Description

42 pages + photo (2 pages).
If, as we would like, all those who have a friendly interest in Camp Pickett were able to visit with us, this picture story of a soldier’s city would have assumed a different emphasis. To record the spectacular instead of the ordinary, the rare instead of the commonplace, would have provided a more thrilling booklet; but it would not have faithfully portrayed what a visitor would likely see, nor the impression that will remain with the soldier long after he has forgotten the exceptional. Forty-six thousand acres in four Southside Virginia Counties, Lunenburg, Woffaway, Brunswick and Dinwiddie, were selected for the reservation which borders on the pleasant town of Blackstone. A phenomenon of military construction began early in January, 1942. Six months later, on July 3, 1942, thousands of soldiers had occupied its housing and training facilities, and took part in the camp’s formal dedication. The camp derived its name that day from the distinguished Virginia soldier, Major General George Edward Pickett, who, at the same hour of the same day in 1863, launched his valiant charge at Gettysburg. Camp Pickett’s primary purpose is to convert those who train here into the best instructed and best conditioned soldiers in the world. However, it has not been overlooked that but few of the trainees would normally have selected a military career. Therefore, for those hours which can be spared from training, every consideration has been given the soldier’s religious, intellectual and recreational needs. Admittedly, an army camp is not home. But Camp Pickett is and will continue to be as agreeable a wartime abode as the emergency will permit. It this booklet conveys to you a knowledge of how and where your soldier trains, plays, eats and sleeps, and of the medical and dental care provided him; and if, for him, in the years to come, it stimulates other bivouacs in the realm of reminiscence, then the pages which follow will have truly earned the title: “This is Camp Pickett.”