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CAMP BOWIE
(Brown County). Camp
Bowie was established at Brownwood in September 1940 as an infantry
and artillery training center for the Thirty-sixth Infantry Division,qv Texas National Guard,qqv and was named in honor of the Texas patriot James Bowie.qv It was the first major defense construction project in Texas in
World War II.qv The camp was occupied by the end of December 1940 by the 111th
Quartermaster Regiment of the Thirty-sixth Division, commanded
by Maj. Gen. Claude V. Birkhead.qv By October 1942 Camp Bowie had expanded from an original 2,000
acres to a total of 120,000 acres and was occupied, in addition
to the Thirty-sixth Division, by the 113th Cavalry of the Iowa
National Guard, the Eighth Army Corps with its headquarters, and
troops of the Third Army under Gen. Walter Krueger.qv The Third Army personnel at Camp Bowie was composed of special
troops of the Seventh Headquarters Detachment of the Third Army,
medical units ranging from the Second to the Seventeenth, some
engineer companies, signal battalions, and chemical companies.
The Eighth Corps comprised the 174th and 142nd Field Artillery
groups. The Eighteenth Field Artillery Brigade, the Fourth Armored
Division, and the Seventh Headquarters Special Troops of the Fourth
Army were also stationed at Camp Bowie at various times. A WAC
contingent was attached to the Tank Destroyer Group and the Service
Command Unit. A rehabilitation center to serve all posts and camps
of the Eighth Service Command was set up in January 1942, and
in August 1943 a prisoner of war camp with a capacity of 3,000
prisoners was established within the post (see GERMAN PRISONERS
OF WAR). Camp Bowie was declared surplus by a War Department order,
effective August 31, 1946.
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