It appears that my mother gave this book to my father to document his military experience around the time that he re-entered the Army in 1943. However, the dedication she wrote is clearly dated August 6, 1944. By then she (and daughter Mary Ann) had joined my father at Fort McClellan and were living in a trailer off-base.
Extracts from the Diary section of this document have been included in my narrative. The document can be viewed in its entirety on the Allan County Public Library website at https://genealogycenter.info/military/wwii/search_hansondiary.php.
Camp Grant, Illinois
Image Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Camp_Grant_Panoramic.jpg
Camp Grant was a major U.S. Army installation on the south side of Rockford (Winnebago County), Illinois, named for Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. It operated primarily from 1917 to 1946 (with a quieter interwar period under state control). See the Wikipedia article about this camp.
Reactivated in 1941 as a key induction/reception center (processing recruits) and an Army Medical Service training site—with very large throughputs during the war.
Fort McClellan, Alabama
Fort McClellan is located just northwest of Anniston, AL and southwest of Oxford, AL, near the foothills of the Choccolocco Mountains. The site is accessed from Alabama State Route 21 and close to Interstate 20 between Birmingham, AL and Atlanta, GA. View in Google Maps.
During World War II, Fort McClellan became one of the Army’s largest training centers. Nearly half-a-million soldiers trained there before deployment.
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1943_11_30_1_1A.jpg – Missing
1934_12_01_1B.jpg Missing
1943_12_2B_2_1A.jpg Missing
Leave: 13 June – 26 June 1944
Standing with daughter Mary Ann outside the trailer the family lived in while stationed at Fort McClellan. Probably taken between August and December 1944.
They lived in two different trailers at this time. The address for one of them was 2001 Noble Street, Anniston AL 36201
https://maps.app.goo.gl/7udmgHVW4J51XzbV8
Leave: 27 December 1944 – 6 January 1945
Fort Ord, California
Fort Ord is a former United States Army post on Monterey Bay on the Pacific Ocean coast in California. Before construction and official designation as a fort in 1940, the land was used as a maneuver area and field-artillery target range beginning in 1917. Fort Ord was considered one of the most attractive locations of any U.S. Army post, because of its proximity to the beach and California weather. The 7th Infantry Division was its main garrison for many years.
Read more about Fort Ord at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Ord
Fort Lawton, Washington
Fort Lawton was a United States Army post located in the Magnolia neighborhood of Seattle, Washington overlooking Puget Sound. While Fort Lawton was a quiet outpost prior to World War II, it became the second largest port of embarkation of soldiers and materiel to the Pacific Theater during the war.
Read more about Fort Lawton at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Lawton.
USS Lycomming – 28 January 1945
