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Camp Toccoa, Georgia, was the first training camp of the 506th PIR. Established in 1938 and had been used as a training camp for the National Guard. It was originally named Camp General Robert Toombs, in honour of a Confederate general from the Civil War.
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It was a remote camp with no facilities until the War Department chose it as a location for paratrooper training soon after the U.S entered WW2.
Cadre personnel arrived in June 1942 and began to set up the camp for the training of enlisted men.
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Cadre personnel arrived in June 1942 and began to set up the camp for the training of enlisted men.
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Col Bob Sink, commander of the 506th, decided that the psychology of having a name like Toombs, with the fact that men had to travel on Route 13, past a casket factory, through a cemetary, to learn how to throw themselves out of airplanes, was possibly not a good idea
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He had the name changed to Toccoa, after the nearby town 5 miles away.
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In July, 1942, 5,000 men arrived at the remote training camp. On arriving, most men were placed in W Company, which stood for "Welcome"....or "Washout" as it also housed those who had flunked their physical exam or training, and were being sent elsewhere.
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W Company was located on a slope to the side of the main camp and was lined with rows of tents which would flood in wet weather. The joke was that each tent had its own running water supply from the streams that always ran through them.
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In the entrants part, soon called Cow Company, you had to pass physical, medical, and fitness tests to then go on to be assigned to a company within the main camp. Larger tents were used at first while the barracks were being built.
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Over the next few years, 17, 000 soldiers trained at Camp Toccoa from the 501st, 506th, 511th, and 517th PIR, as well as the 295th Ordnance Heavy Maintenance Company, and components of the Signal Corps.
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Once a man was assigned to the main camp, "A" stage basic training began. Training was about physical conditioning, weeding out the weak. The first day you would be made run the 1,735ft Mount Currahee, 3 1/2 miles up and 3 1/2 miles down.
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The track was just a bulldozed trail up the side of the mountain, complete with rocks, potholes, and a rain gulley that ran down the middle. Many falls occurred and many broken and sprained limbs were suffered.
Pictured is G Co, 506th PIR
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Pictured is G Co, 506th PIR
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12 hour days would be filled with Calisthenics, a timed obstacle course, Currahee runs, and 12 -15 mile marches. Classes in drill instruction, line formation, and learned commands. Combat basics such as hand signals, digging trenches and foxholes, navigation.
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Rifle range, weapons, field training. Bayonets, grenades, machine guns, bazookas, hand to hand combat.
Pictured is Easy Company's Gordon Carson making his way aroynd the obstacle course
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Pictured is Easy Company's Gordon Carson making his way aroynd the obstacle course
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Men had to learn the ins and outs of any designated roles they were assigned, such as mortar squad, radiomen, or medics. They also had to learn the basics of every other role in their platoon in preparation for anything that may happen in combat.
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There was the start of parachute training. Paratrooper ground training with 34ft mock up towers, wind machines, how to pack your parachute, how to exit the plane, how to land, and what to do when you landed.
Pictured is Burr Smith, Easy Co, in jump training
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Pictured is Burr Smith, Easy Co, in jump training
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Jumping and earning their wings began for the officers, until problems with the runway meant these were moved to Fort Benning.
But for the enlisted men the 13 weeks at Toccoa prepared them for the next stage: jump school at Fort Benning.
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But for the enlisted men the 13 weeks at Toccoa prepared them for the next stage: jump school at Fort Benning.
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