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Camp Swift, Texas
Summary
Camp Swift is a census-designated place (CDP) in Bastrop County, Texas, United States. The population was 7,943 at the 2020 census. Camp Swift began as a United States Army training base built in 1942. It is named after Major General Eben Swift.
The Army signed a $25 million contract in January 1942 to build a training camp on 56,000 acres north of Bastrop, Texas. The contract stipulated the project was to be completed in 108 working days. 2700 buildings were built during World War II, but none of those remain on the site today. At the end of the war, they were sold or donated and relocated. The gymnasium was relocated to Whitney Texas. It is still in use today by the school district.
During World War II, German prisoners of war began arriving and at peak numbered 10,000. At the same time, the camp held 90,000 GIs, making it "one of the largest army training and transshipment camps in Texas" according to Krammer.
In December 1942, Sgt Walter Springs was gunned down by a White military police officer following a dispute as Springs was reporting to Camp Swift. Springs was shot in the back, but the case remains largely unsolved to this day. A memorial scholarship in his honor has been active at his alma mater, Regis University, for most of the period since 1952 and has the backing of former NBA All Star Chauncey Billups.
The 10th Mountain Division trained at Camp Swift in 1944. The 2nd Infantry Division trained there mid 1945 to early 1946. The camp also trained nurses under battlefield conditions. The camp trained some 300,000 soldiers before the war ended.
Camp Swift is currently owned by the United States Government but is managed by the Texas Military Forces headquartered on Camp Mabry in Austin and acts as a training center for the National and State Guard, active armed forces, law enforcement, high school ROTC and the Civil Air Patrol. The camp is also the primary emergency staging area for Central Texas.
Official source
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