Blog Entry With Site Visit

 

Camp Blanding

 

What is Camp Blanding? Camp Blanding is a military reservation and training base for the Florida National Guard and Florida Air National Guard.

 

Where is Camp Blanding located? Camp Blanding is in Clay County. Florida is near the city of Starke.

 

When was Camp Blanding established? Camp Blanding was established in 1939 on 30,000 acres. It has grown to over 150,000 acres present day.

Camp Blanding was formed after the first sale of a permanent Florida National Guard training site known as Camp Joseph E. Johnston to the federal government.

How were funds raised to build Camp Blanding? The government formed the Work Projects Administration to pay for the labor and supplies of water and sewer lines, and the construction of fences and roads.

 

How was Camp Blanding used during WW2? In 1940, Camp Blanding was used by the government to be used by the Army as a training base for the National Guard and Active Army Infantry.

“Camp Blanding also represented the transforming wand of federal largess. Conceived in 1939 as a summer camp or the FNG, Blanding was carved from a 27,000 – acre preserve in rural Clay Country” (Mormino. G 2018).

 

Camp Blanding Sign

 

Military Tank, Camp Blanding

 

 

Steve (me), Anthony (Army), Aidan, Chelsea

Camp Blanding Veterans Day Outing

 

Camp Blanding War Cannon

 

 

Military Aircraft, Camp Blanding

 

Uncle Sam, Camp Blanding

 

 

Soldier, Camp Blanding

 Camp Blanding became a popular spot for military operations in 1942. The area became overpopulated which made roads congested and the need for a train. A new paper captured the frantic mood:

"Starke is a gauche. In its present incarnation, it is a town created and spoiled by defense dollars. With its over-lighted facades, its blazing interiors, its fluorescent tubing, its while-u-wait photo studios, its hell-red neon's, its cheap jewelry displays and its gaudy movie palaces...Starke had gone from a population of 1,500 to a population of nobody knows what. Starke, an overnight gold-rush town as a result of the national emergency, is as fantastic a spot as America now presents" (Mormino,G, 2018 pg.333)

 

 

Reference

Gannon, M. (2018). Chapter 19, World War 2. In The history of Florida. essay, University Press of Florida (pg. 333)