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Fort Carson History
Fort Carson's Historical Setting
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Cheri Will
David, Shannon, Sharon & Michelle
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Colorado Springs, CO 80918
Office: 719.548.0400
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Cheri:
719.930.7294
Cheri@cheriwill.com
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