JBMDL Chronology 1917-2017

CAMP DIX – JBMDL CHRONOLOGY OF THE FIRST 100 YEARS

1798 – John Adams Dix born in Boscawen, New Hampshire 

1812 – Dix serves in War of 1812

1861 – Dix named chairman of the Union Defense Committee in New York and made Major General in US Army. 

1872 – Dix elected Governor of New York 

21 April 1879 – Dix dies in New York City 

1909 – A.D. Irwin and A.O. Leighton form Philadelphia construction company

1915 – Lakehurst Munitions Storage facility opens.

6 April 1917 – US enters World War I – Congress authorizes the construction of 16 Army Camps to be built

19 May 1917 Selective Service Act 

12 June 1917 – Major Harry C. Williams named first commander of Camp Dix.

June 1917 – Irwin & Leighton given $13 million contract to convert New Jersey corn fields into army mobilization and training camp. 

June 1917 – First American troops arrive in France 

28 June 1914 – Construction begins on 1,655 buildings. 

16 July, 1917

1917 – Harker family house sold to government and converted to the residence of the base commander. 

23 August 1917 – Major General Chase W. Kennedy named commander of Camp Dix.

September 1917 – First 17,000 troops arrive at Camp Dix. Eventually 35,000 troops in training, filling all barracks and tents used to house the rest, including 87th and 34th Infantry Divisions, 349th and 350th Field Artillery Battalions of the 92nd Division, and 15th Infantry of New York (369th). 311th Ambulance Company. 153rd Depot Brigade. British, French and Scottish solders at Camp Dix to advise US soldiers on the role of tanks and trench warfare. 

October 1917 – Camp Dix Fire Company organized by soldiers, and the library opens with volunteers from the American Library Association. Howard L. Hughes, Harold F. Brigham librarians. 

22 October 1917 – Camp Dix base hospital opens with 61 buildings with 1,000 bed capacity, located east of the Wrightstown Circle. 

28 November 1917 – Brigadier General John S. Mallory (ad Interim) assumes command of Camp Dix.

28 December 1917 – Brigadier General James T. Dean (ad interim) assumes command of Camp Dix.

2 January 1918 – Major General Hugh L. Scott assumes command of Camp Dix

May 1918 – 78th Infantry Division, under Maj. Gen. Chase Kennedy leaves Dix and sails to Europe. 

May 1918 – YMCA, Red Cross and Knights of Columbus begin providing programs and services to entertain the soldiers.

August 1918 – Fort Dix has 55,000 soldiers in training.

September - October 1918 – 7,970 cases of influenza and pneumonia reported, 774 deaths.

11 November 1918 – War ends. 

3 December - Camp Dix demobilization center opens that processes over 300,000 soldiers.

8 March 1919 – Camp Dix becomes Fort Dix – named permanent Army post. 

12 May 1919 – Major General Harry C. Hale assumes command of Camp Dix

31 July 1920 – Commander Hale promoted to Brigadier General.

1 August 1920 – Thomas Buchanan McGuire, Jr. born in Ridgewood, N.J. 

3 September 1920 Brigadier General William S. Graves assumes command of Camp Dix

1 October 1920 Brigadier General Clarence R. Edwards assumes command of Camp Dix

1 November 1920 Major General Charles C.P. Summerall assume command of Camp Dix

10-11 1920 – 1st Infantry Division observes first anniversary of end of WWI at ceremony presided over by Gen. John J. Pershing.

1920 – Camp Dix used as a training center for Army Reserves, National Guard and the Citizens Training Camp.

1921 – Navy establishes Lakehurst Naval Air Station 

1921 - Animal Transportation School operating. 

July 1921 – Major General David C. Shanks assumes command of Camp Dix

November 1921 – Major General Charles T. Meneher assumes command of Camp Dix.

December 1921 – Major General Harry C. Hale returns to command of Camp Dix

November 1922 – Brigadier General William S. Graves returns to command of Camp Dix

17 January 1923 – Captain Noe C. Killian commander of Camp Dix

16 May 1923 – Brigadier General William S. Graves returns to command Camp Dix

5 September 1923 – Captain Noe C. Killiian commander of Camp Dix

1923 – Camp Kendrick is open at Lakehurst Proving Grounds

8 April 1924 – Lieutenant Colonel James T. Watson commander of Camp Dix

19 May 1924 – Brigadier General William S. Graves returns to command Camp Dix

21 June 1924 – Colonel Charles Gerhardt commander of Camp Dix

26 June 1924 – Colonel John J. Bradley commander of Camp Dix

3 July 1924 – Brigadier General Frank Parker assumes command of Camp Dix

26 July 1924 – Lieutenant Colonel James T. Watson commander of Camp Dix

27 April 1925 – Colonel Stanley Ford commander of Camp Dix

21 May 1925 – Brigadier General Preston Brown assumes command of Camp Dix

10 August 1925 – Lieutenant Colonel James T. Watson commander of Camp Dix

25 September 1925 – Major Nicholas W. Campanole commander of Camp Dix

15 October 1925 – Captain Herbert D. Gilison commander of Camp Dix

16 November 1925 – Captain Richard L. Pemberton commander of Camp Dix

1925 – Mock Invasion staged at Fort Dix – first landing of an airplane on base.

6 May 1926 – Captain George Rankin commander of Camp Dix

1 June 1927 – Brigadier General Frank McCoy commander of Camp Dix

22 July 1928 – Colonel Arthur Poillon commander of Camp Dix

21 September 1928 – Brigadier General Otho B. Rosembaum commander of Camp Dix

1 October 1930 – Captain Charles Perfect commander of Camp Dix

20 October 1930 – 1st Lieutenant Richard T. Mitchell commander of Camp Dix

17 December 1930 – Major Andrew G. Gardner commander of Camp Dix

1930 – Federal Bureau of Prisons establishes prison on site. 

1930s – Citizens Military Training Camp (CMTC) offers signal, infantry, cavalry, artillery, and engineering training. After 4, 30 day courses qualify for commission in Army Reserve. 

December 1931 – Captain Samuel L. Metcalfe commander of Camp Dix

March 1932 – Lieutenant Colonel Lewis H. Watkins commander.

June 1932 – Brigadier General Howard L. Laubach commander

September 1932 – Captain Horace K. Heath commander

November 1932 – Major Alexander C. Sullivan commander

March 1933 – Lieutenant Colonel Lewis H. Watkins commander

31 March 1933 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs bill creating CCC that continued until 1942 – Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) planted trees, controlled soil erosion, constructed roads, dams, bridges and fire towers, operates reception, training and discharge center with two forestry companies, a physical conditioning company and cook and baker’s school. The CCC built the first airplane runway at Camp Dix. 

April 1933 – Brigadier General Howard L. Laubach commander

December 1933 – Lieutenant Colonel Torrey B. Maghee commander

March 1934 – Brigadier General Howard Laubach commander

August 1934 – Brigadier General John L. DeWitt commander

October 1934 – Major Ford Richardson commander

April 1935 – Lieutenant Colonel Albert S. Williams commander

November 1936 – Colonel Robert S. Knox commander

1936 – Telephone switchboard installed.

6 May 1937 – Hindenburg dirigible disaster at Lakehurst 

23 October 1937 – Colonel Arthur Poillon commander

1938 – Works Progress Administration and Public Works Administration funds construction of new buildings – Building 5416 – housed field grade officers. 

8 March 1939 – Camp Dix named a permanent installation and renamed Fort Dix

9 January 1940 Colonel Bernard Lentz commander

13 May 1940 – Colonel John W. Downer commander

1940 – Federal government purchases 17,000 additional acres of adjacent land and constructs new runways. 

8 September 1940 – President Roosevelt declares limited national emergency and approved the first peacetime draft. 

16 September 1940 – Peacetime draft inductees begin arriving at Fort Dix reception, training and deployment center. 44th Infantry Division assigned to Fort Dix for training. Ten other divisions trained at Fort Dix before being deployed overseas.

25 October 1940 Major General Clifford R. Powell commander

1941 – Pointville cemetery and town acquired by government for base expansion. 

18 March 1941 Colonel Cassius M. Dowell commander

1941 – McGuire leaves Georgia Tech to join US Army Air Corps, Randolph Field 

May 1942 – Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps established 

April 1943 – Dodgers and Giants play a baseball game at Fort Dix baseball field. 

July 1943 – Auxiliary Corps renamed Women’s Army Corps (WACS), working as administrative clerks, truck drivers, photographers and mechanics. 

18-19 August 1943 – McGuire with 431st Fighter Squadron Wewak, New Guinea, shoots down five Japanese Ki-43 and Ki-61 fighters, eventually scoring 38 aerial victories, second only to Maj. Richard I. Bong, US AF all time ace (40)

1 October 1943 – Colonel Holmes G. Paullin commander

25-26 December 1943 – McGuire downs seven Japanese fighter aircraft over Luzon, Philippines, and earns Medal of Honor for action on these days. 

19 January 1944 – Brigadier General Madison Pearson commander

7 Jan 1945 – McGuire killed when his P-38 crashes over Fabrica aerodrome, Negros Island.

1945 – At war’s end Fort Dix becomes demobilization center processing 1.2 million soldiers back to civilian life. 

26 October 1945 – Major General Leland S. Hobbs commander

16 March 1946 – Major general Frederick A. Irving commander

7 August 1946 Major General W. W. Eagles commander

1947 – United States Air Force established and air base transferred to Air Force 

15 July 1947 – Fort Dix becomes a Basic Training Center and home of 9th Infantry Division. 

8 April 1948 Major General Arthur A. White commander of Fort Dix

September 1948 – USAF names McGuire AFB

1949 – McGuire’s remains recovered and returned to the United States

17 September 1949 – USAF base at Fort Dix renamed McGuire Air Force Base

1 October 1949 – Major General John M. Devine commander

17 May 1950 – McGuire buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery

25 June 1950 – Korean War begins, basic training reduced from 14 to 8 weeks. 

1 September 1950 – Major General William K. Harrison commander

January 1952 – Major General Roderick R. Allen commander

July 1952 – Major General Homer W. Kiefer commander

31 July 1953 Major General C. E. Ryan commander

1954 – 9th Infantry Division assigned to Europe and 69th Infantry Division moves in

28 February 1955 – Major General John W. Harmony commander

16 September 1955 – Major Robert W. Ward commander

1956 – Chubby Checker entertains the troops

16 March 1956 – 69th deactivated and Fort Dix renamed U.S. Army Training Center, Infantry

1 November 1956 – Majro General Earl C. Bergquist commander

20 March 1959 – The Ultimate Weapon statute unveiled – designed and constructed at Fort Dix by soldiers Steven Goodman and Stuart Scheer.

1 September 1959 – Major General Sidney C. Wooten commander at Fort Dix

5 June 1960 – BOMARC anti-missile missile catches fire and two nuclear warheads melt in Broken Arrow event. 

10 June 1961 - Major General Reuben H. Tucker, III commander at Fort Dix

1 February 1962 – Major General Charles E. Beauchamp commander at Fort Dix

3 September 1964 – Fort Dix chapel dedicated

1 May 1966 – Major General John M. Hightower commander at Fort Dix

1967 – Fort Dix Information Office publishes a History of Fort Dix New Jersey – 50 Years of Service to the Nation 1917-1967

2 November 1968 – New York City students picnic at Wrightstown-Fort Dix

5-7 June 1969 – 250 prisoners in Fort Dix Stockade riot over conditions and torture. 38 were prosecuted and became known as the Fort Dix 38.

1973 – New brick reception center opened.

1978 – First female recruits enter basic training. 

1982 – 10 Stained glass windows installed in the Fort Dix chapel honoring WW I soldiers.

20 May 1982 – Last train to Fort Dix ends rail service that began in 1917.

1985 – Fort Dix Headquarters renamed Sharp Hall in honor of Gen. Richard Sharp

1987 – USAF Security Police Air Base Ground Defense School moved from Camp Bullis Texas 

1988 – Base Realignment and Closure Commission recommends ending basic and advanced individual training at Fort Dix.

17 August 1990 – A new The Ultimate Weapons statute constructed of bronze replaces original

1990 – Around the clock operations begin mobilizing and deploying troops for Desert Shield and Desert Storm. 

1991 – Kuwaiti civilians trained in basic military skills 

1991 – Active Army training mission ends. 

1992 – Fort Dix begins mobilizing, deploying and demobilizing soldiers and providing training areas for Army Reserve and National Guard soldiers

1992 – Reception center that opened in 1973 transferred to Air Force as Air Mobility Warfare Center.

1992 – Department of Defense Police replace military police

1992 – US Department of Justice – Bureau of Prisons opens a federal prison 

1993 – Somalia 

1995 – Bosnia 

1995 – Telephone switchboard, installed in 1936 replaced with fiber optic system. 

1999 – Albanian, Kosovo refugees resettled. 

August 2000 – Range 65 tank training area opens. Bryant Range named after Larry Bryant

2005 – Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst – JBMDL Established 

2007 – A memorial to McGuire placed at his fatal crash site on Negros Island by former fighter pilot David Mason 

2010 – Census 7,716 people living in 784 households with 590 families residing in CDP

2016 – Cassidy and Associates issue report on the future of the base and the state of NJ grant them another contract to continue their work. 

2017 – DOD recommends JBMDL as home of new refueling tankers.

July - 2017 – 100th Anniversary of Camp Dix-JBMDL 

Lakehurst NAS History

Naval Air Station Lakehurst – Images of America – Arcadia – By Kevin Pace, Ronald Montgomery, and Rick Zitarosa

ZR-3 – USS Los Angeles – Airship at Lakehurst 1927

ZRS-4 USS Akron – at Hanger 1 at Lakehurst 1931

Lakehurst’s history is that of airships in the U.S. Navy, but many other aspects of the base are largely unknown, including its background as an army chemical warfare proving ground and its later roles of manufacturing, testing, and training in support of naval aviation.

Continuously evolving as a vital component of national defense, Lakehurst has seen its share of triumphs and setbacks over its eight decades of operation, and this is expected to continue as the military redefines itself in a fast-paced high-tech era. Despite several proposals to consolidate or eliminate Lakehurst’s role over the years, the place continues to flourish, like a cat with nine lives….

Camp Kendrick – the army’s experimental site for chemical warfare technology.

The presence of a military installation did much to improve the economy of the region.

Even with live rounds of mustard gas and other hazardous chemicals being tested here, inhabitants of nearby Lakehurst (well known in its day as a “health resort”) did not seem to mind.

Map of 1923

Completed HQ building 1917

Lakehurst Proving Grounds Feb. 1918

Eddystone Ammunition Corporation – a subsidiary of Baldwin Locomotive Works – “Company transportation” – arms manufacture – 1915

Eddystone makes cannon shells for the Russian government – 1915 - 1916 – 1917

Soon after came under US Army control with WWI

Wood observation towers No 1 and 2 – for smoke bombs and fires –used test animals in trenches.

Tested steel helmets and gas masks.

Sheep were used for monitoring of testing the effects of deadly poison gases in various concentrations under controlled conditions –

“The proving grounds contributed immensely to advances in chemical warfare.

Doughboys in contrast to rotting trenches in Europe – enjoyed “thoroughly modern latrine facilities.”

Used narrow gage 12 ton geared steam locomotive to haul supplies

Central Railroad of New Jersey.

Tested gun used to throw barbed wire projectiles. 1915-1917

Col. William S. Bacon, commanding officer –

Visted Maj. H.R. LeSueur of British Military Mission

Camp Kendrick closed – auctioned off items on Tuesday March 27, 1923 –

Samuel T. Freeman and Co. 1519 Chestnut Philad.

Summer of 1919 – Lt. Comdr. Lewis Maxfield, a skilled, enthusiastic navy dirigible pilot, recommended Lakehurst as the new home for the navy’s lighter than air (LTA) program.

Deal finalized in summer of 1919 – by acting secrtary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt –

7,400 acres original – later expanded.

The US Navy Dept. of Yards and Docks drew up specifications.

August 1919 – Lord Construction Company of Phila. Won the hanger bid - $2.9 million.

The largest open interior space in the world –

Fleet Airship No. 1 – Rigid Airship ZR-1 – manufactured at Navy Aircraft Factory, Phila.

ZR-2 built for Navy by British Royal Airship works at Cardington, England.

1921

Original plan to use hydrogen gas in airships

Designed plant to manufacture 75,000 cubic feet of hydrogen per day.

Capt. Frank T. Evans put Naval Air Station Lakehurst into Commission on June 26, 1921

The base originally housed in wooden firehouse built in 1921 –

Modern WPA brick building completed in 1935,

Hindenburg disaster May 6, 1937

The old wood firehouse still stands as workshop as does the brick firehouse

Hanger No. 1 – first permanent address of the navy’s lighter than air operations – 966 feet overall 807 interior – 263 feet door with – 224 overall height – 178 feet interior height – 

Declared a national historic landmark in 1968

Officers housing constructed in 1930s.

1942-44 expansion.

The Allies received several Zeppelins as spoils of the first war with Germany and built several based on the designs of the captured German models. One copy British R-34 - crossed the Atlantic – July 1919 –

108 hours westbound – 75 eastbound.

1922 – First American rigid airship – based on captured German L49

ZR2 tragedy –

For years special trains brought sightseers to view the airships.

1915 – US began LTA program – blimps – The Howden Detachement in Yorkshire, England provided airship training – R-38 (American ZR2)

On its fourth trail flight August 24, 1921 – the ship broke apart and fell burning into the River Humber at Hull, with 28 British and 16 Americans killed, including Lt. Comder. Lewis Maxfield – the leading proponent of airship development in America.

ZR-1 Shenandoah – firsts flight Sept. 4, 1923

Commissioned Oct. 27 680 feet long – 91 feet high

Nov. 1923 – 160 foot mooring mast. West field. Developed in Britain allowed airships to operate independent of hangers.

6:44 pm on January 16, 1924 the Shenandoah broke free from its mast in a gale.

German instructor Annon Heinen and skeleton crew rode out the storm and brought the runaway airshop back to Lakehurst after a nine hour flight, a public relations triumph.

Lt. Comder. Zachary Lansdowne took command of Shenandoah on Feb. 16 1924

Lakehurst commanding officer Comdr. Jacob Klein – “bitterly unhappy to see an ‘outsider’ brought in. So began a decades long pattern of feuding among various officers and commanders at Lakeurst. – p. 29

Chief of Naval Airship Training and Experimentation Command during WWII, Vice Adm. Charles E. Rosendahl – retired to Toms River in 1946.

“An outstanding proponent of the airship cause, he remained a regular presence at Naval Station Lakehurst until his death in May 1977 at age 85. Bitterly disappointed with the navy’s decision to remove Lakehurst’s designation as an active naval air station, he abandoned plans for establishing a museum at his beloved base, and his accumulated archives instead went to the University of Texas, in his former home state.” – p. 115 

Irwin & Leighton Contractors for Camp Dix & Lakehurst

Irwin Leighton

The United States Army Cantonment at Camp Dix

The Camp Dix project, although one of Irwin & Leighton’s earliest, stands even today as one of its most meaningful because of the significance and importance of the project to the World War I effort, and the speed in which it was built.

Irwin & Leighton was chosen to build the Cantonment at Camp Dix when the site’s installment began in 1917. The initial project was required to be completed under a very aggressive time schedule to meet the impending demands of World War I. To do this, Irwin and Leighton directly employed and/or coordinated the efforts of hundreds of workers who, in accordance with the custom of the day, arrived at work in shirt and tie, changed into work clothes and changed again to go home.

Irwin & Leighton established an onsite Employment Office where seventeen clerks screened applicants who arrived by train and motorcar. A fleet of autos was required to make the weekly commutes to the Philadelphia National Bank for the worker’s payroll.

The project was started in July 1917, in farm fields. The scope involved ten sections of multiple barracks and support building as well as an extensive infrastructure work.

In less than sixty days, the entire project was substantially complete. In that time, Irwin & Leighton used forty million board feet of lumber, which was brought to the site by rail and erected in production fashion. When the company hit stride, it was completing one barrack per day. Irwin & Leighton’s onsite superintendent was E. M. Campbell.

The company further organized the project with “Heads of Departments” for survey, concrete, carpentry, sheet metal, plumbing, electrical, road construction, water and sewers, a pumping station, etc.

The 31,000 acre complex is located inside the Pineland National Reserve in Central New Jersey, and was named for Major General John Adams Dix, a veteran of the War of 1812 and the Civiil War.

Used as a staging ground and training area for units during World War I, it was made a permanent Army post in 1939 and was renamed Fort Dix.

In 1921, the Navy established Lakehurst Naval Air Station to serve as its headquarters for lighter-than-air flight after the pioneering use of zeppelins by the German forces in World War I.

In order to house large helium-filled dirigibles, the Navy hired Irwin & Leighton to build Lakehurst’s Hanger No. 1, a massive structure measuring 961 feet long, 350 feet wide and 200 feet high. The great spans and clear height were achieved through state-of-the-art design. Inside it, Naval engineers assembled the first American-built airship, the Shenandoah.

Lakehurst was also the location of the now-infamous Hindenburg disaster. The crash of the Hindenburg dirigible on May 6, 1937 over Lakehurst was the 20^th century’s first transportation disaster widely captured by newsreel, audio recordings and still photos.