Camp Bouse: Patton's "secret" WWII Desert Training Center

It is unearthly quiet here.  Almost silent.  We sat outside for a couple of hours yesterday afternoon and heard nothing but a few flies buzzing.  No other cars, no homes, no irritating OHVs.  And last night was just as quiet. 

It is a stark contrast to what it would have been like 73 years ago when it was an area filled with hundreds of tents, thousands of soldiers, tanks, jeeps, and young men (actually boys like my father, Vicky's son Owen, my brother-in-law Dennis, etc.) laughing, cursing, and working.  And explosions at the nearby firing range, as these men (boys) learned to use their weapons by firing at mountains.

And knowing that many of these men (boys) recognized that this likely was the last place they would call home while in the United States, and maybe forever, as they were soon to be shipped off to the war in Africa.  Many lost their lives there, of course.  

Now……there is virtually nothing left to suggest any of that life was ever here.  And almost nothing to indicate its importance to all of us.   

We are at the site of Camp Bouse, the site of one of General Patton’s WWII Desert Training Centers.  Found it although there are no maps in town or on the roads around here.  The only place we have found that has the location is one of our Garmin GPS maps.  So we used that, plus a little help we got last week from a guy driving by our previous campsite.

Camp Bouse is about 20 miles from the town of Bouse, on a gravel road that now is being used to service the Powerline that runs through the valley.  Even on this obscure Powerline road there is nothing to indicate that one is at the site of Camp Bouse.

In WWII, in Africa, the allies were being beaten badly.  So the decision was to form several Desert Training Centers where the men (boys) could learn to fight in desert terrain, and could get used to the brutal desert weather. 

We have explored several of these on our previous road trip:

Camp Iron Mountain

Camp Granite

Camp Coxcomb

Camp Young.

Camp Bouse was a bit different.  Here they tested a secret weapon.  That weapon was a set of strong blinking lights on top of the tanks---designed to blind the enemy while not giving away the allied positions.  The mechanism was never used, but the men (boys) here were sworn to secrecy about it. 

The Desert Training Centers were instrumental in defeating Germany, which resulted in the United States we now know.  Instrumental because of the men (boys) who died fighting Germany using the training they received at these Desert Training Centers.

None of the Desert Training Centers have been adequately maintained for history, including Camp Bouse.  People have tried, and three cheers for them.  There were signs here, and a few remnants of the camp.  But, as we have said, there aren’t even directions from the highways on how to get here.

Our government has made an attempt to “preserve” one of the Desert Training Centers---Camp Iron Mountain.  However, as well-intentioned that effort is, only people who have 4-wheel drive vehicles can visit that place.  We almost got stuck.  And there is no parking.  Just a sign on the road indicating its presence--signs like the ones we often ignore also.

We believe that there is a certain duty we have to remember these places.  Camp Bouse is well remembered in the small town of Bouse, with a very nice display, but that's about it.

But here?  Cattle roam through the camp, dropping feces on the ground that men (boys) used 70+ years ago.  It seems disrespectful.  There is also a newer fence right through the middle of the camp, meaning you have to constantly open and shut gates to walk it (not the kind of gates that most people are used to, by the way--these require two people to open and close).  

At least do right by one of the camps.  I guess that is how we feel. 

 Here is the sign along the dirt/gravel "Powerline" road Camp Bouse is on.  Quite impressive, huh?

Our camp site:

Cattle in the Camp:

People have made efforts to erect some signs explaining what was here.  Kudos to them:

The boxing arena, built of dirt:

 Cattle watering station.  Pretty, huh?

About three miles up the road where, according to an old map we have, the "firing range" was supposed to be located, we found this odd well-constructed structure:

We couldn't figure out what it was, so we made something up.  We decided it was a fortification built to practice shooting from.  Are we good at making up stuff or are we?

These were some photos of our day discovering Camp Bouse.  We saw no one else today in the camp except, of course, a group of about four OHVs roaring through one of the roads, probably not even knowing where they were.

Lonely and silent.

We would not be here today, and our families would not enjoy the wonderful country we have, if it had not been for the men (boys) who were here over 70 years ago.  We will not forget them.