Fort Ord Army Airfield, later renamed South Parade Ground Army Airfield is a former

United States Army Air Force The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

airfield An aerodrome (Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for publ ...

built for

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 ...

, located at

Fort Ord Fort Ord is a former United States Army post on Monterey Bay of the Pacific Ocean coast in California, which closed in 1994 due to Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) action. Most of the fort's land now makes up the Fort Ord National Monument, m ...

. Fort Ord was an Army Base founded in 1917 on

Monterey Bay Monterey Bay is a bay of the Pacific Ocean located on the coast of the U.S. state of California, south of the San Francisco Bay Area and its major city at the south of the bay, San Jose. San Francisco itself is further north along the coast, by a ...

of the

Pacific Ocean 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 ...

coast in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. Fort Ord closed in 1994 by the

Base Realignment and Closure Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) is a process by a United States federal government commission to increase United States Department of Defense efficiency by coordinating the realignment and closure of military installations following the end o ...

act and is now the Fort Ord National Monument. In 1940 a 1,500-foot hard-surface runway was built at the Fort, just south of the main base. The single wide runway ran west/east and was later also used as a Parade Ground. In 1958 a new and larger Army airfield was built to support Fort Ord, the Fritzsche AAF. Fritzsche AAF was located northeast of Fort Ord Army Airfield. When Fritzsche AAF opened, the Fort Ord Army Airfield was renamed South Parade Ground Army Airfield. Fritzsche AAF replaced Fort Ord Army Airfield and Fort Ord Army Airfield was closed and abandoned in 1964. Fritzsche AAF later became the

Marina Municipal Airport Marina Municipal Airport is a public airport located two miles (3 km) east of the central business district of Marina, a city in Monterey County, California, United States. It is owned by the City of Marina. The airport is on the former ...

in 1994. When the South Parade Ground Army Airfield closed in 1964 it became the South Parade Ground. The South Parade Ground hangars became the base's motor pool. The motor pool/hangars were removed in 2006 and the site is now

California State University, Monterey Bay California State University, Monterey Bay (CSUMB or Cal State Monterey Bay) is a public university in Monterey County, California. Its main campus is located on the site of the former military base Fort Ord, straddling the cities of Seaside and ...

softball field and parking lot. The runways was located just west of General Jim Moore Boulevard and just north of Lightfighter Drive in

Seaside, California Seaside, formerly East Monterey, is a city in Monterey County, California, United States, with a population of 32,366 as of the 2020 census. It is located east-northeast of Monterey, at an elevation of , and is the home of California State Unive ...

, just south of

Marina, California Marina is a city in Monterey County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 22,359, up from 19,718 in 2010. The city is located along the central coast of California, west of Salinas and northeast of Monterey. It ...

. Just to the east of Fort Ord Army Airfield was Camp Pacific a camp for

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...

construction crews from 1938 to 1942. Fort Ord, Soldiers' Club report
/ref>

References

External links

Bureau of Land Management: official Fort Ord National Monument website

Fort Ord Reuse Authority
{{Monterey County, California Installations of the United States Army in California 1940 establishments in California 1964 establishments in California History of Monterey County, California Military installations closed in 1964 Military installations established in 1940

See also

References

External links