Fort Chaffee, Arkansas

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: Fort Smith, Sebastian, Arkansas, United States
Surnames/tags: Arkansas, Military Camp_Chaffee, Fort_Chaffee Sebastian_County

History of Fort Chaffee and the role it played in American warfare and strategic defense, as well as the growth of Fort Smith, Arkansas.

Contents 1 Creation of Camp Chaffee 2 World War II 2.1 Camp Chaffee German POWs 3 Korean War 3.1 Elvis Presley 4 Vietnam War 4.1 Vietnamese Refugees 5 Cuban Refugees 6 Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC) 7 Other Uses of Fort Chaffee 7.1 Movies 7.2 Other Government Agencies 8 Redevelopment 9 Sources

Creation of Camp Chaffee

Camp Chaffee, Old Gate House

Fort Chaffee was established in September 20, 1941 and was officially activated in March 1942. Originally designated as Camp Chaffee. The site initially included 15,163 acres, but would eventually expand to include up to 72,000 acres. The area where the fort was located was predominantly farmland, but cemeteries, schools, and homes had to be relocated to make way for the new camp. The camp was created as part of the War Department's planning for the inevitable World War looming on the horizon.

Hundreds of carpenters, plumbers, electricians, concrete layers, and other tradesmen were employed to build the mess halls, barracks, admin buildings, churches, warehouses and other necessary facilities for the base.

Camp Chaffee was named after Major General Adna Romanza Chaffee Jr., an artillery officer instrumental in the creation of Armoured warfare. The first troops arrived after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

World War II

Barracks, Camp Chaffee, Arkansas

Despite the reminders of the war and hardships many Americans faced during this time. It proved to be an economic boon for the surrounding towns, Fort Smith, Barling and Greenwood. When troops were not busy training, they went out into our community, our stores, theaters and restaurants. The money they spent was no doubt a welcome relief as Americans emerged from the Great Depression.

Camp Chaffee was one of the United States premier training camps during World War II. As many as 50,000 troops would live and train there during the war. Army inductees began arriving in 1942 from all across the United States by locomotive to train at Camp Chaffee, before they were shipped off to Europe, Asia, Africa and other military stations. During the war, it served at a training camp for the Sixth, Fourteenth, and Sixteenth Armored Divisions. The camp provided 67 training areas and 153 artillery and mortar positions. Local residents would have heard the boom and rattling of windows as troops trained for combat. A reminder to all of them of the dangers many of their children would face as they went off to war.

The untold horrors of war they would have to endure, the indignities and brutality, are almost too difficult to imagine today. It was some of the very troops to set foot on the base that would later liberate the Buchenwald concentration camp, near Weimar, Germany, a camp only second to Auschwitz for the horrors it imposed on prisoners held in the camp. Worst yet, many would never return home to see their families. The time they spent here in Arkansas has left a legacy, a history for all of us to remember.

Camp Chaffee German POWs

The main purpose of the camp was to train soldiers for combat and prepare units for deployment. However, it held German POWs from 1942 to 1946. An 83 acres section of the fort was set up as an internment area for German prisoners of war. Nearly 23,000 captured troops, mostly from Rommel's Afrika Korps, were sent to POW camps in Arkansas. While all men were members of the German Army, some were not of German nationality. Some claimed to be Austrians, Poles, and Sudeten Germans from Czechoslovakia. The camp had a capacity of around 10,000 prisoners and at the height of the war, held around 3,000 prisoners.

The prisoners at Camp Chaffee were used to help with labor around the camp, and were also used to help with the agricultural production in the surrounding area. The prisoners were generally treated well, and were given the same rations and medical care as American soldiers. There were also efforts made to provide education and cultural activities for the prisoners, such as language classes and sporting events.

At least eight POWs died of natural causes while at the camp. German officers and men were allowed to participate in funerals and bury their dead with respect and dignity. Later, they were disinterred, and unless claimed by family, the bodies buried at Fort Sam Houston.

At the end of the war, due to laborer shortages and the transition time to transport Germans back home, many were retained for more than a year after the war ended.

Korean War

During the Korean War, Camp Chaffee, which had been deactivated after World War II, was reactivated as a training center for new soldiers being sent to fight in Korea. The camp was used to train soldiers for combat in the Korean Peninsula, as well as to provide a location for soldiers to receive additional Training and prepare for deployment.

Fort Chaffee was one of the primary training sites for the United States Army's infantry and armored units. The soldiers received training in various warfare tactics, including amphibious landings, and practiced with live ammunition. The post also trained soldiers for support roles like military police, intelligence, and signal corps.

Fort Chaffee also served as a staging area for soldiers and equipment before they were sent overseas to Korea. The soldiers would arrive at the fort, receive their final training and prepare their equipment and then they would ship out to the front. This was all to avoid delays and ineffciencies caused by multiple trainings and staging at different locations. The base was deactivated after the Korean War.

Elvis Presley

Elvis Presley enlistment at Camp Chaffee.

Elvis Presley, the famous American musician and actor, was stationed at Camp Chaffee, Arkansas during his time in the United States Army. He was drafted into the Army on March 24, 1958, and began basic training at Fort Chaffee. After completing his basic training, he was sent to Germany for a year-long tour of duty. During his time at Camp Chaffee and Fort Hood, Texas, he trained as a truck driver and a tank crewman, and achieved the rank of sergeant. He was honorably discharged from the Army on March 5, 1960.

It is said that while at Camp Chaffee he performed impromptu shows for his fellow soldiers, and his time in the Army helped him to improve his stage presence.

Vietnam War

During the Vietnam War, Fort Chaffee (previously known as Camp Chaffee) in Arkansas served as a training and mobilization center for the United States Army Reserve and the Arkansas National Guard. The fort was reactivated in the early 1960s to support the increasing number of troops being sent to fight in Vietnam.

As the war progressed, Fort Chaffee was used to train soldiers for combat in Vietnam and to provide them with additonal training and preparation before they were deployed. The fort offered various forms of training such as jungle warfare, survival, marksmanship and other warfare tactics, as well as providing training for support roles like military police, intelligence and signal corps. Fort Chaffee was also used to train soldiers in advanced weapons systems.

Additionally, Fort Chaffee was used as a staging area for soldiers and equipment before they were sent to Vietnam. Soldiers would arrive at the fort, receive their final training, prepare their equipment, and then be shipped out to the front.

Fort Chaffee also served as a processing center for soldiers returning for soldiers from Vietnam. The soldiers would return to the U.S. and pass through Fort Chaffee where they would be demobilized and receive medical care if needed.

Vietnamese Refugees

This sign, titled New Horizon in front of Fort Chaffee showed the number of Vietnamese and Cambodian refugees who had lived at the camp and had been subsequently resettled, as well as the number still living there.

Fort Chaffee in Arkansas was also used to house Vietnamese refugees during the Vietnam War and in the years following the fall of Saigon in 1975. Following the end of the Vietnam War, many Vietnamese refugees fled their county by boat, and the United States agreed to accept some of these refugees as part of a larger effort to resettle Southeast Asian refugees.

Fort Chaffee was one of several locations in the United States that were used to temporarily house the Vietnamese refugees as they were being processed for resettlement in the United States. The fort was used as a temporary residence for refugees from May 1975 to 1980. During that period of time, Fort Chaffee was home to over 8,000 Vietnamese refugees, with a population peak of around 6,000. It was one of the largest Vietnamese refugee camps in the United States during this period of time.

The refugees at Fort Chaffee were housed in a variety of temprary structures such as tents and Quonset huts. The camp provided basic necesseities such as food, clothing, and medical care. They also provided educational and vocational training for the refugees. The federal government and several private voluntary organizations provided assistance to the refugees to help them become self-sufficient.

Refugees were provided with an opportunity to live in the United States permanently, and many were eventually resettled in different cities across the country. The camp was closed in 1980, and the refugees were either resettled or moved to other refugee camps.

Cuban Refugees

Fort Chaffee, Arkansas was a former U.S. Army installation that was used as a processing center for Cuban refugees during the 1980s. After the fall of the dictator Fulgencio Batista in Cuba in 1959, many Cubans fled the country and emigrated to the United States. In 1980, after Fidel Castro announced that he would be allowing any Cuban who wanted to leave the country to do so, a large number of refugees began to flee to the United States.

The U.S. government establashed several refugee processing centers around the country, including one at Fort Chaffee. The center at Fort Chaffee was used to process and house thousands of Cuban refugees as they awaited sponsorship or resettlement. Refugees at the Fort Chaffee center were housed in temporary barracks and received medical care, food, and other necessities. They also received assistance with finding sponsors or other forms of resettlement. Many Cuban refugees who were processed at Fort Chafee later settled in the United States and established new lives in the country. The numbers of refugees processed at Fort Chaffee varied but it was used primarily during the Mariel boatlift.

It is worth mentioning that some sources say that the experience at the center was not postive for all the refugees, complaints were made of overcrowding, poor living conditions and inadequate medical care.

Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC)

In 1887, the Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC) at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas is a United States Army training facility. It is used to train brigrade-sized units for deployment to overseas contingencies. The JRTC simulates a wide range of scenarios, including urban warfare, desert warfare, and jungle warfare, to prepare soldiers for the conditions they may encounter in the field. Training at the JRTC is designed to be as realistic as possible, and it is considered to be some of the most challenging and intense training that soldiers can undergo. The JRTC is home to the Opposing Force (OPFOR), a unit that plays the role of the enemy during training execises to provide a realistic and challenging training environment for the units being trained. It is used by both US Army and other branches of the military.

In 1993 the JRTC was transferred to Fort Polk, Louisiana and in 1995, the Base Realignment and Closure Commission recommended the closure of Fort Chaffee. The recommendation was approved and the base became a Reserve training area. Fort Chaffee became a subinstallation of Fort Sill. On September 27, 1997 command of the base was transferred to the Arkansas Army National Guard and became known as the Chaffee Maneuvar Training Center for Light Combat Forces and later simply as Chaffee Joint Maneuvar Training Center.

Other Uses of Fort Chaffee

Movies

Fort Chaffee, Arkansas has been used as a filming location for several movies and TV shows over the years. One of the most notable movies filmed there is "A Soldier's Story" (1984) directed by Norman Jewison and starring Howard E. Rolllins Jr, Adolph Caeser and Denzel Washington. The movie is set in Louisiana in 1944 and tells the story of the murder of a black sergeant, and the subsequent investigation by a black officer. The movie is shot on location at Fort Chaffee, where filmmakers built a replica of a southern military base to serve as the backdrop for the film.

Another movie filmed at Fort Chaffee is "The Tuskegee Airman" (1995), directed by Robert Markowitz and staring Allen Payne, Malcolm-Jamal Warner and Lawrence-Hilton Jacobs. The film tells the story of the Tuskegee Airman, a group of African American pilots who flew during World War II. Fort Chafee was used to represent the Tuskegee Army Airfield, where the Airmen trained.

Other movies that have been filmed there include: "The Great Santini" (1979) directed by Lewis John Carlino and starring Robert Duvall, Blythe Danner, and Michael O'Keefe; "The Trail of Tears" (1990) directed by George E. Bloom, it tells the story of the forced relocation of the Cherokee Nation from their ancestral lands in the Southeast to Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma.

Other productions such as TV shows and commercials also used the location as it has diverse terrains and facilities that can accommodate different types of senarios.

Since Fort Chaffee has been transferred to the Fort Chaffee Redevelopment Authority a Los Angeles-based film and television studio, Spark Studios has proposed building a permament facility at Chaffee Crossing.

Other Government Agencies

The Department of Energy (DOE) established a training station for their federal agents. The Office of Secure Transport (OST) at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) maintains the OST Transportation Safeguards Training Site at Fort Chaffee. They provide an eighteen week long Nuclear Material Courier Basic Acadamy for new federal agents. In the training agents are taught specialized skills including law enforcement tactics, physical security, firearms training and qualifications, convoy operations, physical fitness, tractor-trailer driving skills, and legal issues around nuclear material transport.

Redevelopment

The Fort Chaffee Redevelopment Authority (FCRA) is a government agency that was created to oversee the redevelopment of the former Fort Chaffee military base in Arkansas. The agency's purpose is to plan and carry out the conversion of the base's property and facilities into civilian use.

This includes recruiting new businessess and industries to locate at the base, developing new housing and other real estate projects, and managing the base's infrastructure, including roads, utilities, and other public facilities.

The FCRA is also in charge with preserving and promoting the base's historical and cultural resources. This includes managing the Fort Chaffee Barrage Balloon Museum, which is housed in one of the base's original barracks, and preserving the base's many historic structures.

Sources

• Roberts, Robert B., Encyclopedia of Historic Forts: The Military, Pioneer, and Trading Posts of the United States, Macmillan, New York, 1988, 10th printing, ISBN 0-02-926880-X, page 53
• Chaffee Crossing. http://www.chaffeecrossing.com/ (accessed March 12, 2015).
• “Fort Chaffee.” GlobalSecurity.org. http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/fort-chaffee.htm (accessed March 12, 2015).
• Froelich, Jacqueline. “During Vietnam, Agent Orange Got Arkansas Trial, Veterans and Locals Still Haunted by Exposure Fears.” Arkansas Public Media. http://arkansaspublicmedia.org/post/during-vietnam-agent-orange-got-arkansas-trial-veterans-and-locals-still-haunted-exposure-fears (accessed September 19, 2017).
• Lipman, Jana K. “A Refugee Camp in America: Fort Chaffee and Vietnamese and Cuban Refugees, 1975–1982.” Journal of American Ethnic History 33 (Winter 2014): 57–87.
• Special Report: The Storied History Behind Fort Chaffee, Katelynn Zoellner, last edited 24 May 2008. Special Report on History of Fort Chaffee
• Emilee Dewett. "Fort Chaffee ." Clio: Your Guide to History. November 29, 2020. Accessed August 18, 2022. Fort Chaffee

See Also:

• Wikipedia - Fort Chaffee
• https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/fort-chaffee-2263/ Encylopedia of Arkansis - Fort Chaffee]
• FortWiki - Fort Chaffee