The first project I am putting my priority focus on is ww1bases.blogspot.com as the 100 year anniversary of the U.S. involvement happened on April 6th, 2017. However, as I do research I sometimes recover data that can be applicable to many of these same bases that also saw re-use during the WWII era.
There was a fairly large number of WWI era bases that were mothballed and eventually saw re-use as WWII bases. The bases most likely to see re-use were ones with more permanent construction features as opposed to temporary stop gap structures. For example, ammo depots and naval shipyards would be of the more permanent grade. Whereas, the typical National Guard camp of WWI was mostly tents on leased land and the base was dismantled within mere months of Armistice Day.
The number of domestic WWII bases absolutely dwarfed that of WWI. A big factor was that WWII was a two front war that involved Europe and Asia as opposed to WWI which focused on Europe. The bulk of WWI bases were heavily concentrated along the East Coast. In contrast, with WWII, Western States saw a large amount of activity since we were at war with Japan for control of the Pacific Theater.
This project will be a much larger undertaking than the already large WWI base project. However, it is much easier to research information from the 1940s as opposed to the 1910s. The latter of which is often not digitized and requires a special trip to a local library where the former base existed.
If you have any relevant information, pictures, or maps please send them to basesofwar at gmail dot com.
There was a fairly large number of WWI era bases that were mothballed and eventually saw re-use as WWII bases. The bases most likely to see re-use were ones with more permanent construction features as opposed to temporary stop gap structures. For example, ammo depots and naval shipyards would be of the more permanent grade. Whereas, the typical National Guard camp of WWI was mostly tents on leased land and the base was dismantled within mere months of Armistice Day.
The number of domestic WWII bases absolutely dwarfed that of WWI. A big factor was that WWII was a two front war that involved Europe and Asia as opposed to WWI which focused on Europe. The bulk of WWI bases were heavily concentrated along the East Coast. In contrast, with WWII, Western States saw a large amount of activity since we were at war with Japan for control of the Pacific Theater.
This project will be a much larger undertaking than the already large WWI base project. However, it is much easier to research information from the 1940s as opposed to the 1910s. The latter of which is often not digitized and requires a special trip to a local library where the former base existed.
If you have any relevant information, pictures, or maps please send them to basesofwar at gmail dot com.
