in damage was done. A 20-foot crest washed out a bridge on B Street just outside Gate 4. The greatest damage was done to the railroad spur to Kelker. Two walls of water washed out 450 feet of track. The NCO housing area was also damaged, and the northern part of the fort was covered with mud and silt. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Butts Army Airfield In early 1949, landing an aircraft at Camp Carson was extremely hazardous. A bumpy dirt strip on the edge of the post was the only facility available. Dust often decreased the visibility to zero. Appropriations in the fall of that year allowed for the bulldozing of a new dirt strip and construction of a small wooden operations shack. However, aircraft maintenance had to be done in the open and the wind still made landing and taking off hazardous. As a result of the uncertain conditions at the Carson strip, the first Army aircraft operated by post personnel were based in a single hangar at Peterson Field. In 1954, air operations were moved to an area now in NCO housing. Winds of 60 knots or better were common, making the approach over the hospital complex extremely tricky. There were no hangars either. When high winds came up, trucks had to be parked beside the aircraft to protect them. Two years later, air operations were again relocated, this time to a mesa strip adjacent to today's Butts Army Airfield. There was one building on Mesa Air Strip, but it was dilapidated. Eventually a T-shaped pre-fab hangar was constructed; but by the time it was completed, it was already obsolete. Appropriations for modern improvements were made in the fall of 1963. Three years and nearly $3 million later, Butts Field was a modern airfield. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Carson and the Movies The filming of the RKO picture, "The Korean Story," later named "One Minute to Zero," gave the post a few lighter moments in 1951. Starring Robert Mitchum, the movie told the story of an American Army officer in the early stages of the Korean War. Fort Carson was chosen because much of its terrain is similar to that in Korea. The engineers built bridges, roads, and constructed a 4000-foot runway. Transformation of the site, three miles south of the main gate near Highway 115, was complete from straw thatched huts to muddy, water-soaked rice paddies. Hundreds of Mountain Post infantrymen were cast as UN troops. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Parts of two other movies were shot at Fort Carson. The BBC production of "The Oppenheimer Story" in 1980, and a movie about Marilyn Monroe shot in the early 1980s. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Following the movie, the area was used as a realistic training setting for troops bound for Korea. The Korean Valley was one of three realistic training sites constructed at Carson for soldiers preparing for an overseas war. The Swastika flew over Carson ground, and American troops were fired upon by live ammunition during World War II at the village of Beauclaire. Constructed by the 89th Division in 13 days, it was a replica of the French village of Beauclaire, captured by the division in World War I. Built to provide realistic training in house-to-house and street fighting, it was attacked from different points so that no two attacks were identical. The attackers were after the Swastika on the courthouse; when it fell, the battle was won. With the Vietnam War requiring realistic preparation, Bung Cong Village, the third training area, was constructed. Booby traps and mines were stressed at all eight stations in the village. Troops experienced combat tactics with a combined armored personnel carrier and helicopter assault. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Army Dog Training Center The Army Dog Training Center at Fort Carson was the only training installation for military canines in the United States. The center was located on the Mary Ellen Ranch, within the confines of the Carson reservation. The dogs, in training for eight to twelve weeks, graduated in one of three specialties: scout, messenger or sentry. Messenger dogs had two handlers and were trained to run from one man to another upon command. They were capable of carrying messages, food, ammunition and medical supplies under all conditions. Scout dogs were trained to work with line units where their sense of smell would detect the enemy. Sentry dogs were the only type taught to attack men. They were trained at Carson to patrol a given area such as a warehouse or ammo dump and attack any intruder who entered their post. Fort Carson lost the Army Dog Training Center in 1957 when the job of training sentry dogs was transferred to the Air Force. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Korean War With the onset of the Korean War, activities at Carson were increased. A large number of Reserve and National Guard units were called to active duty and stationed at the Mountain Post. The largest of these was the 196th Regimental Combat Team from the South Dakota National Guard, which arrived at Carson in September 1950. Also stationed at Carson were more than 20 engineer and artillery battalions and several miscellaneous companies and detachments. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Camp Carson Separation Center was activated on July 5, 1951. It had the responsibility for separating Korean War veterans from the service or transferring them to other installations in the United States. By the end of 1953, the center had processed more than 100,000 soldiers. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Camp Carson Becomes Fort Carson Colorado Springs was just beginning to recover from the recession of the early 1950s when word came that Carson was to become a fort. In the wake of President Truman's abrupt termination of the Korean War and subsequent budgetary cuts, it was thought that Carson could not survive, even as a fort. It was true that the 31st (Dixie) Division had been transferred to Carson in February 1954 from Camp Atterbury, but that was only because Atterbury was closed. The 31st was re designated as the 8th Infantry Division on June 15, 1954. During 1955 the 8th (Golden Arrow) Division trained more than 25,000 soldiers for other units in the United States and abroad. In spite of the nation's emergence from war to peace, there were approximately 25,000 troops at Carson, plus about 2,000 civilian employees. On the other hand, no new construction had been approved which might indicate what lay in the post's future. As far as the government's investment in buildings was concerned, in 1954 the Army could have scrapped every structure on post without incurring the censure of a single taxpayer. All buildings on post had long since passed their life expectancy of five years. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The first inkling that Carson might become a fort was contained in a newspaper article which stated that Congress had authorized $13,427,000 for construction of 1,000 sets of family quarters, the first on post. At the same time, construction of a new NCO mess was announced. Congress also approved $3,582,000 for new barracks and bachelor officer quarters. On August 27, 1954, when Carson became a fort, the town of Colorado Springs cheered. Many remembered the bleak economy of the pre-war days, when jobs were few, houses stood vacant, and summer income from tourists had to stretch across a long winter. With permanent military payroll the prospects looked good. The joy did not last, however. The 8th Division went to Germany, under "Operation Gyroscope," and traded posts with the 9th Division in 1956. The 9th Division reorganized and went Pentomic, acquiring a nuclear capability. Regiments were retired, and battle groups formed into brigades. An active training center continued to turn out new soldiers. By February 1960, the 9th Division had trained approximately 85,000 recruits and 17,000 advanced individual trainees since its arrival at Carson. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Then came the cutbacks. The Korean War was history, the Department of Defense had to cope with budget cuts, and the nation once again stacked arms. Just as tales of rattlesnakes and knee-deep year-round snow had almost stopped Camp Carson in 1941, so reports of high respiratory ailment rates in Colorado Springs came close to wiping out Fort Carson in 1958-59. Carson had a flu epidemic and 1,000 people were in the hospital during that time. Efficiency experts argued that Carson was off the beaten path, too remote from main transportation arteries and population centers. Shipment of supplies and training of troops could be done much more economically at more central posts. Proud units of the 9th Division were inactivated one by one. When Brig. Gen. Ashton Manhart came to assume command of the 9th Division and Fort Carson in May 1960, he found the "old reliables" consisted of three men: himself, his aide and his driver. During 1960 and most of 1961, the 2nd United States Army Missile Command (Medium) was the only major unit at Fort Carson. Houses were hard to sell. Men transferred out of Carson were eager to unload their homes for closing costs. Security, which had been created only a few years before, seemed doomed to become a ghost town. The community braced for the worst as Forts Chaffee and Polk began closing operations. The McNamara list of base closings did, although not known at the time, include Fort Carson. Then the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Berlin Blockade brought justification to reactivate two more divisions. With the evaluation board when it came to Colorado Springs was Maj. Gen. John A. Heintges. He looked over the reservation and was impressed. The next morning, unable to sleep, he rose early at the Broadmoor Hotel and took a walk. In the beauty of the Colorado morning he decided that Carson should remain open. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Aboard the plane returning to Washington, over a game of poker, the members of the board talked. Maj. Gen. Heintges argued for keeping Fort Carson open and making it the home of one of the new divisions. Little did he know that he would return within two years to command both the post and the division. The manpower came from the 2d Missile Command, which had been transferred from Fort Hood after the 9th Division was inactivated. The missile command was inactivated to man the Training Center in August 1961. When the Training Center had turned out enough basic and advanced trainees, a total of 29,597, the 5th Infantry Division was formally reactivated on February 19, 1962. Brig. Gen. Ashton H. Manhart was its first commander. The Training Center was then transferred to Fort Polk, Louisiana. The 5th was the Army's first mechanized infantry division to be organized under the "ROAD" (Reorganization Objectives Army Division) concept. The problems of training a mechanized division triggered the need for more land. In 1965, Fort Carson acquired 24,577 acres of state land (leased since 1942) by trading it for federal land located at the Lowry Bombing Range east of Denver. In 1965 and 1966, a total of 78,741 acres of land were acquired south of the original reservation at a cost of approximately $3.5 million. This consisted of 45,236 acres purchased from private individuals, 22,694 acres of state land traded for more land at the Lowry Bombing Range, and 7,668 acres purchased from the Colorado School of Mines. An additional 2,871 acres were acquired without cost from the Department of the Interior in trade for Camp Hale. These additions brought Fort Carson to its current size of 138,523 acres. On March 7, 1966, Camp Red Devil was opened. The camp was the first year-round training area at Fort Carson for soldiers in a field environment. The base camp, which could accommodate as many as 950 soldiers, is located south of the main post off Highway 115. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Vietnam War Period Beginning in 1965, the war in Vietnam had an ever-increasing impact on the Mountain Post. Training for Southeast Asia became the priority at Fort Carson. In 1966, 14,000 Carson-trained soldiers were sent to Vietnam. In 1967, 9,000 soldiers were transferred; and about 6,000 went in 1968. During the years 1965-1967, 61 units were activated at Fort Carson. By far the largest unit transferred was the 1st Brigade of the 5th Infantry Division (Mechanized). The brigade, called "Task Force Diamond," was airlifted directly to Da Nang in July 1968 in the second largest airlift in history. By the end of 1967, activities at Fort Carson had risen to a higher level than at any time since World War II. In October 1965 the military strength was 9,658; in March 1967 it was 24,735. The Army civilian strength went from 1,337 in March 1965 to 2,445 in July 1967. The economic impact of Fort Carson on the State of Colorado rose from approximately $55 million in 1964 to $100 million in 1967. Fort Carson has never been isolated from the rest of the nation. Events at the Mountain Post reflect the mood of the country and the Front Range. In the late 1960s, relations between the post and the city of Colorado Springs hit an all-time low. This corresponded to the growth in nationwide anti-war protests. To add to the problem, racial incidents were not uncommon at Fort Carson during this period. The situation was weathered with the combined efforts of the post commanders and the Colorado Springs community and business leaders. As the U.S. involvement in Vietnam decreased, inevitable cutbacks again began taking place. In November 1970, the 4th Infantry Division, eight days senior to the 5th, was ordered to relocate to Fort Carson. The real significance of the announcement to the people of Colorado Springs was not so much which division would be based at Fort Carson, but that the Pentagon had decided to keep the post open. The impact of the Mountain Post at that time was $200 million annually in the Pikes Peak Region. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Carson 1970s to the Present By January 1973 the economic impact of Fort Carson on the Pikes Peak area was over $340 million annually. The average military population was 20,400 and the post employed about 2,900 civilian workers. The average soldier was changing, and by June of that year more than 50 per cent of the troops at Carson were volunteers. Army women were part of the Mountain Post since its beginning, but it wasn't until a WAC Company was organized in 1972 that they had any real impact on Fort Carson. Organized with one officer and seven enlisted soldiers, the company grew to 300 by the end of 1973 and to more than 1,500 just two years later. Fort Carson, always an active and visible part of the Front Range, began to become even more involved with community relations programs. Project MAST or Military Assistance to Safety and Traffic, started in the summer of 1970, was a life saver on the front range. Other Army projects included a new hospital wing for the Navajo Indians at Crownpoint, New Mexico; a dam and reservoir for the San Isabel Scout Ranch; and many graded baseball diamonds--all constructed by Carson engineers. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fort Carson undertook its most ambitious community relations program at Center, Colorado, 170 miles from the post in the San Luis Valley. Abandoned buildings were torn down. Roads were surveyed and resurfaced. An unsanitary dump was closed, while a new one was built; and the city hall was also restored. Hundreds of soldiers participated, volunteering to work after duty hours in a variety of off-post projects. They cleaned up communities and worked with the Boy Scouts. When the El Paso County Legal Services Office was forced to cut its staff, Fort Carson volunteers rushed to fill the void. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Soldiers extended the linguistic resources of Fort Carson to the community by organizing and teaching a "law enforcement in Spanish" course to local Anglo policemen. The effectiveness of the program attracted the attention of agencies as far away as Los Angeles. Soldiers worked with the Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind, the Virgil Robbins Home for Boys, the Iglesia Head Start Program, the Rocky Mountain Rehabilitation Center, and many other such agencies. All of this was done in spite of record-breaking personnel turnover. Far from sapping the combat readiness of the Iron horsemen, the vigorous community relations program significantly enhanced individual morale and unit esprit de corps. In addition, the individual and unit involvement in community relations paid visible dividends in training realism. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VOLAR In the fall of 1970, Fort Carson was officially notified that it would be an initial test site for the Modern Volunteer Army concept. The 18-month field test, aimed at creating an environment conducive to an all-volunteer Army, started at the Mountain Post in January 1971. The best of the test programs would be incorporated into Regular Army budgeted programs. Initially Carson was awarded $5 million to support the test program. The money was used to increase recruitments and retain active soldiers by improving the quality of Army life. The list of VOLAR projects included: coffee houses, barracks cubicles and furniture, mobile classrooms, alcohol and drug programs, outdoor recreational areas, an enlisted men's council, a racial harmony council, a fine arts program, package ski trips, cash awards for achievement and an off-post guest house. The overall VOLAR program, aimed at eliminating the need for the draft by July 1, 1973, had a major impact at Carson. Living conditions were improved. Pay was increased. Training was upgraded and made more relevant. Communications were also improved. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Communications played a vital role in VOLAR. The post newspaper, The Mountaineer, was augmented by other publications. A Spanish newspaper, Adelante, was published to reach individuals who spoke English as a second language. Soldier's Bag was for the troops, and Over The Back Fence was for spouses. A large number of organizations produced publications that were unique to their area of interest. The enlisted men's council made quality-of-life recommendations to the command. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VOLAR ended officially at Fort Carson on June 30, 1972. A large number of VOLAR projects have been discarded, however many of them continue to have an important role in today's Army. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pinon Canyon During 1974 the need for additional land for training began to receive considerable emphasis. The plan was to acquire the needed land in yearly increments. The total, approximately 74,000 acres, was located on the east and southwest border of Fort Carson. The citizens of the Pueblo area voiced considerable opposition to the expansion, particularly the proposed use of the Pueblo Reservoir for amphibious training. Carson's efforts to obtain more training land involved considerable interaction with the local civilian communities. Following public hearings, Colorado Governor Richard Lamm appointed a 12-member committee to submit a report in the spring of 1976. Due to additional Department of the Army requirements that all land expansion proposals be supported by analytical study, a comprehensive study to analyze the division's needs was completed in 1978. The study determined that a 129,000 acre shortfall existed. Additional offers were considered by the Army. Pinon Canyon, consisting of 245,000 acres and located some 100 air miles southeast of the fort, was selected. The land purchase was completed on September 17, 1983. The cost was approximately $26 million. An additional $2 million was used for relocation of 11 landowners and for school bond relief. Approximately one half of the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site was acquired through the legal process of condemnation. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PCMS was opened for training in the summer of 1985. Units at Fort Carson are rotated to the site for maneuver training and preparation for the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California. Expansion of the training site includes the construction of a dirt air strip, additions to the cantonment area, and a vehicle maintenance facility. The Environmental and Natural Resource Program for the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site is unique within the Department of Defense. The operation of this important maneuver training site was planned to provide for the continuing balance between the military and national resource protection. The resource protection program is divided into six primary areas: the study and protection of wildlife; plant and soil conservation; water quality; the impact of training on archaeology and cultural resources; and the effect of sound on the environment in the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site.   |
Fort Carson History
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