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Fort McCoy, Wis., was established in 1909. Here is a look back at some installation history from October 2021 and back.
75 Years Ago — Oct. 18, 1946
Ponderous machines of war rolled slowly and majestically down the streets of Camp McCoy on Oct. 15, 1946, and alert men, with helmets shining in the morning sun, paraded past high-ranking Army officers in the first review to be held by Task Force Frost.
On the reviewing stand, watching more than 200 vehicles and 1,500 men who took part in the parade, were Maj. Gen. Louis Craig, Deputy Fifth Army commander; Brig. Gen. Homer Kiefer, Fifth Army G-3; Col. Rudolph Broedlow, commanding officer of Task Force Frost; and Col. Newton Bush, post commander.
While civilians from neighboring towns and cities looked on, men of the 7th Infantry Regiment, 10th Engineer Battalion, and 3rd Observations Battalion started the parade at 9:30 a.m. sharp when the Task Force military band struck up the first notes of a spirited march. Then, in a long and colorful procession, came tanks, half-tracks, road graders, snow plows, self-propelled and towed weapons, weasels, radar sets, meteorological vans, jeeps, and ambulances.
After the review, Craig visited the “Frost” ski shop, where he inspected various types of rations; ski equipment; snowshoes; toboggans, which may be hauled by dog teams; a gasoline tent heater for hospital ward tents; and other winter equipment. In the afternoon, the officers drove into the field, where a demonstration of various types of infantry weapons was held. They watched artillery troops firing 8 inch, 105 MM, and 155 MM towed and self-propelled guns and later climbed a steep and rocky hill path to reach an observation post from which a clear view of the bursting shells was afforded.
At the conclusion of the exercises, Craig congratulated Broedlow and his staff on the excellent condition of equipment and the fine state of training of personnel. The visit of Craig stressed again the importance which the Army attached to the winter operations that took place at Camp McCoy.
30 Years Ago — October 1991
In the midst of Fort McCoy’s 60,000 acres, approximately 300 acres may not seem like much. But when that area comprises what natural resource experts call a “very rare” plant community, it attracts attention.
Kim Mello, acting chief of the Natural Resources Management Division of the Directorate of Engineering, said that areas known as Oak Barrens and Oak Savanna were identified on Fort McCoy’s South Post in 1988 and have been under close scrutiny by natural resource experts ever since.
Oak Savanna is an umbrella term used to describe a natural area consisting of no more than a 50 percent canopy of trees, with none of the area having trees forming a closed canopy, according to Paul Matthiae, chief of the Natural Areas Section of the Bureau of Endangered Resources, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR). Barrens is the term used to describe a droughty area that is much dryer because of the soil makeup. Fort McCoy has very sandy soil.
Matthiae said that in presettlement times, before 1850, there were as many as 5 million to 6 million acres of Oak Barrens/Savanna in Wisconsin. Today, because of agriculture, industrialization, and residential development, there are less than 1,000 acres left in the state.
Much of the Fort McCoy Barrens/Savanna area is open prairie with some scattered trees that, in places, form a closed canopy of oak woods. The trees present are mostly black oak and Hill’s oak, with Burr oak and White oak being less common. The land is rich in native herbs, including little blue stem, June grass, poverty oat grass, goat’s rue, birdsfoot violet, lance-leaved loosestrife, and wild lupine.
10 Years Ago — Sept. 28, 2011
Fort McCoy installation leadership and civilian contractors donned hard hats and used golden shovels Sept. 28, 2011, to break ground for the construction of the Annual Training/Mobilization (AT/MOB) barracks.
“This is a historic event,” said Darrell Neitzel, director of the Directorate of Public Works (DPW) at Fort McCoy, “This is the first permanent Soldier training barracks that has been built at Fort McCoy, ever.”
The building will be located in the 2800-2900 blocks of Fort McCoy. Fort McCoy Senior Commander Maj. Gen. Glenn J. Lesniak emphasized the historical significance of the event in his remarks at the ceremony.
“The landmark look that you see at Fort McCoy was originated in 1942,” he said. “More than 1,500 facilities were built to support operations for about five years. Today, 272 of those facilities are still in use as barracks.
“The landmark look will be replaced with the look of the AT/MOB facility,” Lesniak said. “It’s the first brick-and-mortar barracks building to ever be built at Fort McCoy. It will be a two-story structure and house 168 personnel.”
The barracks design is adapted from the design active-duty installations use; it will replicate a housing complex environment with laundry and other facilities located in the area, he said.
The facility is Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver Certified. LEED is a green building certification system that takes into account the building site’s sustainability and regional priority, the building’s water efficiency and energy usage, the materials and resources used to construct the building, its innovation in design and the building’s indoor environmental quality.
“It’s a step toward modernizing Fort McCoy so it can be in service for the next 100 years,” Lesniak said.
| Date Taken: | 10.06.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 10.06.2021 16:35 |
| Story ID: | 406887 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WI, US |
| Web Views: | 69 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, This month in Fort McCoy history: October 2021, by Kaleen Holliday, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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