Fort Campbell | |
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Hopkinsville, Kentucky / Clarksville, Tennessee |
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Shoulder sleeve insignia of units stationed at Fort Campbell
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Type | Army post |
Site information | |
Controlled by | U.S. Army |
Site history | |
Built | 1941 |
In use | 1941–present |
Garrison information | |
Current commander |
MG Andrew Poppas |
Past commanders |
MG John F. Campbell, 101st ABN Scott C. Schroeder, 101st ABN CSM COL Perry C. Clark, garrison commander Mark F. Herndon, garrison CSM |
Garrison |
101st Airborne Division 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment 5th Special Forces Group 52nd Ordnance Group (EOD) 86th Combat Support Hospital 716th Military Police Battalion 19th Air Support Operations Squadron (USAF) 63rd Chemical Company 1000th MP Battalion (CID) Sabalauski Air Assault School Blanchfield Army Community Hospital NCO Academy |
Fort Campbell is a United States Army installation located astride the Kentucky-Tennessee border between Hopkinsville, Kentucky, and Clarksville, Tennessee. Fort Campbell is home to the 101st Airborne Division and the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment.
The fort is named in honor of Union Army Brigadier General William Bowen Campbell, the last Whig Governor of Tennessee.
The site for Fort Campbell was selected on July 16, 1941, and the Title I Survey was completed November 15, 1941, coincidentally the same time the Japanese Imperial Fleet was leaving Japanese home waters for the attack on Pearl Harbor. Construction of Camp Campbell began on January 12, 1942. Within a year, the reservation designated as Camp Campbell was developed to accommodate one armored division and various support troops, with a total size of 102,414 acres (414 km2), and billets for 2,422 officers and 45,198 enlisted personnel.
Due to its close proximity to Clarksville, Tennessee, the War Department on March 6, 1942, designated Tennessee as the official address of the new camp. This caused a great deal of confusion, since the Headquarters was in Tennessee and the post office was in Kentucky. After many months of mail delivery problems, Colonel Guy W. Chipman requested that the address be changed to Camp Campbell, Kentucky. The War Department officially changed the address on September 23, 1942.
Early in the summer of 1942, the post's initial cadre, one officer and 19 enlisted men, arrived from Fort Knox, Kentucky. From that time until the end of World War II, Camp Campbell was the training ground for the 12th, 14th and 20th Armored divisions, Headquarters IV Armored Corps and the 26th Infantry Division.