Camp Leroy Johnson: Difference between revisions
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== History == | == History == | ||
== [[World War II]] == | |||
In June 1940, before U.S. Entry into [[World War II]], the War Department drew up a tentative list of municipal fields considered suitable for military use and submitted it to General Arnold on 15 June 1940. As individual sites were approved they activated. At New Orleans, Louisiana, the municipal airport, enthusiastically recommended as a station for a heavy bombardment group, proved to have excessively short runways when the group moved into the new post. Although some of the fields selected proved to be unsuited for their planned purposes, the Air Corps in its following expansions nevertheless made full use of them. | |||
It appears that the municipal airport was used during the war by the Signal Corps, Quartermaster Corps and the Weather Service for training. The adjacent property across the industrial canal was used as a cantonment area for the Air Base at the former municipal airport. | |||
The camp had more than 100 temporary buildings that housed 1,500 men at peak times of operation. Signal Corps and Quartermaster Corps units were trained on the post. It was later used as a staging area for the Port of New Orleans. | |||
== Post War == | |||
Following the end of the war the municipal airport was returned to civilian use but the Army retained the area across the Industrial Canal for logistics and training. In 1947 the camp was renamed for Sergeant [[Leroy Johnson]] who was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor recognizing his heroic actions in the Phillipenes In 1951 Camp Leroy Johnson became a permanent transportation training center. In its final years, it served as a replacement center and a training center for Army Reserve units. | |||
== Closure == | |||
The post was officially closed by the Department of Defense on 30 Jun 1964. | |||
== Current Status == | == Current Status == | ||
No remains. | No remains, overbuilt with a Federal FBI complex and educational facilities. | ||
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'''Sources:''' | '''Sources:''' | ||
* {{Roberts}}, page 341. | * {{Roberts}}, page 341. | ||
* Craven, W.F. and Cate, J.L., '''The Armed Forces in World War II, Vol VI Chapter 4, The Development of Base Facilities''', page 136. [https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/AAF/VI/AAF-VI-4.html Archived 29 Dec 2017] | |||
* {{GNIS2|ID=546887}} Camp Leroy Johnson | * {{GNIS2|ID=546887}} Camp Leroy Johnson | ||
* {{GNIS2|ID=2085459}} New Orleans Army Air Base | * {{GNIS2|ID=2085459}} New Orleans Army Air Base | ||
Revision as of 06:56, 30 December 2017
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