Camp Adair, a World War II army cantonment, was located
north of Corvallis on 50,000 acres in Benton and Polk Counties.
The site was chosen by the United States War Department as a training
site for Triangular Divisions. Each division consisted of 15,000
men assigned to infantry, artillery and engineering units with
the necessary support personnel. However, the divisions at Camp
Adair never reached their full complement of men. In order to
construct this cantonment, which became the second largest city
in Oregon, families were uprooted, cemeteries relocated, railroad
tracks rerouted, and the small community of Wells
was erased.
Today, only a few buildings and foundations remain to mark the
main cantonment site of Camp Adair. A sign on US Highway 99W commemorates
the divisions that trained there. Each Division also has a memorial
located near the public viewing area 0.5 mile east of 99W on Camp
Adair Road. The 50,000 acre site that made up the camp is owned
by state and local governments and individuals.
Four infantry divisions were trained at Camp Adair for overseas duty: the 91st Powder River Infantry Division, the 96th Deadeye Infantry Division, the 104th Timberwolf Infantry Division, and the 70th Trailblazer Infantry Division. Three of the divisions, the 96th, 104th, and 70th were activated at Camp Adair and 91st was activated at Camp White near Medford, Oregon.
The camp was named in honor of Henry Rodney Adair, a West
Point graduate and descendant of Oregon pioneers, who was the
first Oregonian killed during the 1916 Mexican border clashes.
When General Pershing pushed over the border in search of the
bandit general Pancho Villa, Lt. Adair, an officer in the 10th
Calvary, wiped out two machine gun nests and accounted for more
than 30 Mexican bandits before he was killed.
The area east of Highway 99W, on the valley floor, was used for
the base camp while the hilly area west of the highway was used
for training maneuvers. To simulate actual conditions, full-scale
models of European towns were constructed in this area.
During World War II, the armed forces were segregated. African-American
soldiers were assigned to Camp Adair, but were not part of any
of the divisions that trained at the camp. Very little information
about the African-Americans role at the Camp has been discovered,
although reportedly some were assigned to the Quartermaster Corps.
The U.S. Army turned the hospital over to the U.S. Navy when the
divisions left. Casualties from the Pacific Theater were brought
to Camp Adair for treatment and recuperation. On March 1, 1945,
it was reported that the wounded were arriving by train, and the
hospital had been enlarged to take care of 3,600.
Shortly after the last division left, part of Camp Adair served
as a prisoner-of-war (POW) camp for Italians, then Germans. It
appears POWs were at Camp Adair from August 1944 through April
1946. Although former civilian personnel have memories of both
German and Italian POWs at the camp, their presence was not common
knowledge in nearby communities.
Remembrances of Camp Adair include poison oak, snakes, summer's
dust, climbing Coffin Butte, and intense training. Perhaps the
most lasting memory for many soldiers was Oregon's rain. After
sloshing through the countryside, marching, pushing and pulling
vehicles through the mud, trying to keep equipment from rusting,
and fording swollen streams, it is no wonder many called the camp--Swamp
Adair.
| August | 1942 | Activated Camp Adair, Oregon |
| May | 1943 | To Fort Lewis, Wa |
| July | 1943 | To Bend, OR Manuver Area |
| November | 1943 | To Camp White, OR |
| March | 1944 | To California for amphibious training |
| July | 1944 | To Hawaii, more amphibious training |
| October | 1944 | To Phillippines, Leyte |
| March | 1945 | Left Phillippines |
| April | 1945 | Attacked Okinawa |
| June | 1945 | Asst Commander, General Claudius Easley, killed |
| July | 1945 | To Philippines |
| January | 1946 | To United States |
| February | 1946 | Deactivated |
| September | 1942 | Activated Camp Adair, Oregon |
| August | 1943 | To Bend, Or Maneuver Area |
| October | 1943 | Gen Allen assumes command |
| November | 1943 | To Arizona for desert warfare training |
| February | 1944 | To Yuma, AZ, more desert training |
| March | 1944 | To Camp Granite, CA |
| March | 1944 | To Camp Carson, CO |
| June | 1944 | Infantry Day- 15,000 men in review |
| September | 1944 | Arrived France |
| October | 1944 | To Belgium |
| November | 1944 | To Germany |
| February | 1945 | Crossed Roer River |
| March | 1945 | Crossed Rhine River |
| April | 1945 | To Pretzsch to meet Red Army |
| June | 1945 | To United States |
| June | 1945 | Deactivated |
| December | 1946 | Reactivated, Portland, OR-Organized Reserves |
| June | 1943 | Activated Camp Adair, Oregon |
| July | 1944 | To Ft Leonard Wood, MO |
| November | 1944 | Left for Europe |
| December | 1944 | Advanced regiments arrived France |
| January | 1945 | Remainder of division in France |
| February | 1945 | Offensive near Saar River |
| March | 1945 | Pushed through Siegfried Line |
| October | 1945 | Deactivated Camp Kilmer, NJ |
| August | 1917 |
Activated Camp Lewis, WA Served in France |
| May | 1919 | Deactivated |
| August | 1942 | Activated Camp White, OR |
| September | 1943 | To Bend, OR Manuever Area |
| July | 1943 | Gen Livesay assumes command |
| November | 1943 | To Camp Adair, OR |
| March | 1944 | To Virginia |
| April | 1944 | To French Morocco, North Africa for training |
| June | 1944 | To Italy |
| July | 1944 | Crossed Arno River to Pisa |
| September | 1944 | Attacked German Gothic Line |
| April | 1945 | Crossed Po River |
| August | 1945 | Left Italy |
| December | 1945 | Deactivated Camp Rucker, AL |
| December | 1946 | Reactivated in California, Reserves |
In August 1986, the Benton County Historical Museum installed an exhibit about the history of Camp Adair. As more information and memorabilia become available, the exhibit is up-dated. Meanwhile, the museum staff and volunteers continue to gather documentary materials and objects about the cantonment and its impact on the surrounding communities.
If you or someone you know has recollections about Camp Adair, you can help us add to the historic record. We are seeking information from former military and civilian camp personnel and their spouses (if they were also in the area) from townspeople who lived nearby during World War II, and from landowners who were displaced by the camp. We ask that they write or record their memories, and give the museum a copy for the Camp Adair History Project. Questionnaires are also available.
If you would like to help, or have papers, photographs, or other objects that you would be willing to donate to the museum's Camp Adair collections, please let us know.
For further information, contact:
Benton County Historical Society & Museum
PO Box 35
1101 Main Street
Philomath, OR 97370-0035
Phone (541)929-6230
email: www.bentoncountymuseum.org
courtesy of the Benton County Historical Society & Museum
