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BASES -- Summary-Earlier Era [p6 of 14]
WHO's
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BASES -- Summary-Earlier Era [p6 of 14] |
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FORMER MILITARY INSTALLATIONS (First half of the 20th Century) Before and after World War II, several installations had been closed down, some right after the end of the war, some later. Some of them were transferred to Panama in 1955 under the Eisenhower-Rémon Treaty, a revision of the original 1903 Treaty with Panama. Others were transferred from 1979-1999 under the 1977 Panama Canal Treaty. _________________________________________________________ CAMP ELLIOTT/CAMP GAILLARD (1904-1927) (Marines later Army/ Pacific side) Camp Elliott was one of the two original U.S. Marine installations in Panama in 1904 at the town of Bas Obispo and near the towns of Culebra and Empire on what is now the west bank of the Panama Canal. Following the completion of the Panama Canal, the Panama Canal government gave the Army its excess buildings and property in former Isthmian Canal Commission construction-era communities, including Culebra and Empire. Empire was transferred to the Army in November 1914 following the departure in January 1914 of the last remaining battalion of Marines to Vera Cruz, Mexico, for the campaign against Pancho Villa commanded by General John Pershing. Culebra was transferred to the Army in March 1915. Camp Elliott was renamed Camp Gaillard in honor of Army Colonel David D. Gaillard, who, as chief of the Central Division during canal construction, was responsible for the construction of the Culebra Cut, later renamed Gaillard Cut after him.
Camp Gaillard was the home of the 20th Infantry Brigade, manned by Puerto Rican recruits commanded by American officers under the command of Brigadier General Fox Connor, who during World War I had been chief of operations at General Pershing's field headquarters. When General Fox received orders for Camp Gaillard, he offered the position of executive officer to a young officer personally recommended by General George Patton -- Major Dwight D. Eisenhower. Major and Mrs. Eisenhower began their two year tour at Camp Gaillard January 1922. Other units at Camp Gaillard were 29th Infantry (1915-1918), 5th Infantry (1914-1918), 1st Squadron, 12 Calvary (arrived 1915), and 33rd Infantry (1916 until 1920 when it was transferred to Fort Clayton) In October 1927, following the completion of the permanent military installations at the terminals of the canal, Camp Gaillard was inactivated. The remaining buildings were either moved or demolished, and the land was part of the area converted to an artillery practice range, called Empire Range. (Text and photo from An American Legacy in Panama: A Brief History of the Department of Defense Installations and Properties in the Former Panama Canal Zone, Suzanne P. Johnson and Richard M. Houle. Another source used -- Panama Canal Security & Defense 1903-2000, by Charles Morris, Panama Canal Commission Printing Office, Balboa Heights, Republic of Panama, 1994.)
Site developed, owned and maintained by William H. Ormsbee, Jr. 2005
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