CAMP ATTERBURY, INDIANA
PHYSICAL DATA

US Army Military History Institute
Carlisle Barracks, Carlisle PA

LOCATION: South-central Indiana, 30 miles south of Indianapolis, 12 miles north of Columbus, 4 miles west of Edinburgh

SIZE: (Original configuration): 40,351.5348 acres, 12.5 miles N-S, 8 miles E-W. (Effective 1 January 1969, 33,484.64 acres leased to Military Department of Indiana for use as training/mobilization site; balance of acreage divided among US Department of Labor (Atterbury Job Corps Center), Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Indiana Department of Corrections (Work-release Center), and Johnson County Parks and Recreation Department)

ORIGINAL COST: Land acquisition: $3,800,000 (average of $94 per acre); construction: $35,000,000; total $38,800,000

SURVEY, ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION: Overall project supervisor: CPT William S. Arrasmith, Corps of Engineers; primary contractor for survey, engineering and architectural work: Charles H. Hurd Company of Indianapolis

BUILDINGS: (Original construction): 1,780 buildings providing housing for 44,159 officers and troops and 764,896 square feet of warehouse space: 1985 facilities (in area leased to MDI): 238 buildings including 149 original buildings plus 89 of 1978-1983 construction

HOSPITAL: Wakeman General Hospital (Wakeman General and Convalescent/Wakeman Hospital Center) originally covered 80 acres and included a total of 68 buildings, 57 of which were inter-connected; 2,700 beds in Hospital, proper; 3,000 in convalescent center.

PRISONER OF WAR CAMP: The Atterbury Internment Camp covered 75 acres and had an intended capacity of 3,000.

ORIGINAL FACILITIES: The following is a breakdown of original construction buildings, followed by the number of such original buildings remaining in the Indiana National Guard area in 1985:

EM Barracks 499 (38)

BOQ's 40 (5)

WAC Barracks 23

POW Barracks 61

Officer Cottages 9 (1)

Mess Halls 193 (21)

Chapels 12 (2)

PX 16 (1)

Service Clubs 5

Officer Clubs 3

Theaters 6

Pull Gymnasiums 4 (1)

Swimming Pools 4 (1)

Farm Houses 8 (2)

CAMP ATTERBURY, INDIANA

ACTIVATED: 2 June 1942

NAMED FOR: BG William Wallace Atterbury, Chief of Transport, American Expeditionary Force (WW 1), President, Pennsylvania Railroad, native of New Albany, Indiana.

OFFICIAL MOTTO: Preparamus (!'We Are -Ready")

FIRST POST COMMANDER: Welton Matthews Modisette, COL, CAV

ORIGINAL STATION COMPLEMENT: 1560th Service Command Unit, 5th Service Command, Army Service Forces

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS:

28 April: 1941: War Department announces intent to build "Triangular Division Camp Site" in area at time to be determined later

19 June 1941: Land appraisals and title searches begin

14 January 194 : War Department announces decision to launch project forthwith; proceedings begin for procurement of land

14 February 1942: IInitial excavation work begin

6 March 1942: War Department announces that official name will be "Camp Atterbury"

28 May 1942: Colonel Welton M. Modisette, Post Commander, arrives

2 June 1942: First General Order is published (event considered to mark official activation of Post) 15 August 1942: 83rd Infantry Division reactivated (first of over 275,000 troops to train at Camp Atterbury during WW 11); departed 18 June 1943 for Tennessee Maneuver Area prior to shipment to ETO

1 September 1942: 8th Detachment Special Troops, 2nd Army, activated;

28 June 1944 inactivated

10 September 1942: 365th Combat Team (365th Infantry Regiment, 597th Field Artillery Battalion), 92nd Infantry Division, activated; departed 26 April 1943 for Fort Huachuca, Arizona, prior to shipment to ETO

20 April 1943: First Prisoners of War arrive (760 Italian captured in North Africa); Atterbury Internment Camp ultimately held over 3,000 Italians (last departed 4 May 1944) and almost 9,000 Germans, (8 May 1944 - 27 June 1946) 3,700 of whom were rotated to smaller branch camps throughout Indiana

10 November 1943; 30th Infantry Division arrives from Tennessee Maneuver Area; departed 26 January 1944 for Camp Myles Standish, Massachusetts, prior to shipment to ETO

27 March 1944: 106th Infantry Division arrives; departed 13 October 1944 for east coast POE; assigned to "quiet" sector in the Ardennes; virtually wiped-out in Battle of the Bulge.

5 April 1944: US Army Station Hospital, Camp Atterbury, is redisignated Wakeman General Hospital (named for Colonel Prank B. Wakeman, a graduate of Indiana University Medical School, and Chief of. .Training, Office of the Surgeon General); Wakeman General (Wakeman General and Convalescent/Wakeman Hospital Center) ultimately included 57 inter- connecting buildings covering 80 acres and held 2,700 beds, in the hospital proper with another 3,000 beds in the convalescent center (the 3, 4, and 5 Blocks of buildings); at its peak, it was the largest US Army hospital in the nation and was a pioneer in many types of plastic and neurological surgery; Wakeman treated over 85,000 patients during the WW II era; inactivated 31 December 1946

15 October 1944: Camp Atterbury Separation Center activated; almost 561,000 personnel. were separated at the Center, which averaged almost 3,000 separations per day, at its peak; inactivated 31 July .1946

27 August 1946: United States Property and Disbursal Officer -(USP & DO) for Indiana receives rescindable permit for use of selected Camp Atterbury facilities

31 December 1946: Inactivation of Wakeman General Hospital effectively "inactivates" Camp Atterbury

August 1948: Camp Atterbury is site of first post-war summer camp for entire 38th Infantry Division

1 August 1950: Camp Atterbury is reactivated; Wakeman General Hospital is reactivated as US Army Hospital, Camp Atterbury; by time of deactivation, hospital has delivered a grand total (WW II and Korean Conflict era) of almost 1,500 babies 13 September 1950: 28th Infantry Division arrives-from Pennsylvania; departed 1 September 1951 for Hampton Roads, Virginia, for shipment to Germany

22 January 1951: Headquarters, VI Army Corps is reactivated; inactivated 1 April 1953

21 April 1952: 31st Infantry Division arrives from Texas Maneuvers; departed 5 February 1954 for Camp Carson, Colorado

31 March 1954: Camp Atterbury is inactivated

April 1954: Military Department of Indiana again receives permit to use selected portions of Camp Atterbury; USAR Center is established

1 January 1965: Camp Atterbury is designated a sub-post of Fort Benjamin Harrison; US Army Garrison, Camp Atterbury, is discontinued

15 April 1965: Atterbury Job Corps Center is established

July 1965: Indiana Military Academy is moved from Fort Benjamin Harrison to Camp Atterbury

2400 hrs, 31 December 1968: Camp Atterbury is officially deactivated and the area north of Hospital Road is turned over to GSA for disposal

0001 hrs. 1 January 1969: Military Department Of Indiana assumes control of area South Of Hospital Road under license from DA

1 April 1969: Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment,, Atterbury Reserve Forces Training Area is activated as station complement

1 March 1972: HHD, ARFTA is disbanded and personnel absorbed by 1413th, Engineer Detachment which- becomes station complement

1 September 1976: Atterbury Army National Guard Training Site (ATS) is established as station complement

19 November 1984: Camp Atterbury Installation Support Unit (CAISU) is established and absorbs personnel of ATS which is disbanded.