Camp Rice (2)

Camp Rice (2) (1942-1944) - A World War II desert training camp established in 1942 near Freda in San Bernardino County, California. Abandoned in 1944. Camp Rice Marker at Main Entrance Road. History Established in 1942 as one of fifteen temporary World War II training camps in the southern California and Arizona desert areas. These training camps formed what was initially known as the Desert Training Center and then as the California-Arizona Maneuver Area after 20 Oct 1943. As the war entered a new phase in 1944, the camps were closed and training was discontinued on 30 Apr 1944. Camp Rice Plan, Original Configuration Overlaid with Modern Roads. Camp Rice was constructed in 1942. Little information is available but it was used as a campsite early in the development of DTC/CAMA by the 5th Armored Division (from August to October 1942) and by the 6th Armored Division in early 1943. With the expansion of the adjacent Rice Army Air Field to some 5,000 personnel it is likely that some of that personnel were quartered in Camp Rice into 1944. Closure Camp Rice was declared surplus on 16 Mar 1944 and The Army retransferred the 1,920-acre site to the BLM by means unknown. No documentation is available for the disposal of this property which is expected to have occurred sometime between 1943 and the late 1940s, Leased land was returned to the various owners. Post War Restricted use of the land continued after the war while the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) supervised the cleanup of the hazardous material and the removal of temporary facilities. Current Status The Army retransferred the 1,920-acre site to the BLM by means unknown. No documentation is available for the disposal of this property which is expected to have occurred sometime between 1943 and the late 1940s. There are some surface remains including some dirt roads and rock-lined paths. The outline of the camp road structure and the airstrip can still be seen from satellite views. The camp area is diagonally bisected by the San Bernardino and Riverside County line and bounded on the north by Hwy 62 and the Colorado River Aqueduct. A monument to the camp sits next to Hwy 62 near the entrance road to the camp. Location: Near Freda, San Bernardino County, California. Maps & Images Lat: 34.07882 Long: -114.76456 Multi Maps from ACME Maps from Bing Maps from Google Elevation: GPS Locations: 34.07882, -114.76456 Camp Rice See Also: California-Arizona Maneuver Area Sources: Desert Training Center California-Arizona Manuever Area - Interpretive Plan (sic), Draft, U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, California Desert District, Riverside California, 1985, 78 pages, Pdf or Pdf. Bischoff, Matt, Preparing for Combat Overseas: Patton's Desert Training Center, Lulu.com, 2016, 252 pages.. Lynch, Kennedy and Wooley, Patton's Desert Training Center, Council on America's Military Past, Fort Myer, 1984, Pdf. Links: Wikipedia - Desert Training Center HMdb Rice Divisional Camp California Military Museum - Camp Rice Fortification ID: CA0886 - Camp Rice (2) Visited: 27 Nov 2022