Sunday, November 16, 2014

A Camp Within A Fort: Camp Crocket, Georgia

For those of you who have followed this blog, you know that Ft. Gordon was both my basic training fort and AIT signal school.  I follow news about Gordon closely and will be adding more on it at a later date.  

Not too many men stationed at Fort Gordon during the peak of the Vietnam War years of 1967 through1969 ever heard of, much less saw, an AIT infantry outfit isolated in the woods of western Fort Gordon, GA.  

It was supposed to be a natural progression in infantry training with its graduates heading on to jump school at Ft. Benning, GA and then onto Vietnam.  Anyway, that is how it was planned as it was open for business in 1967.

The best laid plans of government officials sometimes don't pan out as projected.  Camp Crocket is one of those.  Hence, it had a rather short life span.  Before the end of 1969 it was closed.

However, the place left a deep impression on most of the young men who spent 8-10 weeks there.  It was not a success according to forums I have read from older men now who express the imprint Camp Crocket had on them.  

To read one man's remembrance of Crocket, click HERE Thanks to George Hoffman for his 1994 recount of his memories.

Permission has been received from both Rodney Eng  and WRDW, CBS, Augusta, GA  to print these photos.


This overhead shot of Ft. Gordon today shows that it is a rather compact area. The fort was a very active place with many different purposes. 




Shown in this picture are the coordinates of Camp Crocket as it looks today.   Apparently, all the trees and shrubs which had overgrown it for over 40 years have been removed. 

Count all of the concrete pads that remain intact and you should get 25. According to Sonny Hoffman, there once were 122 Quonset huts at Camp Crocket.



This is an expanded view of Crocket and its location beside Bishop Road and near Range  Road.  Across from Bishop Road is Leitner Pond where many morning and evening routines were conducted. 


Lake Leitner, the largest water lake, is a recreational area with boating, swimming and fishing. The irony is its closeness  to Camp Crocket where not  so much fun was had.

To view Lake Leitner from a kayak, click HERE.

 

Looking closely at this photo, you can see Ft. Gordon proper at the right and Camp Crocket at the lower left.  

It doesn't seem as though Crocket was that far into the boondocks, but you did not arrive there unless you intended to find it.


Photo by Lou Krieger; courtesy of  WRDW-News 12, CBS, Augusta, GA

Pictures of the remaining concrete slabs were taken by Lou in October, 2010.


Photo by Lou Krieger; courtesy of WRDW-News 12, CBS, Augusta, GA

Taken by Lou Krieger again in 2010, this area, once covered by trees and foliage, has now been cleared to show the northwest corner of Camp Crocket.


Photo by Lou Krieger; courtesy WRDW-News 12, CBS, Augusta, GA

Drop back 47 years, and here in 1967 is a younger Lou Krieger standing in a sand road between columns of Quonset huts.

Photo courtesy of Rodney Eng@campcrockett.blogspot.com

Imagine the labor and varied skills needed to construct one of these Quonset huts.  This, apparently, is one of the first huts to be built in late 1967.  

If there were over 120 of these in Camp Crocket, they must have been put together in a very short period of time.  

Maybe someone in our comment section can clarify the process of building this camp.


Photo courtesy of Rodney Eng@campcrockett.blogspot.com

Shown here are guys performing the morning routines of shaving and cleaning up.  This was done, I believe, at a pond not too far on the other side of Bishop Road. 


Photo courtesy of Rodney Eng@campcrockett.blogspot.com

This may be one of the few pictures ever taken of the mock POW camp built to somewhat emulate the experience of being captured. 

When our AIT signal corps group was given the opportunity, we intercepted a group of Signal Corps Officer Candidate trainees as they made their way through a forest.  

We were hiding out in a cemetery not far from a mock POW camp.  I wonder if this is the camp where we took the bound trainees in April of 1968. 



Photo courtesy of Rodney Eng@campcrockett.blogspot.com


After a food riot, preparing chow became a difficult chore.  You can see here that conditions in this outdoor kitchen were less than super sanitary. Check out the cigarette.


Photo courtesy of Rodney Eng@campcrockett.blogspot.com

These four young trainees at Camp Crocket made a pact that they would all return from Vietnam.  This was a promise they made to one another in 1967.

Although they were broken up into different outfits once they got there, Rodney Eng (third from left) assures us that they all made it home.


Photo courtesy of Rodney Eng@campcrockett.blogspot.com

In December of 1967, this group of soon-to-be graduates of Camp Crocket paused for a picture in front of one of the many Quonset huts they helped build.


Photo courtesy of Rodney Eng@campcrockett.blogspot.com

Again, in December of 1967, the platoon of which Rodney Eng was a member gathered in their dress uniforms.  A completed Quonset hut is shown behind them.  

Looking to the far left, we can get an idea of what life was really like with the outdoor latrines.

Photo courtesy of Rodney Eng@campcrockett.blogspot.com

Nearing the end of his 8 week infantry AIT training, Rodney has now become an E-5, hard stripe SGT.  

Interesting also is the Lyster bag hanging to the left.  


Photo from usmilitariaforum.com/forums

Any of us who have lived outdoors during bivouac are familiar with the concept of drinking water that was supposed to be potable.

Actually invented before WWI, the man's name who is given credit had the last name of Lyster.  

As the years passed, the spelling of the name became Lister, thinking of the man, Joseph Lister who was responsible for antiseptic surgery.  Can't you just taste original Listerine?


Photo courtesy of Rodney Eng@campcrockett.blogspot.com

With gear all assembled in the road between columns of huts, Rodney and his classmates were ready to leave the confines of Camp Crocket.

Thanks to Kent Matheiu for photo-shopping this picture which is an important part of the story. 


And, finally, to hear Rodney himself, click HERE.


Photo courtesy of WRDW-News 12, CBS, Augusta, GA

Camp Crocket had long been forgotten when word began to spread that Agent Orange (Monsanto and Dow Chemical) had been sprayed in areas of Ft. Gordon as well as over 20 other forts.  

The purpose of Agent Orange was to kill all vegetation in its path in order to expose the North Vietnamese along the Ho Chi Minh Trail.


Photo courtesy of WRDW-News 12, CBS, Augusta, GA

Television station WRDW in Augusta began a series of reports which showed the areas where Agent Orange was sprayed and the consequent destruction of the area circled here in orange.  

It was called a dead zone.  


 Photo courtesy of WRDW-News 12, CBS, Augusta, GA

After so many decades of not knowing, Lou Krieger lead the effort to get Ft. Gordon to acknowledge its use of Agent Orange during 1967. 

It just so happens that the area sprayed was near Camp Crocket and many of the soldiers exposed are experiencing many health issues. 




Here is Ft. Gordon's official statement regarding Agent Orange and its long-term effect on the areas sprayed.

20 comments:

  1. Hello. I think that I found the remnants of Camp Crockett at Fort Gordon, Georgia today. Bishop Road is no longer there. The concrete slabs mentioned in your article are not believed to be from Camp Crockett because they are not long enough and range control said that they were put there a few years ago for tents. But I did find some interesting things there today. I have many pictures but I can't post them on here. I have created a Facebook page called "Camp Crockett, Fort Gordon GA." There needs to be a monument at this site! Dwayne Coffer 540-588-1094.

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  2. What a great discovery, Dwayne. John was so intrigue with this when he began looking into Fort Crockett. Although John passed 2 years ago, I am keeping his blog open as he asked in hopes it would be noticed by others. Thank you so much for adding a comment to the post. LC

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  3. As a graduate of Camp Crockett class of January I would like to point out the main and only vehicle entrance to the camp was off Gibson road,not Bishop road as stated in the article

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  4. I have lots of pictures from the area my father took there between February and April 1968. He was a February 1968 graduate of the Infantry NCO Candidate Course at Fort Benning, and after graduation, the candidates were sent out to various AIT units to serve as junior drill instructors as Phase II (On The Job Training) of the course.

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    1. My email address is meredith.anderson@wrdw.com and my phone number is (803)278-3111.

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    2. There was a large pecan grove directly across Gibson Road from Camp Crockett, huge trees.

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  5. My name is James Manis and I was in D-7-3 Graduated some time in late august 1967, and arrived in RVN on the 6th of October of that year. Would like to hear from anyone that was in Delta Company! Respectfully 931-216-3719

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  6. D-7-3 1967 anyone from that time or unit please contact me : manis_j@msn.com

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  7. Was Agent Orange used there in 1963$

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  8. Hello fellow grads of camp Crockett, It's hard to try to explain to someone about an experience that you had, but Crockett and Vietnam can only be understood if you were there. I was at Crockett in the summer of 68, I was 18 when I graduated I did not want to go to jump school and got my orders for Nam. The First Cav. was waiting for me when I got to Cahm Ram Bay. 3 days before I turned 19 I was shipped up north to Camp Evans Headquarters received my gear and out to a small Lz named Jack. I was put into a 2 Platoon recon and mortars Co. I was on the mortars side, tough humping the mortar up and down those mountains especially during monsoon. The Cav. picked up the entire division and we moved south along the Cambodian border and spent my remaining 8 months there. The one thing I can say with certainty is Crockett was as crazy a place as Vietnam! I was ready for anything after Crockett. If any of you remember the C-4 incident I was one of the goofballs that participated in that. We were graduating and a new set of trainees were coming through, sorry guys but it was hilarious! I Know without a doubt that all that went through Crockett will agree with me that there was no crazier place and a training facility that got a soldier ready for Nam than Crockett...

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  9. Camp Crockett was in use in 1966. My late brother did his Airborne training there starting in Aug 1966. I have his DD 214 and File 201. He went over to Nam serving in 25th I D 3rd Brigade

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  10. Hey my fellow "ringneck" that what we were called. D/2/503 173 Airborne THE HERD

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  11. I started basic training in the middle of Nov 67. Eight weeks later would have put me in Camp Crockett about Feb 68. After reading the posts on this site, where Rodney Eng helped built the huts, then graduated in Jan of 68, I asume that we were the second class at Crockett. I was in the first row of huts as you entered, so I am quite sure that it was "A" company. Our CO was a very nice black man named Capt Spellmen, Our 1st Sgt was named Sgt Walters. I remember a Sgt Varner, our mess Sgt was Sgt Burchfield. My story about Crockett is unique, as I probably spent more time there than any other trainee. Upon entering the headquarters office of company "A", Sgt Walters asked me if I could type. I told him that I was a very good typist. I had to do the training like the others, but whenever I was available, I was in the office typing. My typing was so good that after the 9 weeks of training, and our class graduation, they kept me for another nine week cycle. At the end of the 2nd nine week cycle, they wanted to keep me longer. I told them "Hell no, I want out of this damn place!!" They consented and sent me to Fort Hood Tex, another hell hole!!

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  12. Camp Crockett was still around in early 69. I reported there the 1st week of January after completing basic at Fort Ord. I blew my knee out there and was sent to Brooks Army Medical center in San Antonio. They could not fix my knee and processed me out from Brooke in June of 70.

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  13. Graduated Crockett 5 July 1968.Co.B On to Ft.Bragg for S.F. training then VN with the HERD

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  14. I remember Camp Crocket pretty well. I was in the third grade at the time. Our Boy Scout Troop and other Scoot Troops stayed at the Camp Crocket over weekend for a Scouting Jamboree. My father was oversea in Vietnam at the time. I remember the Vietnam Village. We watched a display of it being assaulted by soldiers. During this event we got to see a claymore mine detonated at a distance. Some of the mothers of our fellow Boy Scouts attended too. I remember some of them crying as later I learned their husbands were also in Vietnam and the display was very emotional for them. Us kids had a great time. The Army was very good to us showing us around. All this took place around 1968. My father who passed away in 2020 was Richard E. Hogue, CWO-4 with 32 years of active duty service. He was a veteran of the Koren War and two tours in Vietnam. Another tour in Thailand. Thank you to all soldiers who served. Being a Army Brat was a unique experience.

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  15. I really enjoy reading these comments! There needs to be a monument at Fort Gordon, GA marking the location of Camp Crockett!

    CSM Dwayne Coffer

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  16. I was there August and September 1966. No quonset huts at that time we were in old WW2 wood barracks. The training was tough and our cadre were Nam vets

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  17. Ft Gordon is not proud of Camp Crocket due to the use of Agent Orange there to kill the vegatation in Training Area 47.
    I was a Drill Sgt in the MP School 4th AIT BGE who was TDY to Crocket as were several other recent returnees DS from VN.
    Crocket was erected very quickly and consisted of over a hundred Huts on concrete slabs. No running water and bathing was done in the Lake across the road. If I remember correctly, Ft Gordon had an Engineer Company who poured the pads and started erecting the huts . The soldiers came from posts across America and were mostly Regular Army volunteers. Even under these harsh conditions their moral was great. They loved to sing cadence as we marched from area to area
    I believe Camp Crocket was deactivated in late 69. I was only there for two cycles before returning to the MP School.

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