Camp Myles Standish
| Camp Myles Standish | |
|---|---|
| Taunton, Massachusetts | |
| Coordinates | 41°56′52.38″N 71°7′56.66″W / 41.9478833°N 71.1324056°W |
| Site information | |
| Owner | Massachusetts |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1942 |
| Built by | United States Army |
| In use | 1942-1948 |
| Battles/wars | World War II |
| Garrison information | |
| Garrison | Taunton, Massachusetts |
| Occupants | U.S. Army |
Camp Myles Standish was a U.S. Army camp located in Taunton, Massachusetts. It functioned as a departure area for about a million U.S. and Allied soldiers and prisoner-of-war camp during World War II. Immediately after, it was considered as a candidate site for the United Nations Headquarters.
The city of Taunton was notified in June 1942 by the War Department that 1,500 acres (6.1 km2) would be taken for use as a military staging area. The design of the layout for the camp was made by the J.F.Worcester Company. The Matthew Cummings Company of Boston received the contract to construct the buildings. The camp opened on October 8, 1942 and was named in honor of Myles Standish who was the first military commander in the Old Colony region. Camp Myles Standish represented the Boston Port of Embarkation where American soldiers as well as soldiers from Canada, Great Britain and Australia processed before engaging in the European Theater of World War II.
As such, a quartermaster was set up so an entire division could be prepared for deployment within a day. Often, divisions would go to Africa or Iceland. This made train traffic understandably chaotic, with trains regularly coming into town from Providence, Rhode Island, Springfield, Massachusetts and Boston. The yard itself, run by the New Haven Railroad, contained about ten miles of track.
German soldiers who were captured during the war were detained at this camp. Also, Italian soldiers were detained there as well although they were considered 'co-belligerents' because Italy had surrendered by the time the Italian soldiers arrived at Camp Myles Standish.
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Wikipedia