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| Historical Marker |
Camp Blanding is home to the Camp Blanding Museum and Memorial Park. Open to the public, the facility contains a history museum in one of Camp Blanding's restored World War II buildings, tracing the history of both Camp Blanding and the Florida National Guard. Outdoor exhibits and displays include equipment and Army, Navy and Air Force aircraft from World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Cold War and Operation Desert Storm, including captured Soviet-manufactured Iraqi equipment from the latter conflict.
We ended up making the trip to Camp Blanding since it is a military campground and it was close to our KOA in Starke, FL. We stayed at the KOA because we are still in “wing it mode” and do not make advance reservations. Most military facilities are not equipped to handle weekend and after-hours arrivals so we have to pick and choose.
Camp Blanding owes its location on the shore of Kingsley Lake to the United States Navy's desire in the late 1930s to establish a Naval Air Station (NAS) on the banks of the St. Johns River, south of Jacksonville,. The site that would eventually become NAS Jacksonville was already the location of the Florida National Guard's Camp Foster and negotiations were started for a land-swap. In mid-1939, the transaction was accomplished and the state armory board chose as compensation a tract of 30,000 acres in Clay County as a National Guard camp and training site. The new camp was named in honor of Lieutenant General Albert H. Blanding. The War Department agreed and Camp Blanding's history began.
In 1940, Camp Blanding was leased to the United States Army as an active duty training center. The post was originally used by New England and Southern troops preparing for deployment overseas. However, during the course of the war, the camp served as an infantry replacement training center, an induction center, a German prisoner-of-war compound, and a holding center for 343 Japanese, German and Italian immigrant residents of the United States. At the height of the war, the Army leased acreage from local landowners, raising the total to 170,000 acres. From 1940 to 1945, more than 800,000 soldiers received all or part of their training here. At one point during the war, the camp contained the population of the fourth largest city in Florida. There were 10,000 buildings, 125 miles of paved roads, and the largest hospital in the state. It was one of the largest training bases in the country.
After the war, the state's 30,000 acres were returned to the armory board and by 1948, most of the buildings were sold or moved off post. In the early 1950s, the Federal Government deeded additional land to the State of Florida for use as a National Guard training facility, but until 1970, the post saw only limited use by the military.
In the 1970s, an expansion program began upgrading post facilities and in 1981, the Department of Defense designated the camp as a Class A military installation. The designation qualified the post for use by greater numbers of troops with more diversified training.
In 1983, the 105mm artillery firing points were used for the first time since World War II. Tank ranges were upgraded and tank crews can use the range for levels up to preliminary main gun training.
In addition to improved facilities and ranges, a parachute drop zone and an expeditionary airfield consisting of two gravel runways capable of accommodating C-130 Hercules aircraft have expanded Camp Blanding's training capacity. The U.S. Navy also utilizes an aerial bombing and strafing target in the southern portion of the post.
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