The construction and operation of
Camp Croft brought major changes to the Spartanburg and
Pacolet area. The camp itself was only about six miles
from Pacolet Station. Camp Croft was only one of several
hundred military facilities built all over the United
States at the beginning of World War II.
The size of the camp was huge and it was built in
what seems like a miraculous time compared to modern
projects. The ground breaking ceremony was held on Dec.
5, 1940 and construction began right away. There were
about 167 acres in the basic camp area and about 20,000
acres in the total facility. Enormous quantities of
construction materials were needed in the construction.
By January, 1941, there were over 12,000 employees at
work on the base. In February, 1941 part of the camp was
ready for use and on March 7th the first trainees
arrived. The initial was construction was completed in
May 1941. Over 674 buildings had been completed.
During the War, evidence of the Camp was present
at Pacolet. As a child, I remember that the sound
of artillery practice could be heard all day and
sometimes at night. It sounded like continuous thunder
off in the distance.
Soldiers from the Camp, in their rare time off,
sometimes visited the local communities such as the
Pacolet and Glendale. The photo and story of one such
visit to Glendale is shown at
Sgt. Robert P. Emerson. (Thanks to Mr. Ron Crowley
for making this picture available.)
From 1941 to the end of the war, over 200,000 men
were trained at Camp Croft. After the War, the camp was
closed. The Spartanburg County Foundation purchased the
troop housing area and the state purchased the 7,000+
acres that became Croft State natural Area. The rest of
the property was purchased, at fair market value, by
returning veterans and other people.
There are many famous men who
trained at Camp Croft. One such person was Henry
Kissinger who was Secretary of State in the Nixon
Administration. There is another person with a
connection to Camp Croft who has been highlighted with a
recent book and television series. The book is “Band
of Brothers” published by Simon &
Schuster and written by Stephen Ambrose. The TV series
has the same title and was directed by David Frankel
andTom Hanks for HBO. The book and TV series follow the
story of Company E (Easy Company) of the 2nd Battalion
of the 506 th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st
Airborne Division.
The prominent figure in both the book and the TV
series is Richard (Dick) Winters. Click on the following
link to read more about Dick Winters, his connection to
Camp Croft and his army career. Winters took his basic
training at Camp Croft and also returned a second time
to help train new recruits.
Colonel
James G. Holland served at Camp Croft when he was
a Captain and was involved in Training recruits. His
son, John Holland, has furnished some information about
him. Click on his name to read more.
There is an interesting web site that was used as a
reference source for some of the above information. It
is: (http://www.schistory.net/campcroft/).
It has a large amount of material relating to all phases
of Camp Croft and the men who trained there.
(The Hub City Writers Project in Spartanburg has an
excellent book about the effect Camp Wadsworth in
World War I and Camp Croft in World War II had on the
Spartanburg area. It is titled “When the Soldiers
Came to Town”. It is prepared and edited by
edited by Susan Turpin, Carolyn Creal, Ron Crawley and
James Crocker. There is also a great deal of information
on Camp Croft in the Vernon Foster Book, “Spartanburg-Facts,
Reminisences, Folklore”, described
elsewhere on this web site.)
Post Cards of Camp
Croft
There were many commercial post cards published about Camp
Croft for use by the soldiers being trained there. These
post cards give a photographic record of the base. A
sample of some of these cards can be seen by clicking on
the link below.
