Camp Wellfleet is a former United States military training camp. It occupies about of land located along the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

in the town of

Wellfleet, Massachusetts Wellfleet is a New England town, town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States, and is located halfway between the "tip" and "elbow" of Cape Cod. The town had a population of 3,566 at the 2020 United S ...

Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mont ...

. The 548th Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion (75mm Gun) used the Camp for a firing range from 1954-1956. The majority of the site (1,688.8 acres) is owned and maintained by the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...

, as the administrator of the

Cape Cod National Seashore The Cape Cod National Seashore (CCNS), created on August 7, 1961, by President John F. Kennedy, encompasses on Cape Cod, in Massachusetts. It includes ponds, woods and beachfront of the Atlantic coastal pine barrens ecoregion. The CCNS includes ...

. The Town of Wellfleet owns a portion (49.2 acres) of the site. It was officially opened on March 19, 1943.

Military use

For almost 19 years, the former Camp Wellfleet property was used by the U.S. Government for military training purposes. The

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 ...

also conducted several surface removal clearances prior to property transfer. The property was used by the Army as an

anti-aircraft Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

training center from 1942 to 1944;

Camp Edwards Camp Edwards is a United States military training installation which is located in western Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts. Originally the Massachusetts Military Reservation (which was another name for it until 2013) acquired in Se ...

in the western part of the cape was also used for this. By June 1944, Camp Wellfleet encompassed with a capacity of 64 officers and 1,052 enlisted personnel. In 1944, the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

obtained a permit to use a portion of the property as a temporary bomb target, and it became a sub-installation of

Naval Auxiliary Air Facility Hyannis Naval Auxiliary Air Facility Hyannis was a United States Navy facility located in Hyannis, Massachusetts operational from 1942 to 1945. It existed as an auxiliary air facility of Naval Air Station Quonset Point. History From 1942 to 1943, the fac ...

. The Navy returned the site to the Army in 1947, and after

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 ...

it was used as a training center for guardsmen and reservists.

National Park usage

In 1961, the site was declared excess and conveyed to the

United States Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the mana ...

by President

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

to establish the

Army Corps of Engineers Investigations

The periodic discovery of ordnance in beach areas heavily used by the general public, coupled with the potentially large volume of ordnance suspected to be at the site, resulted in the initiation of an Engineering Evaluation/Cost Analysis (EE/CA) at the site by the

United States Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...

. During the EE/CA investigations of 1998-1999, geophysical surveys were conducted, and followed by intrusive investigation of geophysical anomalies, resulting in the finding of a rifle smoke grenade, inert 1000 pound Dove missiles, and one inert 250 pound bomb. The EE/CA report recommended implementation of institutional controls and clearance of ordnance along coastal areas (where the majority of ordnance was used). The EE/CA was followed by a aerial magnetic survey conducted by

Oak Ridge National Laboratory Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is a U.S. multiprogram science and technology national laboratory sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and administered, managed, and operated by UT–Battelle as a federally funded research and ...

. The success of the survey was somewhat limited by tree cover, but 345 magnetic anomalies were identified for further investigation. Government contractor Zapata Engineering investigated the anomalies and conducted further geophysical surveys, and discovered other ordnance items. A removal action was conducted in a 5-acre area east of the southern parking lot where a rocket range had existed. In the decades since the military used the property, various ordnance items, including anti-aircraft projectiles, bazooka rounds, smoke grenades, and small arms ammunition have been recovered. The majority of this was found along the beach and dune areas due to wave action and erosion.

Site today

It is not uncommon to find

bazooka Bazooka () is the common name for a Man-portable anti-tank systems, man-portable recoilless Anti-tank warfare, anti-tank rocket launcher weapon, widely deployed by the United States Army, especially during World War II. Also referred to as the ...

and

rounds on the beach. A 14-inch long round was found in 2014 and detonated on site.Bomb Squad Detonates WWII Round On Cape Cod Beach
CBS Boston, July 23, 2014.

References

External links