WWII Survivors Company B 124th Infantry 31st Division

Camp Stoneman was a

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

facility located in

Pittsburg, California Pittsburg is a city in Contra Costa County, California, Contra Costa County, California, United States. It is an industrial suburb located on the southern shore of the Suisun Bay in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, and is part ...

. It served as a major troop staging area for and under the command of the

San Francisco Port of Embarkation The San Francisco Port of Embarkation (SFPOE) was a United States Army command responsible for movement of supplies and troops to and from the Pacific during World War II with extensive facilities in the San Francisco area. SFPOE was established ...

(SFPOE). The camp operated 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 ...

and the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

. The camp opened May 28, 1942 as a staging point for units deploying to the

Pacific Ocean theater of World War II The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

. The camp was named after

George Stoneman George Stoneman Jr. (August 8, 1822 – September 5, 1894) was a United States Army cavalry officer and politician who served as the fifteenth Governor of California from 1883 to 1887. He was trained at West Point, where his roommate was Stonewall ...

, a cavalry commander during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

and

Governor of California The governor of California is the head of government of the U.S. state of California. The governor is the commander-in-chief of the California National Guard and the California State Guard. Established in the Constitution of California, the g ...

. It was decommissioned as a military post in 1954. The camp had a railroad track across the north side for receiving and shipping men. Late in the war the SFPOE experimented with embarking troops directly aboard a

Liberty ship Liberty ships were a class of cargo ship built in the United States during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Though British in concept, the design was adopted by the United States for its simple, low-cost construction. Mass ...

at the camp but that was not successful due to difficulties of large ship navigation to the camp. Next to the track, there were many buildings with loading docks, many of which were still there in 2017 along Bliss Avenue. There were seven barracks areas, each consisting of nine blocks (3 x 3) surrounding a

mess hall The mess (also called a mess deck aboard ships) is a designated area where military personnel socialize, eat and (in some cases) live. The term is also used to indicate the groups of military personnel who belong to separate messes, such as the o ...

. In addition to being a staging area for troops in transit, the Pacific Coast

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 Training School was located at the camp. The camp also housed

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold priso ...

with the Italian Service Unit of the 18th Italian Quartermaster Service Company, which was based at the camp.

Units staged at Camp Stoneman

13th Troop Carrier Squadron 013 is a music venue in Tilburg, the Netherlands. The venue opened in 1998 and replaced the ''Noorderligt'', the ''Bat Cave'' and the ''MuziekKantenWinkel''. 013 is the largest popular music venue in the southern Netherlands. There are two concer ...

, October 10 to November 1, 1942 * 2nd Infantry Division * 172nd Infantry Regiment * 4th Engineer Special Brigade *

5th Cavalry Regiment The 5th Cavalry Regiment ("Black Knights") is a historical unit of the United States Army that began its service on August 3, 1861, when an act of Congress enacted "that the two regiments of dragoons, the regiment of mounted riflemen, and the t ...

World War II combat survivors of Company B, 124th Infantry Regiment, 31st Infantry Division, at Camp Stoneman in December 1945. *

7th Cavalry Regiment The 7th Cavalry Regiment is a United States Army cavalry regiment formed in 1866. Its official nickname is "Garryowen", after the Ireland, Irish air "Garryowen (air), Garryowen" that was adopted as its march tune. The regiment participated i ...

* 86th Infantry Division deployed from Camp Gruber, OK, staged at Camp Stoneman 14–21 August 1945 then departed SFPOE to the Philippines * 805th Engineer Aviation Battalion * 2nd Filipino Infantry Regiment 345th Bombardment Group (Air Apaches) *380 Bomb Group (5th Air Force), April 1943. First Special Service Force, August 30 to September 4, 1943

References

* The California State Military Museum * The First Special Service Force by Robert D. Burhans March 1947 1947 10 11 - NARA ON003001-426 - Nr 608 per Seth Washburne and The Thirsty 13th

1947 10 11 - NARA ON003001-426 - Nr 608 per Seth Washburne and The Thirsty 13th

NARA RG 111-SC Box 665 1947 10 01 - Gate 1 looking up Grant Drive 2

{{coord, 38, 00, 33.5, N, 121, 53, 11.65, W, display=title History of Contra Costa County, California Closed installations of the United States Army Buildings and structures in Contra Costa County, California Pittsburg, California 1942 establishments in California 1954 disestablishments in California