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WWII
Chronicles
CAMP HOWZE
POW Camp
and Infantry Training
Cooke County
NW of Gainesville
Photos courtesy Sarah Reveley and Mike Price |
| Photo
courtesy Sarah Reveley, 2007 |
Established
in 1942 as an Infantry-training camp, Camp Howze once covered 59,000
acres of Cooke County land that was acquired from local landowners
shortly after Pearl
Harbor.
It was named to honor Major Robert E. Lee Howze, who had won the Congressional
Medal of Honor and had served during the Indian campaigns, the Philippine
Insurrection following the Spanish-American
War, and World War I.
The base was activated in August of 1942, and had a capacity of just
under 40,000 men.
Several hundred thousand men received their training here over the
course of the war and the camp later became a Prisoner of War Camp
for captured German soldiers.
An estimated $20 million was spend on the camp during it’s construction
and use, providing hundreds of jobs for Cooke County residents.
After the war, the camp, like most others, was deactivated. The buildings
were sold as scrap and today only the cement foundations, chimneys
and water toewers remain.
In an interview with a former trainee, he recalled how demoralizing
it was to see German prisoners playing soccer while his unit was enduring
a forced march. “The war was over for them, but it hadn’t even started
for us.” |
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Camp
Howze Historical Marker
Photo courtesy Sarah Reveley, 2007 |
| Photo
courtesy Sarah Reveley, 2007 |
| Photo
courtesy Sarah Reveley, 2007 |
| Photo
courtesy Sarah Reveley, 2007 |
| Photo
courtesy Mike Price, 2007 |
Photographers'
Notes:
Subject: Camp Howze -Gainesville
These are the
most visable remains of WWII Camp Howze NW of Gainesville. When
the grass is low there are a great many small foundation supports
stretching across the countryside.
There are a number of small structures there but the water towers
stand out.
The camp was 59,000 acres (92+ sq mi).
From a story related by a friend whose parents owned a farm/ranch
within the camp boundries. The army came in one day and said we're
buying your place and bull dozing your buildings, you have x days
to get out. They were allowed to repurchase the property following
the base closing if they wanted. Most had relocated and could not
afford to do so. Large chunks were made into two ranches. - Mike
Price, September 27, 2007
"Turned
off for the roadside marker. It was quite eerie, and beautiful,
because the foundations looked like tombstones. I stopped and talked
to a couple of men working on the road, they said those foundations
were everywhere." - Sarah
Reveley, October 31, 2007
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