Camp Blanding, Florida

In my entries about the Illinois war memorial, I mentioned that Mike Butkovich was sent to training at Camp Blanding in Florida.  I'd never heard of it, so good old Wiki here I come.

Camp Blanding is still in operation as the primary military reservation and training base for the Florida National Guard, located in Clay County, southwest of Jacksonville, Florida.  It came into being when the US Navy decided it wanted a naval air station near Jacksonville and traded land for the National Guard's Camp Foster on the St. John's River. The new camp was named after World War I General Albert H. Blanding.

In 1940, the camp was leased to the US Army as an active duty training center.  During the war, it served as an induction center, an infantry replacement training center, German POW camp and a separation center after the war.

At its height, the camp grew to 170,000 acres and from 1940 to 1945, more than 800,000 soldiers received all or part of their training there.  At one point, it ranked as Florida's fourth biggest city and had 10,000 buildings, 170 miles of paved roads and the largest hospital in the state.

After the war, it was returned to Florida and became a national guard center again.

There is a museum and memorial park open to the public.

Never Heard of It.  --GreGen