Camp Jesse Turner

Camp Jesse Turner, located on Pickett Hill on the east side of Van Buren (Crawford County), was a small, specialized railroad training camp for soldiers to learn to operate railroads captured in enemy territory, worldwide, during World War II. It was briefly named Camp Walter Johnson, but on September 24, 1943, the press reported a name change to honor Jesse Turner, a justice on the Arkansas Supreme Court from the area. The soldiers assigned to four Railroad Operating Battalions (ROBs), the 759th, 748th, 733rd, and 734th, were trained in the Missouri Pacific Railroad yards and roundhouse in Van Buren. Their weapons of war were locomotives, cars, tracks, bridges, telephone and telegraph lines, and repair shops. , On July 15, 1942, the Department of War contracted with the widow of Dr. Lucas Giles to purchase thirty-five acres of land from his estate for the construction of Camp Jesse Turner. The urgency of war preparation can be discerned from the rapid course of events, as the site was surveyed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and building material was unloaded on July 18. Thirty-four of the fifty-one non-insulated temporary buildings were hurriedly constructed. Camp Jesse Turner was officially accepted by the Department of Transportation from the Corps of Engineers by Lieutenant Colonel E. F. Barnes on December 4, 1942. , The soldiers enjoyed close ties with local citizens, who welcomed them by providing and furnishing a recreation facility for them and inviting them to church, school and civic functions. When possible, troops contributed funds to aid Crawford County in Red Cross bond drives; they also held parades and the battalion bands toured the communities performing to raise funds for the war effort. The soldiers and camp site located on high ground, played a pivotal role in the community when the 1943 spring floodwaters of the Arkansas River engulfed Van Buren, washing out the bridge linking Van Buren with Fort Smith (Sebastian County), washing out levees and inundating low-lying crop lands. Though the floodwaters severely damaged the railroad lines in Van Buren, the soldiers acted quickly to run trains around the flooded lines. Camp Jesse Turner also housed and fed many flood-stricken citizens., The delivery of the first and only baby at the camp was reported on May 21, 1943. The departing troops of the 759th insisted on naming the baby Jesse Turner Rutledge. By the middle of June 1943, 400 African-American soldiers from the 469th Quartermaster Truck Regiment at Camp Maxey, Texas, were bivouacked in tents on the grounds of Camp Jesse Turner. They were sent from their camp in Texas to reclaim the farmland in the flooded areas in time for fall planting. , The 759th departed Camp Jesse Turner on May 20, 1943, for overseas, where they merged with other railroad battalions in the campaigns of North Africa, Sicily, Italy and southern France. The 748th ROB, which was activated near New Orleans, Louisiana on May 19, 1943 arrived at Camp Jesse Turner before July for special training. They departed Van Buren in late October for the China-Burma-India war theater. The 733rd Railroad Operating Battalion arrived in Van Buren in late November 1943; they departed in June 1944, arriving in France soon after the June 6, 1944, D-Day invasion. The last battalion assigned to Camp Jesse Turner, the 734th ROB, arrived before June 16, 1944, and departed late that year, arriving in France just before Christmas to assume operation of the rail lines in northern France. With the departure of the last battalion, the camp operation was phased down., [Captions] , The Railway Operating Battalions were very active in the Van Buren. community during their time here to promote the sale of "Victory Bonds.", The soldiers used the grounds of Camp Jesse Turner, including "Hospital Hill", to further their training and their regular marching drills. , During the flood of 1943, the Railroad Battalion soldiers in training at Van Buren, helped build a pontoon bridge to reconnect Fort Smith and Van Buren. The flood washed out the vital bridge and water mains connecting Van Buren and Fort Smith. , They held parades, the battalion bands gave concerts and went to many church and civic events, The Red Cross bond drives were also a priority of the community and the troops were very helpful in that endeavor.