by Kimberly A. Cook (Twitter@ WarriorTales)
A couple Saturdays ago I had the pleasure of speaking to the Air Force Sergeants Association about the importance of getting their stories written or recorded. For the non-writers, I showed off my tech collection of a digital recorder and Flip video camera. Not everybody is a writer, but seems many folks are willing to talk their stories and these gadgets make recording a breeze.
The Association holds their meetings at Camp Withycombe in Oregon. This Camp is a major center for training and drilling Oregon National Guard troops. It did my heart good to see the two tanks standing guard outside the front door. Having served with the Army’s Fourth Infantry Division (Mechanized) ( = tanks) I love me some tanks.
From the fun and spirited group of Air Force Sergeants in the meeting, including Charlie who served in World War II, Korea and Vietnam, to the displays in the building, history was everywhere. When we look for military stories to write about, our own neighborhood can be full of tanks and cannons.
Camp Withycombe became a defense site in 1903 and in 1909 the U.S. Government bought the camp and opened a rifle range. The original 234-acre parcel has been a training site for the Oregon National Guard for more than 80 years. Recently several armories were consolidated to serve and train in a new building at the Camp.
The rifle range opened here on May 15, 1909 making it “one of the oldest National Defense ranges in the western part of the United States,” according to globalsecurity.org. The Camp was determined eligible for the National Register of Historic Places by the Oregon State Historic Preservation Office in 1994. Some of the buildings include the Adjutant General’s House built-in 1938 by the WPA.
The Camp is also home to the Oregon Military Museum, temporarily closed for renovation. A fundraising campaign is underway to build a new home for the museum at the Camp, www.oregonmilitarymuseum.org I toured the museum several years ago and they have artifacts galore. Imagine all the stories in that new building! Like shooting tanks in a barrel.
“Tanks in a barrel.” That is cute!