Camp Mills

Camp Mills Aviation Concentration Center
Garden City, Long Island, New York
Encampment of National Guard soldiers at Camp Mills, New York training for service in World War I
Location of Camp Mills. Note location of Hazelhurst Field and Aviation Field #2, later becoming Mitchel Field
Coordinates	40°43′32″N 73°36′58″W / 40.72556°N 73.61611°W / 40.72556; -73.61611
Site history
Built	1917 (1917)

Camp Albert L. Mills (Camp Mills) was a military installation on Long Island, New York. It was located about ten miles from the eastern boundary of New York City on the Hempstead Plains within what is now the village of Garden City. It was named in honor of Major General Albert L. Mills, who was awarded the Medal of Honor for gallantry during the Spanish–American War.

Camp Mills was one of three camps under control of the New York Port of Embarkation with a capacity for 40,000 transient troops. The facility was one of several military establishments built during World War I in the Mineola, New York area that included the Aviation General Supply Depot and Concentration Camp; Hazelhurst Field (later Roosevelt Field) and Mitchel Field.

The mission of Camp Mills was initially the preparation of Army units prior to their deployment to Europe in World War I. It was established as temporary tent camp in September 1917 as a place to mobilize the 42nd Division, made up of National Guard units from various states. After the 42d left for the Western Front in France, the 41st Division followed, occupying the camp from October to November 1917. It was then ordered to be abandoned, but reestablished April 4, 1918, as a part of the New York Port of Embarkation at Hoboken, New Jersey to obtain additional facilities for troops in transit to Europe.