Fort McClellan
[1] While Fort McClellan was the first and only long-lived United States Army post near Anniston, a temporary facility named Camp Shipp existed there during 1898–1899.
The Spanish–American War ended in 1898, but with a final peace settlement still in the future, the U.S. Army had an immediate need for a facility to quarter a Military reserve force from Alabama should the hostilities start anew.
Anniston was on a north–south railroad that continued to Mobile, Alabama, a major seaport for Cuba-bound departures, and successfully sought the reserve facility.
Camp Shipp was established in August 1898 within the northwest city limits of Anniston; an artillery range was planned to be on the nearby Blue Mountain.
The camp never fully realized its intended purpose; it was used temporarily as a hospital for patients of the influenza epidemic sweeping Army posts, and then phased out in March 1899.
The camp was named for Lt. William E. Shipp of the 10th Cavalry Regiment who was killed in action at Santiago, Cuba while leading a charge in the Battle of San Juan Hill.
Alabama's Third District congressman Henry D. Clayton Jr. brought to the Department of War's attention the potential of the Choccolocco Mountains for artillery training.
Officials of the participating Army War College found the terrain highly suitable for artillery training, and advocated purchase of the land.
[5] Like the other National Guard mobilization facilities, Camp McClellan used hastily constructed wooden buildings for headquarters, mess halls, latrines, and showers, with rows of wooden-floored tents for housing the troops.
The Camp McClellan reservation was approximately a square some 3.0 miles (4.8 kilometers) on each side, adjoining the northeast quarter arc of the city limits and extending northward along the Anniston to Jacksonville, Alabama, pike.
An existing Southern Railway line was close by the western boundary; a terminal facility called Remount Depot was built near the southwest corner of the reservation and, farther north, a spur into the camp was constructed.
[citation needed] The first troops arrived in late August 1917; by October there were more than 27,000 men from units in New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and the District of Columbia training at the camp under the 29th Infantry Division, commanded by Major General Charles G. Morton.
Other troops included the 1st Separate Negro Company of Maryland, the 6th Division, the 157th Depot Brigade, the 11th and 12th Training Battalions, and the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Development Regiments.
Nine facilities were placed on "caretaker status"; Camp McClellan was included, intended to be used for special training in the Army's 9th Corps Area.
In 1926, however, Congress approved funds for permanent facilities, and new buildings were started at Camp McClellan for the headquarters, officer quarters, barracks, and a central hospital.
Construction on the permanent facilities slowed, but in 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt allocated Works Progress Administration (WPA) funds for Fort McClellan.
In the next three years, an estimated $1,785,000 (equivalent to $39,192,950 in 2023) in WPA funds was used for constructing new roads, the Fort McClellan Army Airfield,[8] and additional permanent buildings.
Included was a radio facility with a high-power transmitter (call letters WUR) for Morse-code communications, Most of the buildings were Spanish Colonial Revival architecture in style.
New housing for trainees was not yet available; the majority of the men of the 27th lived in tents until leaving at the start of the war in December 1941, and were soon deployed throughout the Pacific Theater of Operations.
Directly to the east, a mountainous peninsula connecting to the Talladega National Forest was acquired, allowing access to this Federal Area for training maneuvers.
The number of troops being trained dwindled rapidly, and the installation was placed on inactive status on June 30, 1947; only a small maintenance crew remained on the post.
Funding was appropriated to build specialized facilities at Fort McClellan for what was initially called the Chemical Corps School (CCS).
During the last decades of the 20th century, Fort McClellan was 'home' for an average military population of about 10,000 people, including about 5,000 who were permanently assigned, and employed about 1,500 civilians.
The official closing ceremony was held on May 20, 1999, at which Major General Ralph G. Wooten, Commanding General and Chemical School Commandant (1996–1999), conveyed thanks from the Department of the Army to Fort McClellan and the surrounding communities: For more than 81 years, Fort McClellan set the standard of excellence in training America's sons and daughters to defend freedom in two world wars and a myriad of conflicts and operations.
The veterans are currently working towards obtaining a new GAO Office report on the spill sites at the base, to confirm whether or not it was a part of the infamous PROJECT 112 battery of military experiments that started up in the 1960s.
Potential exposures could have included, but are not limited to, the following: Radioactive compounds (cesium-137 and cobalt-60) used in decontamination training activities in isolated locations on base; Chemical warfare agents (mustard gas and nerve agents) used in secret military experiments and CBRNE field tests on the troops without ever warning them; friable indoors asbestos pollution inside the barracks buildings which all required remedial cleanup actions; a (TCE) SuperFund contamination site at the Anniston Army Depot where commuter workforce veterans worked who were living at the barracks at Fort McClellan; and full-face exposures to CS Riot Control gas for military qualifying classes.
The McClellan Vets group points to this Bacillus spraying as a direct match to the other CBRNE test sites that included PROJECT SHAD.
To date, there are a total of ten significant environmental spill sites that have been identified by the medical patient group of the Fort McClellan service veterans.
The veterans argue that the sciences for toxicity have changed over the years, and that multiple or mixtures or combinations of low-dose exposures are just as harmful to human health as short bursts of high-dose events.https://www.gao.gov/products/NSIAD-98-228 In 2008, the Environmental Protection Agency issued a final Pathways Report on the Aroclor PCB contamination zone caused by a former Monsanto Factory, and the Fort McClellan Veterans are covered by the exposed population declarations in this report under the defined category of "Commercial Visitors".
[dubious – discuss] The service veterans contend that their illnesses are a medical match to the industry known health risks from each of the ten toxic spill sites that makes up their exposure profile.
