Camp Atterbury-Muscatatuck is a federally owned military post, licensed to and operated by the Indiana National Guard, located in south-central Indiana, west of Edinburgh, Indiana, and U.S. Route 31. The camp's mission is to provide full logistical and training support for up to two brigade-sized elements simultaneously. The camp offers a variety of training ranges, live-fire venues, managed airspace with air-to-ground fighting capabilities and a live, virtual, and constructive (LVC) simulation and exercise center. It is also the normal Annual Training location for National Guard and Reserve forces located in Indiana.
Established in 1942, Camp Atterbury's nicknames include "CAIN" and "The Rock." Its motto is Preparamus, meaning "We Are Ready."
History
Site selection and construction In January 1941 the U.S. War Department issued orders to consider potential sites for a new U.S. Army training center in Indiana. After the Hurd Engineering Company surveyed an estimated , an area was selected for the camp in south-central Indiana, approximately south of Indianapolis, north of Columbus, and west of Edinburgh. The site, which includes portions of Johnson, Bartholomew, and Brown counties, was selected because of its terrain (some of it is level; other parts are hilly), its location near larger urban areas (such as Indianapolis, the state capital, and Columbus, the Bartholomew County seat of government), and its proximity to transportation (adjacent to a Pennsylvania Railroad line and U.S. Highway 31). See also On 28 April 1941, the U.S. War Department announced its intention to establish a military training camp that would be capable of housing 30,000 soldiers.Riker, p. 8.
On 6 January 1942, one month after the attack on Pearl Harbor and the United States' entry into World War II, the U.S. War Department announced its decision to proceed with its plan to build Camp Atterbury. Initial land acquisition for the camp encompassed in 643 tracts. The land acquisition cost an estimated $3.8 million ($ in 2022 chained dollars). In addition to the land, the site encompassed numerous farmsteads, the towns of Pisgah and Kansas, fifteen cemeteries, and five schools. Four of the area's fifteen cemeteries remained intact; the grave sites in the other cemeteries were exhumed and relocated.The acquired land included about in Bartholomew County, in Johnson County, and in Brown County. The few inhabitants of the area were asked to give up their farms and homes that had been in their families for more than a century. The deadline for the last of the area's inhabitants to vacate the land was 1 July 1942. See Riker, pp. 9, 11–13, and Taulman and Wertz, eds., pp. 2–3.
Initial work at the site began in February 1942.Riker, p. 9. The U.S. Army contracted John Richard Walsh as a real estate project manager to oversee the initial development at the camp that would accommodate and train a full-sized, triangular division of 40,000 soldiers.A triangular division is formed around three infantry regiments. See Riker, p. 21. Various civilian contractors built the camp over a period of six months from February to August 1942. At the peak of construction in June 1942, there were 14,491 workers on the payroll. An estimated 700 vehicles and daily bus service provided transportation from nearby towns and an on-site concession tent served meals to 600 workers at a time.Wages for construction workers were set at $1.30 per hour. See Riker, pp. 16–18, and Taulman and Wertz, eds., pp. 99–101.
On 6 February 1942,Riker, p. 20. the War Department announced that the camp would be named in honor of Brigadier General William Wallace Atterbury, a New Albany, Indiana, native who received a Distinguished Service Medal for his contributions during World War I. In addition, Camp Atterbury was nicknamed Mudbury during its construction because of its muddy grounds, the result of heavy spring rains during 1942.Riker, pp. 20–21, and Taulman and Wertz, eds., p. 92.
Official anniversary Unlike most military installations, Camp Atterbury did not have an official dedication. Six months after construction started, Soldiers began to be unceremoniously transported to the camp to begin training. Instead, Camp Atterbury's anniversary falls on 15 August 1942, when the 83rd Infantry Division was activated. The camp was opened to visitors, and nearly 25,000 Hoosiers watched the opening ceremonies.
Camp Atterbury's second anniversary falls two months earlier, on 2 June 1942. Traditionally, Soldiers mark the activation of a post with the day that the first numbered Order is written. Camp Atterbury's first order rolled off a mimeograph machine on this day in the Camp's first headquarters building, a red brick house on hospital road and the former house of Dale Parmalee, a local farmer.
World War II-era facilities Costs for initial construction were approximately $35 million ($ in 2021 chained dollars). Buildings included soldiers' barracks, officers' quarters, mess halls, warehouses, post exchanges (PXs), chapels, theaters, and indoor and outdoor recreational facilities, as well as administrative and other support buildings, such as a library and post office. Facilities to provide water, sewer, and electricity were also installed in addition to construction of a spur of the Pennsylvania Railroad adjacent to the camp.Riker, pp. 14–15, 53–55, and Taulman and Wertz, eds., p. 96. The camp's training facilities also included twenty-one firing ranges and about thirty buildings arranged as a small town, nicknamed Tojoburg, to provide soldiers with field practice in a village setting.Riker, pp. 23–24.
At its largest, Camp Atterbury had 1,780 buildings and provided housing to 44,159 Officers and Soldiers, including: 499 Enlisted men barracks, 40 Bachelor Officer Quarters (BOQs), 23 Women's Army Corps (WAC) barracks, 61 Prisoners-of-War (POW) barracks, 193 Mess halls, 12 Chapels, 5 Service clubs, 3 Officer clubs, 6 Theatres, 4 Gymnasiums, 4 Swimming pools, 1 Hospital and convalescent center (68 building-campus occupying 80 acres).
Hospital and Convalescent Center Camp Atterbury was the site of a state-of-the-art 1,700-bed hospital on approximately of land. Initial construction included forty-three, two-story buildings for patient wards, treatment facilities, mess halls, a post exchange, an auditorium, and a recreation center, as well as housing for medical officers, enlisted men, and nursing staff. Thirty-one of these concrete-block buildings had interconnecting corridors. With later expansion and remodeling, the facility evolved into a 6,000-bed hospital and convalescent center. In July 1942 a medical training school was established at Camp Atterbury and as demand for its services increased, the hospital was further expanded and remodeled. In August 1942 additional buildings were erected to provide space to train field hospital units.Riker, pp. 42–43.
In April 1944, when the post hospital was designated as a specialized general hospital for treatment of soldiers wounded in combat, it was under the command of Colonel Haskett L. Conner. The facility included 2,000 beds for hospital patients and a separate rehabilitation center for 3,000 convalescing soldiers.Riker, pp. 42–43. On 8 May 1944, the hospital was renamed Wakeman General Hospital, in honor of Colonel Frank B. Wakeman, a New York native. Colonel Wakeman attended Valparaiso University as an undergraduate student prior to his service in the Medical Corps during World War I, and received a medical degree from Indiana University in 1926 before returning to active duty in the U.S. Army Medical Corps. Colonel Wakeman served as Chief of the Training Division, Office of the Surgeon General of the U.S. Army, prior to his death in March 1944.See Riker, pp. 43–44.
In July 1944 the Women's Army Corps Medical Department Enlisted Technicians' School was relocated to Camp Atterbury from Hot Springs, Arkansas. In a little more than a year, an estimated 3,800 WACs received their medical technology training at Wakeman Hospital. Some of them remained at Camp Atterbury after their training, while others continued their service at other U.S. Army hospitals.Riker, pp. 31–32, and Taulman and Wertz, eds., pp. 231–32.
In late 1944 and early 1945, the hospital and convalescent center's facilities were further expanded and remodeled in anticipation of an increase in demand for its services. Effective 5 April 1944, the 3547th Service Unit replaced the WAC and medical section of the 1560th Service Unit, and on 18 August, the hospital received its first casualties from England and France. The wounded arrived by airplane from Atterbury Army Air Field (modern-day Columbus Municipal Airport), about twelve miles away, and by train on the Pennsylvania Railroad.Riker, pp. 42–45.
Wakeman General, the largest hospital in the Fifth Service Command, was "one of the best equipped among the forty-three specialized general hospitals in the United States" in the 1940s.Riker, p. 45. It specialized in plastic, neuro-, and orthopedic surgery and reconstructive treatment, and was especially known for its plastic eye replacements.Wakeman was one of twelve hospitals in the United States handling these specialized eye cases, and the only one the Fifth Service Command to do so. See Riker, pp. 43, 45. By January 1945 Wakeman had a medical detachment of 1,600 personnel and about 700 civilians serving 6,000 patients. In addition to its staff, the hospital had the American Red Cross and a group of local women, known as the Gray Ladies, as volunteers to assist its patients. The Red Cross and United Service Organizations also provided entertainment in the form of recreational activities, shows, and special events.Riker, pp. 46–47.
On 20 April 1945, the Wakeman General and Convalescent Hospital, whose total capacity eventually reached 10,000 patients, was designated as the Wakeman Hospital Center. Soldiers who remained at Camp Atterbury for an extended period of recovery were housed in barracks within the camp about two miles from the hospital. Wakeman Hospital remained under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Ray M. Conner, followed by Colonel Frank L. Cole in May 1945 and Colonel Paul W. Crawford in January 1946. The convalescent center was under the command of Colonel Harry F. Becker.Riker, pp. 42, 45–48.
Wakemen treated an estimated 85,000 patients during the war. It closed at the end of 1946 after its remaining patients were transferred to other hospitals. The WAC Medical Department Enlisted Technicians' School was relocated to San Antonio, Texas.Riker, p. 49.
Commanders During World War II, Camp Atterbury was under the command of a succession of military officers from its establishment in 1942 to its closure in 1946. Colonel Welton M. Modisett, who served as its first post commander, arrived in May 1942. He continued to serve in that capacity during the camp's use as a military training center and prisoner internment camp.Riker, p. 33.Lieutenant Colonel Henry Edward Tisdale was named Camp Atterbury's first executive officer; however, he became the commanding officer at Fort Benjamin Harrison on 1 October 1943, and remained there until 24 September 1945. See Brigadier General Ernest A. Bixby succeeded Colonel Modisett as post commander in June 1945, when the camp was active as reception and separation center. Colonel Herbert H. Glidden succeeded General Bixby in June 1946, followed in August by Colonel John L. Gammett, who had been the commander in charge of the internment camp, and Colonel Carter A. McLennon, who arrived in September. Colonel McLennon was Camp Atterbury's commander when it closed in December 1946.Riker, p. 36, and Taulman and Wertz, eds., p. 116.
Units trained during World War II