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| History
of Camp Gary / Gary Job Corps Center |
| Period |
Historical
Summary |
| Before 1942 |
Gary
was a cotton field in the blackland prairie of central Texas. |
| 1942 - 1945 |
Shortly
after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Gary was selected as a training
site for pilots and became the San Marcos Army Air Field.
Over a 2 year period, approximately 10,000 highly trained air navigators
were trained here. |
| 1946 - 1953 |
For
six months, the base faced abandonment, but with the aid of Congressman
Lyndon Johnson and Senator John Connally, the site was reactivated
in May, 1946 to train Army Air Force personnel as helicopter pilots
and renamed the San Marcos Air Force Base. It was deactivated
once again in October, 1949, but was reopened in January, 1951, to
train pilots for the Korean conflict. With nearly 5000 men on
duty at this time, the base was home to the largest helicopter training
facility in the nation. It trained mechanics as well as pilots.
|
| 1953 - 1956 |
On
Armed Forces Day, May 16, 1953, the base once again received a new
name, the Edward Gary Air Force Base in honor of Lieutenant
Arthur Edward Gary, the first Hays County soldier killed in World
War II. |
| 1956 - 1964 |
The
base was transferred to the U.S. Army in 1956 and underwent yet another
name change, one which is still referred to by some locals today,
Camp Gary. A civilian contractor trained pilots for fixed
wing aircraft until the summer of 1959. Four years later, the
base was essentially closed and marked for disposal. |
| 1964 - PRESENT |
Organized
San Marcans fought to save the base, and on November 20, 1964, President
Lyndon B. Johnson announced in a speech at his alma mater, Southwest
Texas State University, that the abandoned Camp Gary would be the
site of a new federal vocational training facility called Job Corps.
Today it's known as the Gary Job Corps Center, the largest
in the nation. |
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