Fort Campbell (Oak Grove, Kentucky / Clarksville, Tennessee, Kentucky)

Oak Grove, Kentucky / Clarksville, Tennessee · Kentucky · World War II onwards

Quick BriefFort Campbell is a United States Army installation located between the Kentucky–Tennessee border between Hopkinsville, Kentucky and Clarksville, Tennessee. The site was selected July 16, 1941, with construction beginning Feb. 4, 1942. Until the end of World War II, Camp Campbell was the training ground for the 12th, 14th and 20th Armored divisions, Headquarters IV Armored Corps and the 26th Infantry Division. Fort Campbell is home to the 101st Airborne Division and the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment.

Active base today

History & Significance

Fort Campbell came into existence in 1941 as the United States prepared for war. In need of additional large training facilities, army planners chose an area northwest of Clarksville for a new camp.

The government bought 102,000 acres of rich farmland at an average price of $39.94 per acre and dislocated approximately seven hundred families. The fort is named in honor of Union Army Brigadier General William Bowen Campbell, the last Whig Governor of Tennessee.

Early in the summer of 1942, the post's initial cadre, one officer and 19 enlisted men, arrived from Fort Knox, Kentucky. On September 15, 1942, following the activation of the 12th Armored Division at Camp Campbell, the base was operational.

German POWs arrived at Camp Campbell in 1943. Three POW stockades, each with a capacity of 1,000 people were built specifically for this purpose.

By April 1950, the post had evolved from a wartime training camp to a permanent installation and was renamed Fort Campbell. On September 21, 1956, Secretary of the Army Wilber M. Brucker and the Army Chief of Staff, General Maxwell D. Taylor, presented the colors of the 101st Airborne Division to MG T.L. Sherbourne, the first commander of the new, previously experimental, ROTAD (Reorganization Of The Airborne Division) division. This ceremony officially reactivated the famed "Screaming Eagles" of World War II.