Fort Wolters

Fort Wolters main gate as it appears today

Fort Wolters was a United States military installation four miles northeast of Mineral Wells, Texas. Originally named Camp Wolters, it was an Army camp from 1925 to 1946. During World War II, it was for a time the largest infantry replacement training center in the United States. After the war, the camp was deactivated for several years. It became an Air Force base in 1951 with the mission of training Air Force engineers.

Camp Wolters was the location where two of the war's most famous enlisted infantrymen underwent basic training - Audie Murphy and Eddie Slovik.

Audie Leon Murphy (20 June 1925 – 28 May 1971) completed basic training at Camp Wolters. He was one of the most decorated American combat soldiers of World War II, receiving every military combat award for valor available from the U.S. Army, as well as French and Belgian awards for heroism. At the age of 19, Murphy received the Medal of Honor after single-handedly holding off an entire company of German soldiers for an hour at the Colmar Pocket in France in January 1945, then leading a successful counterattack while wounded and out of ammunition.

Also, during World War II on January 24, 1944, private Edward 'Eddie' Donald Slovik was sent to Camp Wolters in Texas for basic military training from Detroit, Michigan. Upon finishing basic training, private Slovik was sent to Company G of the 109 Infantry Regiment, U.S. 28th Infantry Division in Europe (France) as a replacement. Private Slovik was convicted for desertion in November 1944. He was executed for desertion on January 31, 1945, and became the only active duty U.S. soldier executed since the American Civil War.

In 1956, it reverted to the United States Army to house the United States Army Primary Helicopter School; it was designated a "permanent" military base and renamed Fort Wolters in 1963.

March of 1966 the post was re-designated Fort Wolters, a permanent military installation and U.S. Army Primary Helicopter Center.

The base was deactivated in 1973, the site is now used as an industrial park, including world famous Ventamatic, Ltd, GR's Workshop, and the place Bag O' Rocks works at, a branch of Weatherford College, a Texas Army National Guard training center, and a summer camp for the Civil Air Patrol.

References

    [1]

    Coordinates: 32°51′09″N 98°01′52″W / 32.85250°N 98.03111°W


    1. ↑ Petite, Bob (April 2015). "Above the finest". Vertical Magazine. p. 98-116. Retrieved 11 April 2015.