Photo By Scott Sturkol | More than 30 members of the 223rd Support Maintenance Company (SMC), 363rd...... read more read more
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More than 30 members of the 223rd Support Maintenance Company (SMC), 363rd Quartermaster Battalion (Petroleum Pipeline), visited the Fort McCoy Commemorative Area on Aug. 14 after finishing regular operations supporting the 78th Training Division’s Combat Support Training Exercise 25-02.
The 223rd SMC is an Army Reserve unit headquartered at Grand Prairie Armed Forces Reserve Complex, Texas. Soldiers with the unit made the visit on the end of their time at Fort McCoy after supporting the exercise.
The 900 block of Fort McCoy and the 11-acre area surrounding it are the hub of the fort’s history-preservation efforts that make up the Commemorative Area. This area includes the Fort McCoy History Center, Fort McCoy Equipment Park, Veterans Memorial Plaza, and more.
Through every major operation, and everything else supported, Fort McCoy’s history is remembered in the Fort McCoy History Center, according to the Fort McCoy Public Affairs Office. The History Center features exhibits as well as displays of artifacts, photographs, and memorabilia that tell the story of Fort McCoy since its founding in 1909. The center first was opened in 1999 in building 902 when the Fort McCoy observed its 90th anniversary.
Whether it’s Maj. Gen. Robert B. McCoy’s World War I gas mask, horseshoes from the early
camp stables, World War II-era uniforms, or items from the 1980 Cuban Refugee Resettlement mission or the POW operations in World War II, the History Center offers exhibits spanning from Fort McCoy’s earliest beginnings to the installation’s involvement in the war on terrorism.
Recently, an interesting artifact, a 100-plus-year-old panoramic photograph, was donated to the Fort McCoy History Center in July 2025 by a Wisconsin resident who believes she had family descendants in the photograph.
That resident, Joyce Thorson from Augusta, Wis., brought the long panoramic photo to the Fort McCoy Commemorative Area and the History Center. Augusta is located near Eau Claire, Wis., and Joyce visited Fort McCoy on July 11 with her husband Delton Thorson.
The photo shows the 1st Regiment, 10th Battalion of the Wisconsin National Guard. The picture also shows that it was taken at “Camp Bruce E. McCoy.” According to installation history, Camp Bruce E. McCoy — named in honor of Robert Bruce McCoy’s father — was the official designation of the site from 1910 until it was renamed “Camp McCoy” on Nov. 19, 1926. Read more at: https://www.dvidshub.net/news/544873/pre-world-war-unit-photo-donated-fort-mccoy-history-center-dates-1910s.
Another addition occurred in June 2025 when Linda (Wendel) Dehaven contacted the Fort McCoy Public Affairs Office by email to discuss some old photos she found taken by her father while serving in the Army at then-Camp McCoy, Wis.
The photos and the time her father served were during the 1950s at then-Camp McCoy. Her father, former Sgt. Donald Wendel with the 110th Engineer Battalion of the Missouri National Guard, served within the Army engineer field during his entire service in the National Guard. Read more at: https://www.dvidshub.net/news/544803/family-donates-1950s-era-photos-fort-mccoy-father-had-training-then-camp-mccoy.
The 223 Soldiers spent most of the time visiting the five World War II-era buildings set aside to help tell Fort McCoy’s unique story. These facilities are representative of the types found in the Fort McCoy cantonment area when it was constructed in 1942.
Three of the buildings — an administrative facility, a dining facility, and a barracks — are set up to depict Soldier life during the 1940s. Display items include a World War II chapel, bunk beds, footlockers, mannequins, and potbelly stoves. Another building highlights four different modern military training venues, and a separate facility shows various training aids.
The 223 Soldiers also looked at some of Equipment Park. The Equipment Park is an outdoor display of historic and present-day equipment representative of the types used on the installation. The design of the park allows for display of 70 pieces of equipment, ranging from helicopters and howitzers to trucks and trailers.
But mostly, these 223 Soldiers got their photo taken at Veterans Memorial Plaza to memorialize their time serving at Fort McCoy in 2025. Construction on Veterans Memorial Plaza began in 2006, as did the work to create the five Soldier statues on the memorial representative of each of the major conflicts that Fort McCoy had been involved with to that point in time: i.e., World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the war on terrorism.
The formal dedication of Veterans Memorial Plaza was June 13, 2009 — the date of Fort McCoy’s 100th anniversary. Ever since its dedication, the Veterans Memorial Plaza has been the center of many events, including annual Armed Forces Day Open House events, dozens of official events, dozens of tours, and met by thousands of people throughout the years.
For more information about the Commemorative Area, contact the Fort McCoy Public Affairs Office at 502-898-2407 or by email at usarmy.mccoy.imcom-central.list.pao-admin@mail.mil.
Fort McCoy history is also highlighted in every monthly issue of The Real McCoy — Fort McCoy’s official newspaper — in the “This Month in Fort McCoy History” column. See past editions at https://www.dvidshub.net/publication/1002/the-real-mccoy.
Learn more about Army history by visiting the Army Center for Military History at https://history.army.mil.
And learn more about Wisconsin’s history by visiting the Wisconsin Historical Society at https://www.wisconsinhistory.org.
Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” on Flickr at https://www.flickr.com/photos/fortmccoywi, and on X (formerly Twitter) by searching “usagmccoy.”
Also try downloading the My Army Post app to your smartphone and set “Fort McCoy” or another installation as your preferred base. Fort McCoy is also part of Army’s Installation Management Command where “We Are The Army’s Home.”
| Date Taken: | 08.26.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 08.26.2025 18:20 |
| Story ID: | 546602 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US |
| Web Views: | 22 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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