History
The city of Taunton was notified in June 1942 by the War Department that 1,500 acres (6.1 km2) would be taken for use as a military staging area. The design of the layout for the camp was made by the J.F.Worcester Company. The Matthew Cummings Company of Boston received the contract to construct the buildings. The camp opened on October 8, 1942 and was named in honor of Myles Standish who was the first military commander in the Old Colony region. Camp Myles Standish represented the Boston Port of Embarkation where American soldiers as well as soldiers from Canada, Great Britain and Australia process before engaging in the European Theater of World War II.
As the camp functioned as the port of embarkation, a quartermaster was set up so an entire division could be prepared for deployment within a day. Often, divisions would go to Africa or Iceland. This made train traffic understandably chaotic, with trains regularly coming into town from Providence, Rhode Island Springfield, Massachusetts and Boston. The yard itself, run by the New Haven Railroad, contained about ten miles of track.
German soldiers who were captured during the war were detained at this camp. Also, Italian soldiers were detained there as well although they were considered 'co-belligerents' because Italy had surrendered by the time the Italian soldiers arrived at Camp Myles Standish.
The camp closed in January 1946 following World War II. The site of Camp Myles Standish was briefly considered as a possible site for the United Nations.
There are several buildings that were once part of Camp Myles Standish that still remain standing as of 2009.
Read more about this topic: Camp Myles Standish
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