Camp Kearns - Kearns, UT, USA
N 40° 38.849 W 112° 00.354
12T E 414952 N 4500111
A monument commemorating Camp Kearns, an Army Air Force Training Facility in Kearns, Utah.
Waymark Code: WMBB35
Location: Utah, United States
Date Posted: 04/28/2011
Views: 19
UPDATE: This monument is now placed near the Kearns Recreation Center, the Kearns Oquirrh Park Fitness Center and the Olympic Speed Skating Oval, in the parkway along 4800 West. It was displaced from the Arlo D. James Kearns Veterans Memorial Park, which was situated at the southwest corner of 4015 West 5415 South in Kearns. The park was destroyed to facilitate the widening of 5415 South roadway.
Two months after the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, the Army chose 5,000 acres of wheat fields in the Kearns area for a basic-training site for future pilots and ground crews. Documents say it was chosen because it was far from enemy danger on the coasts and because Salt Lake Valley had good rail, highway and air connections.
In just a few months, nearly 1,000 buildings were completed for what at first was called "Basic Training Center No. 5." Some construction workers included young Japanese-American men being shipped to internment camps but who were temporarily diverted and hired.
"From wheat field and waste land has blossomed Utah's third largest community," housing 40,000 soldiers, said a proud base history written in November of 1943.
The base had four fire stations, five chapels, three theaters, two large gymnasiums, 16 mess halls, at least five Post Exchange stores, a huge warehouse complex and two big service clubs (one for whites and one for "colored personnel").
Era: WW II
Related web site: [Web Link]
General Comments: Not listed
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