Culture.Mil - Camp Gordon

Written by Jenifer Chrisman on September 9, 2016.

1917 – Camp Gordon Chamblee, GA established
1941 – Camp Gordon Augusta, GA reestablished
1943-45 – Internment camp or foreign prisoners of war
1945 – U.S. Army Disciplinary Barracks for Convicted Criminals built
1948 – U.S. Army Signal Corps Training Center & MP School built
1949 – U.S. Army Signal Corps Training Center opened
1956 – Renamed Fort Gordon
1962 – Signal Corps Training Center reorganized
1967 – Signal Corps Training Center reorganized again
1974 – All U.S. Army communications training consolidated to Fort Gordon and redesignated U.S. Army Signal Center
1975 – MP School transferred
2014 – Signal Center transformed and renamed to U.S. Army Cyber Center of Excellence

Named after Confederate Major General John Brown Gordon (February 6, 1832-January 9, 1904), Camp Gordon initially opened in 1917 in Chamblee, Georgia; it was the training site for the 82nd All-American Division. It moved to Augusta, Georgia, and was reconstructed in 1941, prior to the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and spread across 55,000 acres.

During World War II Camp Gordon served as the training base for the 4th and 26th Infantry Divisions and the 10th Armored Division. The divisions deployed to Europe under General George S. Patton Third Army. It also operated an internment camp for foreign prisoners of war with a cemetery where 22 former foreign POWs are buried. And in 1945 one of seven additional branches of the U.S. Army Disciplinary Barracks for Convicted Criminals was built at Camp Gordon.

After World War II over 85,000 enlisted and officers were discharged, nearly emptying Camp Gordon by June of 1948. It began repopulating in September of 1948 when the Signal Corps Training Center, which opened in September of 1949, and a Military Police School were established. In January of 1949 the Engineer Aviation Unit Training Center was activated, which only remained a year.

Camp Gordon continued to train communications personnel and MPs, but began training the 51st Anti-Aircraft Artillery Brigade. They formed three detachments for combat assignments during the Korean War.

Prior to its name change from Camp Gordon to Fort Gordon on March 21, 1956, it was the home of the Advanced Leaders School and Basic Replacement Training Center (both inactivated in 1955), as well as the only Army Criminal Investigation Laboratory (USACIL), now Defense Forensic Science Center (DFSC), and a Rehabilitation Training Center. And, as part of the Civil Affairs and Military Government School, the Civil Affairs School arrived in 1955.

During the Vietnam War the U.S. Army Training Center (Basic) was activated in 1957. Fort Gordon continued to train signal, infantry and military police. On July 11, 1975, the Military Police School was officially transferred to Fort McClellan, Alabama.

Under the U.S. Army Southeastern Signal School, all activities of the Signal Corps Training Center were reorganized in June of 1962. On November 30, 1967, they were reorganized again to coordinate advanced individual training and direct overall post operations.

Fort Gordon became the consolidation point for all communications training on October 1, 1974, with the relocation of the Signal School from Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, and was redesignated to the U.S. Army Signal Center. On March 27, 2014, the Signal Center was transformed and renamed the U.S. Army Cyber Center of Excellence.

Apart from being the largest electronics/communications facility in the world, Fort Gordon is currently home to the:

ARMY

U.S. Army Cyber Center of Excellence (Cyber CoE)
Warrior Transition Battalion
434th U.S. Army Signal Corps Band
Signal and Ordnance Warriors – 15th Regimental Signal Brigade “Voice of the Army...Faithful Service”
369th Signal Battalion “Warriors Lead the Way!”
442nd Signal Battalion “Ready! Rapid! Reliable!”
551st Signal Battalion Patriots “Watch and Warn”
7th Signal Command (Theater) “One Team, One Network!”
35th Signal Brigade “The Lion Brigade”
63rd Expeditionary Signal Battalion “Proud and Ready”
67th Expeditionary Signal Battalion “Rapid, Flexible and Reliable”
359th Signal Brigade “Command and Communicate”
132nd Engineer Detachment (Geospatial Production Cell)
116th Military Intelligence Brigade
706th Military Intelligence Group, National Security Agency/Central Security Service - Georgia
707th Military Intelligence Battalion
513th Military Intelligence Brigade
202nd Military Intelligence Battalion (Forward Collection)
224th Military Intelligence Battalion (Aerial Exploitation)
297th Military Intelligence Battalion (Operations)
782nd Military Intelligence Battalion “Everywhere and always...in the fight”
324th Signal Battalion

AIR FORCE

480th ISR Group
3d Intelligence Squadron Desert Jackals
31st Intelligence Squadron Desert Knights “No Borders, No Limits”
5th Intelligence Squadron “Ghosts in the Machine”

MARINES

Marine Detachment, Satellite Communication School
Company D, Marine Cryptologic Support Battalion

NAVY

Navy Information Operations Command, Ga.
Center for Information Dominance Learning Site

Camp/Fort Gordon has had a book written about it as part of Arcadia’s “Image of America” series – Fort Gordon (Images of America), which can be found at Amazon or Barnes & Noble. And a number of notables once called it home, some in Chamblee and some in Augusta, even if only for a short time.

Camp/Fort Gordon Notables:

Comanche code-talkers (4th Signal Company, 4th Infantry Division)
Sergeant Alvin C. York (referred to as the “greatest soldier of World War I”)
Actor Robert Duvall began his acting career while stationed at Gordon
U.S. District Court Judge Dudley Bowen
Georgia Governor Nathan Deal
Actor Rip Torn
Pin-up girl and actress Jayne Mansfield (resided there with her lieutenant husband during his MP training)

Author’s Note: If anyone has information on a notable event in the history of Camp/Fort Gordon they believe should be added as a reference on the timeline, please leave a note below detailing the year(s), event and any relevant information. I will be more than happy to verify the information and add it to the timeline.

Sources: