7. Goodbye Camp Wolters

May through June 1942

WAR UPDATE: MAY 6, 1942. Surrender of all U.S. Forces in the Philippines. General MacArthur vows, "I shall return."



More pictures sent home from Camp Wolters. This is me (left) posing next to a tree. The caption on the picture to the right says: "I still had on the wool uniform in this picture."



Our last few days at basic training. Caption on the picture to the right: "Reuben Johnson with me here."

Postcard from Camp Wolters.

Monday, May 25, 1942
I come down with scarlet fever, in hospital at Camp Wolters.



I bought a postcard of the hospital division at Camp Wolters, since I spent a week there with measles in March and over three weeks with scarlet fever in late May-early June. The satellite image (bottom) shows what the same area looks like today. A landmark feature is the horseshoe-shaped roundabout which is present in both images (circled). Note none of the original buildings are there any longer.


WAR UPDATE: JUNE 4, 1942. Battle of Midway. Four Japanese aircraft carriers sunk.

Second week of June 1942
I have recovered from scarlet fever. We have now received our orders to report to Camp Edwards, Massachusetts, for further training and subsequent deployment overseas. We will most likely deploy to the European Theatre of Operations, but we can't really be sure.

Like a ghost of the past rising from the undergrowth, an abandoned building still stands from the original Camp Wolters. The men who trained here are gone, but they will never be forgotten. This photograph was taken in 2003. [photo by Sgt. Jason Watts]