Camp Roosevelt 1945 - Do you remember?

[brian m]

What an interesting post. My granddad (also 157th) did not appear to go through there. He did not have enough points (73) to go home so that may be why they did not go the same route??? I have a calendar that he wrote a few notes each day at the end of his time in Europe. He left Galling Austria on Sept. 11, 1945 and arrived in Sarburg (sp) france, Camp NY, on Sept. 17th. He was there until October 18th and arrived at the next camp, Camp Boston, on the 19th. He left there on the 14th of November and arrived at Camp Twenty Grand on the 15th. Finally boarded the Sheepshead Bay Victory Ship at La Harve on the 21st. He arrived in NY on Dec. 1st and went to Camp Shanks, and then to Indian Town Gap and was discharged from there on the 7th of Dec.

 

The photo was taken on December 1, 1945. He wrote "Saw Statue of Liberty at 7:30 am What a sight for all of us She sure looked nice"

 

 

Hey y'all. Doing a bit of research for one of my buddies, Harold Whiting, a 157th Engineer.

 

http://www.6thcorpscombatengineers.com/Har...roldWhiting.htm

 

Harold wrote to me yesterday with a request. Seems he is trying to get info regarding a Camp Roosevelt. We are trying to drum up connections of the Internet, but so far have not been successful. Still trying.

 

Did any of you vets ever go through a Camp Roosevelt in Europe (no not in the states - we are aware that there was one here)?

 

Here are a few excerpts from Harold this week:

 

 

Hi there young lady . need a answer some time , no hurry but i know when it was there but i do not know where and have not found it on the list of camps in France ,On my way home from austria in 1945. I was dischared at camp (roosavelt ?) France can not find any info of the camp this will give you some thing to do. This is where i reinlisted for three years so i know it was there Hope all is well with you HWhiting

 

In the interim I wrote back and told him what I had and hadn't found yet, but had not given up. He wrote back this morning with a bit more info.

 

 

This camp was not a discharge camp it was for stopover of troops with points enough to return home in the late fall. I drove a truck from Austria half way back to this camp my discharge says camp roosevelt . There i got the good news; enlist and get 300 dollars. wow all at once got my money and parted and missed my first ship home wow that is how i got home in dec not oct. long story short memory. i remember the major chewing my but out because i was not on the truck that morning guess my head was a little messed up i walked in and forgot to salute well he said how long did you in list for i said three years his answer was you will learn to say sir and salute. my answer was YES SIR AND A SALUTE okay hwhiting</span>

[Walt's Daughter]

Brian, thanks for posting the great photo, and the information.

 

No, not every man in a unit would happen to return home at the same time. Many times, soldiers were often assigned to a different unit than the one they served with, upon shipping out.

[AlaskanGal]

Marion, while you're looking for Roosevelt Camp if you happen across a

Washington Camp would you let me know? Also My dad went in with the 359th Engineers, but on his papers it said Movement RE 7410 160th C Company, he was shipping out to the South Pacific from La Harve. The war ended and instead they went home. I have some of the Japanese money and French money they were given. Very colorful

 

Nancy

[Walt's Daughter]

Just after a precursory investigation, I am unable to find a CAMP WASHINGTON per se, but came up with Japanese Interment camps in Washington. So, anyone with any info would greatly be appreciated.

[armored infantry]

Marion, while you're looking for Roosevelt Camp if you happen across a

Washington Camp would you let me know? Also My dad went in with the 359th Engineers, but on his papers it said Movement RE 7410 160th C Company, he was shipping out to the South Pacific from La Harve. The war ended and instead they went home. I have some of the Japanese money and French money they were given. Very colorful

 

Nancy

 

AlaskanGal,

 

Camp Washington was near Sissonne, France. The USAMHI collection has a photograph of Quartermaster Truck Companies taken at Camp Washington in 1945.

 

Given the camp's location, I suspect it was an assembly area for units that were waiting their turn to ship out.

 

Undoubtedly there is more information about Camp Washington at NARA, although it is probably buried in the masses of COMZ materials that to date have been largely unexplored.

 

 

[SonofaMP]

Camp Washington might be "Camp Washington, DC", one of the "City Camps" located around the French city of Reims.

Troops would pass through these camps on the way to the "Cigarette Camps" at Le Harve.

There were more camps around Antwerp as well as camps north of Marsailles in Southern France but i havent found anything on those yet.

 

http://www.skylighters.org/citycamps/

 

The U. S. Army's redeployment camps (repo-depos) around the French city of Reims were all named after American cities. Reims itself became the headquarters of the Assembly Area Command, which was the central organizing entity for these camps. (Information on these "'tent" camps is sparse,

 

CAMP NAME LOCATION

Atlanta — —

Baltimore 25 miles SE of Reims —

Boston — —

Brooklyn — —

Chicago —

Cleveland — —

Des Moines — —

Detroit Northwest of Reims

Miami — —

New Orleans — —

New York Suippes Sub-Area, 40 km SE of Reims —

Norfolk — —

Oklahoma City — —

Philadelphia — —

Pittsburgh — —

San Antonio — —

St. Louis near Verzenay, approx. 15 km south of Reims —

Washington, D. C. —

--------------------

 

http://www.skylighters.org/special/cigcamps/cigintro.html

 

The Cigarette Camps

Most of the camps were located between Le Havre and Rouen.

Camp Herbert Tareyton, located in the Forest of Montgeon within the city limits, with a capacity of 16,400 men.

Camp Wings, capacity of 2,250 men, was situated on the grounds of the Blaville Aerodrome.

Camp Home Run, at Sanvic, capacity 2,000 men;

Camp Philip Morris, at Gainneville, held 35,000 men;

Camp Pall Mall, at Etretat, provided rather soggy billets for 7,700 men.

Camp Lucky Strike, located between Cany and Saint-Valery (capacity 58,000);

Camp Old Gold, at Ourville (capacity 35,000); and

Camp Twenty Grand, at Duclair (capacity 20,000).

Camp Chesterfield (Information about Camp Chesterfield is very sparse)

Camp Tophat, on the outskirts of Antwerp, Belgium, also qualified (technically) as a Cigarette Camp since it was named after Belgian Tophat cigarettes.

[armored infantry]

Camp Washington might be "Camp Washington, DC", one of the "City Camps" located around the French city of Reims.

Troops would pass through these camps on the way to the "Cigarette Camps" at Le Harve.

There were more camps around Antwerp as well as camps north of Marsailles in Southern France but i havent found anything on those yet.

 

http://www.skylighters.org/citycamps/

 

The U. S. Army's redeployment camps (repo-depos) around the French city of Reims were all named after American cities. Reims itself became the headquarters of the Assembly Area Command, which was the central organizing entity for these camps. (Information on these "'tent" camps is sparse,

 

CAMP NAME LOCATION

Atlanta — —

Baltimore 25 miles SE of Reims —

Boston — —

Brooklyn — —

Chicago —

Cleveland — —

Des Moines — —

Detroit Northwest of Reims

Miami — —

New Orleans — —

New York Suippes Sub-Area, 40 km SE of Reims —

Norfolk — —

Oklahoma City — —

Philadelphia — —

Pittsburgh — —

San Antonio — —

St. Louis near Verzenay, approx. 15 km south of Reims —

Washington, D. C. —

--------------------

 

http://www.skylighters.org/special/cigcamps/cigintro.html

 

The Cigarette Camps

Most of the camps were located between Le Havre and Rouen.

Camp Herbert Tareyton, located in the Forest of Montgeon within the city limits, with a capacity of 16,400 men.

Camp Wings, capacity of 2,250 men, was situated on the grounds of the Blaville Aerodrome.

Camp Home Run, at Sanvic, capacity 2,000 men;

Camp Philip Morris, at Gainneville, held 35,000 men;

Camp Pall Mall, at Etretat, provided rather soggy billets for 7,700 men.

Camp Lucky Strike, located between Cany and Saint-Valery (capacity 58,000);

Camp Old Gold, at Ourville (capacity 35,000); and

Camp Twenty Grand, at Duclair (capacity 20,000).

Camp Chesterfield (Information about Camp Chesterfield is very sparse)

Camp Tophat, on the outskirts of Antwerp, Belgium, also qualified (technically) as a Cigarette Camp since it was named after Belgian Tophat cigarettes.

 

SonofaMP,

 

Sissonne is about 25 miles north of Reims. This fits with the information you provided.

 

Jim