Fort Stewart (Liberty County, Georgia)
Liberty County · Georgia · World War II
History & Significance
Congress authorized funding in June 1940 to build an antiaircraft artillery training center in coastal Georgia. Land acquisition began on 1 July 1940, eventually encompassing over 280,000 acres across five southeastern Georgia counties.
Training initially used wooden mock-ups due to equipment shortages; live-fire exercises were conducted on beaches in Florida until September 1941, when ranges at Camp Stewart were completed. National Guard units and coastal artillery brigades from New York and Georgia began arriving in October 1940 and February 1941.
Following Pearl Harbor, the post accelerated antiaircraft training to support combat deployments. Women's Airforce Service Pilots arrived to tow live-fire targets, later replaced by radio-controlled aircraft.
By late 1943, Camp Stewart served as a prisoner-of-war detention facility for German and Italian captives from North Africa. Camp Stewart reopened on 9 August 1950 during the Korean War and was redesignated as the 3rd Army Anti-Aircraft Artillery Training Center on 28 December 1950.
In 1956 the post was redesignated Fort Stewart; in 1959 training shifted to armor and artillery as missile-based air defense became dominant. During the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, the 1st Armored Division was ordered to Fort Stewart, expanding the post's population from 3,500 to over 30,000 in two weeks.
Key Facts
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Sources
- https://home.army.mil/stewart/about/history
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Stewart
- https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/government-politics/fort-stewart/
- https://stewartandhunter.com/history/
- https://www.fortstewarthousing.com/history