1945 Fort Bragg At War Book, WWII 105

[Item name or title], [Folder Numbers], 1945 Fort Bragg At War Book, WWII 105, World War II Papers, Military Collection, State Archives of North Carolina, Raleigh, N.C.

The collection is composed of one original 122-page book entitled Fort Bragg At War: The Station Complement, published in 1945 by the Headquarters, Office of the Commanding General, Fort Bragg, N.C. The book documents the Fort Bragg Station Complement, consisting of the staff and facilities that supplied U.S. Army soldiers stationed at Fort Bragg with supplies, housing, equipment, medical services, laundry services, recreational services and activities, religious services and installations, building and equipment maintenance, and operation of the base's Army Exchanges. The book features photographs of all the service installations on Fort Bragg during World War II, and detailed descriptions of the operations and resources of the various service facilities or soldier activities, such as the post quartermaster, civilian personnel branch, and even the prisoner of war camp. The collection also includes a letter from the Fort Bragg Public Relations Officer explaining the donation of the book to the North Carolina Historical Association [present-day State Archives of North Carolina]. The book offers a unique insight into the perspectives of those who were stationed at Fort Bragg in World War II.

With the threat of World War II and the passage of the U.S. Selective Service Act, a reception station was built at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and the fort exploded to a population of 67,000 soldiers within a year. In March 1942, the U.S. Army created the Airborne Command at Fort Bragg with native North Carolinian Brigadier General William C. Lee as commanding general. In 1940, he had been assigned by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to develop airborne forces at Fort Benning. His efforts there had resulted in the first tactical parachute battalion and it was based on his recommendations that the Army decided to create airborne divisions as units of more than 10,000 soldiers complete with artillery, engineers and support elements.

In August 1942, Lee was promoted to Major General and given command of the 101st Airborne Division. Both the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions moved to Fort Bragg in the fall of 1942. Fort Bragg served as the airborne training center for these first airborne units. To augment Fort Bragg, the Army began construction in the spring of 1942 at Camp Hoffman; by early 1943 an airfield was complete along with 1,750 buildings, and the camp was renamed Camp Mackall.

Before the end of World War II, all five airborne divisions-the 82nd, 101st, 11th, 13th and 17th-along with a number of independent units, including the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion (the Army's first black parachute unit trained at the fort) were all stationed and trained at Fort Bragg. In addition to airborne training, the Fort Bragg complex-whose population exceeded 100,000 personnel by mid-1943-continued to grow as new enlistees and drafted inductees were received by the thousands between 1942 and 1946. Many North Carolinians who enlisted in or were drafted in the Army were sent initially to Fort Bragg, where they either remained for basic training or were processed and sent to another military camp for basic training.

The book was received by the State Archives of North Carolina from Capt. A .T. McLean Jr., Public Relations Officer for Headquarters, Public Relations Branch, Fort Bragg, N.C., in August 1945. The book was sent to the State Archives to support their World War II war records collection project, at the behest of Brig. Gen. John T. Kennedy, commanding officer of Fort Bragg in 1945. The donation was completed in September 1945.