Camp Harahan, also called Camp Plauche, was a troop staging area outside

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The camp served as a staging area for troops passing through the New Orleans Port of Embarkation. Its mission changed to that of a training base in 1942. Between 200,000 - 300,000 troops, including battalions of railroad troops, port troops and hospital men were organized and trained there. The Army Administration Officer Candidate School was established 19 October 1942 at

Mississippi State College Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Unive ...

under the supervision of the Army Adjutant General. Within a few months the School was renamed the

Transportation Corps The Transportation Corps is a combat service support branch of the U.S. Army. It is responsible for the movement of personnel and material by truck, rail, air, and sea. It is one of three U.S. Army logistics branches, the others being the Qua ...

Officer Candidate School An officer candidate school (OCS) is a military school which trains civilians and Enlisted rank, enlisted personnel in order for them to gain a Commission (document), commission as Commissioned officer, officers in the armed forces of a country. ...

(OCS) and moved to Camp Harahan. The curriculum included transportation modes, terminal operations, and cargo/personnel movement. The 765th Transportation Battalion was activated at Camp Harahan on 12 March 1943, as the 765th Railway Shop Battalion. It soon deployed to the

European Theater The European theatre of World War II was one of the two main theatres of combat during World War II. It saw heavy fighting across Europe for almost six years, starting with Germany's invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939 and ending with the ...

. The 721st Railway Operating Battalion was activated at Camp Harahan on 14 April 1943. The unit comprised men from replacement companies, reception centers, a cadre from another battalion and reservists of the New York Central System, which sponsored the battalion. While at Camp Harahan for six weeks, the men underwent a vigorous physical training program, learning to march, hurdle obstacle courses, roll full field packs, fire a gun and become indoctrinated in Army discipline, rules and regulations. The 721st deployed to the

CBI Theater China Burma India Theater (CBI) was the United States military designation during World War II for the China and Southeast Asian or India–Burma (IBT) theaters. Operational command of Allied forces (including U.S. forces) in the CBI was offi ...

. The 740th Railway Operating Battalion was activated at Camp Harahan in December 1943. The camp hosted some of the best African-American musical entertainers active in the U.S. after Priv. John Hammond, who was 34 when he enlisted, was posted there to serve in the Army's Transportation Corps. Soon after arrival, he was charged with organizing activities for otherwise-idle Black soldiers, "to lift their morale". His first big show featured

King Kolax King Kolax (born William Little, November 6, 1912 – December 18, 1991) was an American jazz trumpeter and bandleader. Biography William Little was born in Kansas City, Missouri in 1912; he misleadingly claimed he was born in 1918 in later ...

, "the new king of trumpet", in April 1944, snd he subsequently booked

Ella Fitzgerald Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917June 15, 1996) was an American jazz singer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, in ...

Louis Jordan Louis Thomas Jordan (July 8, 1908 – February 4, 1975) was an American saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and bandleader who was popular from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. Known as " the King of the Jukebox", he earned his high ...

, and

Billy Eckstine William Clarence Eckstine (July 8, 1914 – March 8, 1993) was an American jazz and pop singer and a bandleader during the swing and bebop eras. He was noted for his rich, almost operatic bass-baritone voice. In 2019, Eckstine was posthumously ...

. In letters to friends, he described Camp Plauche's "jimcrow library", noting that it had "no Negro newspapers, no ''

Crisis A crisis ( : crises; : critical) is either any event or period that will (or might) lead to an unstable and dangerous situation affecting an individual, group, or all of society. Crises are negative changes in the human or environmental affair ...

'' with my name on the editorial board." He found, though, that the PX was "mixed", or integrated. He wrote that he had hosted "mixed dance band jam sessions, concerts, and lectures" that had "led to no unpleasantness", adding that these were the "first time at this place for any such activity". He also noted that a segregation order placed on base buses had been torn down by men of both races, so the order had to be painted on the bus ceilings. Soon after the first jazz concerts Hammond hosted at Camp Plauche, integrated sports programs were established for the soldiers, and Hammond observed, "Segregation was demolished by sports and music--the high point in my army career." He also served at

Camp Gruber Camp Gruber is an Oklahoma Army National Guard (OKARNG) training facility. It covers a total of . The base is named after Brigadier General Edmund L. Gruber, a noted artillery officer and the original composer of the U.S. Field Artillery March, ...

, Camp Rucker, and

Fort Benning Fort Benning is a United States Army post near Columbus, Georgia, adjacent to the Alabama–Georgia border. Fort Benning supports more than 120,000 active-duty military, family members, reserve component soldiers, retirees and civilian employees ...

. The camp was later used to hold German and Italian prisoners-of-war (POWs).http://old-new-orleans.com Image:Camp Plauche Animal Remount Station.jpg, Animal Remount Station

References

{{US Army navbox Closed installations of the United States Army Buildings and structures in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana Landmarks in Louisiana Military installations established in 1942 1942 establishments in Louisiana 1946 disestablishments in Louisiana