This Month in Fort McCoy History - August 2026

Fort McCoy was established in 1909. Here's a look at the installation’s history from August 2026 and back.

FROM THE AUG. 2, 1946, EDITION OF THE REAL MCCOY NEWSPAPER: Dances highlight week’s activity at Service Club (By Newspaper Staff) - Highlights of the week’s entertainment at Service Club 1 are the dances given on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:30 to 11 p.m. for the military personnel and invited guests.

The guest list of women includes the WACs, and young ladies from La Crosse, Sparta, and Tomah, who are transported from the nearby towns to the dances by government vehicles, under supervision of chaperones, and who are returned to their homes following the dance.

Guests’ tickets will also be furnished to any G.I. who wishes to bring a civilian from a nearby town who is not included in the invited list. The G.I. must contact the service club hostess, Mrs. Margaret Soule, not later than 6 p.m. on the night of the dance and get the guest card with her signature and the name of the invited guest. He must escort the girl from her home and following the dance return with her to her home.

FROM THE AUG. 2, 1946, EDITION OF THE REAL MCCOY NEWSPAPER: Task Force Frost conducts small arms firing program; 1,000 men check carbines, rifles, machine guns (By Newspaper Staff) - Task Force Frost this week conducted a small arms familiarization program which included the firing of U.S. rifle caliber.30 M1; U.S. carbine, caliber.30; Browning Automatic Rifle, caliber.30; automatic pistol, caliber.45; and submachine gun, caliber.45, Col. Rudolph W. Brodlow, Task Force commander, announced this week.

The purpose of the program was to acquaint each man with the gun he is authorized to use and to check arms to ensure that they are in repair for future use. Men of the Task Force will use these weapons in the winter maneuvers which are to come.

Firing on all ranges began each morning at 9 a.m. and continued throughout the day. Each man fired 25 rounds of ammunition, except for those using the Browning Automatic Rifle who shot 50 rounds.

FROM THE AUG. 2, 1946, EDITION OF THE REAL MCCOY NEWSPAPER: Armored units of 92nd join task force (By Newspaper Staff) - Five units of the famous “Hell on Wheels” division, Second Armored, are at McCoy training for the winter tests to be conducted by Task Force Frost.

Headquarters Battery, “B” Battery, and Service Battery of the 92nd Armored Artillery battalion have been assigned to the Task Force from Camp Hood, Tex., home of the armored unit.

Other units of the Second Armored with the Task Force here include “B” company of the Sixth Tank battalion which was formed from the 66th and 67th Armored regiments in the first part of May, 1946, and the 31st Ordnance Heavy Maintenance company which is attached to the Second Armored.

The unit’s training schedules include physical conditioning, preliminary marksmanship, AOS training, specialized training, athletics, maintenance of equipment, road marching and inspections.

The Second Armored returned from overseas occupation duty in Germany this January and since that time has been stationed at Camp Hood. Various units became a part of the task forces at McCoy, Alaska, and in the Aleutians. The remainder of the division is still at Camp Hood.

“Hell on Wheels” has an admirable record. A Regular Army division, it was activated in June, 1940. Its first training was received at Fort Benning, Ga.

Later it participated in the Tennessee, Louisiana, and Carolina maneuvers in 1941. In August 1942, the division had special training off the Carolina coast under the Atlantic Fleet Amphibious Force.

The first units left for North Africa in September 1942, and the remainder left soon afterward. Overseas training in North Africa followed. The unit contained the 41st Armored Infantry Regiment; the 66th and 67th Armored Regiments; and the 14th, 78th and 92nd Armored Field Artillery Battalions. The Second Armored has served under the First, Fifth, Seventh, and Ninth Armies.

On June 12, 1945, the division was listed for a mass citation for the Croix de Guerre, the first foreign division ever to be offered such an honor by Belgium.

In November 1942, under Gen. George S. Patton, the division joined the drive on Casablanca. In the battle for Tunisia, it participated in brilliant action. In September 1943, the Second Armored took part in the invasion of Sicily, landing at Gela and fighting at Butera, Campobello, San Severo/Saselvetrano, and Palermo.

The division transferred to England late in 1943, to refit and train for the continental campaign. In the early stages of the June, 1944, Normandy invasion, the division landed and finally into Germany.

FROM THE AUG. 2, 1946, EDITION OF THE REAL MCCOY NEWSPAPER: German PW Reeducation Program shows dividends (By Newspaper Staff) - Approximately three-fourths of the 378,000 German prisoners of war brought to this country during the war were at least partially reeducated during their internment and returned to Europe “with an appreciation of the value of democracy and a friendly attitude toward America.”

This conclusion was based on a recently-completed opinion poll of 22,153 German prisoners from camps in all parts of the country, administered at Camp Shanks, N.Y., during their processing for repatriation. Results of the poll were disclosed in a report by Brig. Gen. B. M. Bryan, the Army’s Provost Marshal General.

Polled in groups of about 2,000 over a period of six weeks, the prisoners tested at Camp Shanks are believed to represent a fair cross section of the total number held here. Maj. Robert F. Richards, Special Projects Division director, said the percentage of favorable answers were remarkably consistent for all groups polled, indicating there would probably have been little deviation had the questionnaire been given to all 378,000 originally interned in the United States.

Analysis of answers to a number of significant questions on ideologies and attitudes, Major Richards said, indicated that 74 percent of the prisoners left the United States with an appreciation of democratic values. Based on the questions resulting in the least favorable percentage of answers, he said were the following conclusions:

- About 33 percent of the prisoners are now definitely anti-Nazi and pro-democratic, compared to an estimated 13 percent before the start of the re-education program; an additional 41 percent are favorably inclined toward democracy; 10 percent are still militantly Nazi, and 16 percent are white not strictly Nazi, but are not favorably disposed toward America or democracy.

FROM THE AUG. 17, 1951, EDITION OF THE REAL MCCOY NEWSPAPER: Soldier dies as accident toll climbs (By Newspaper Staff) - McCoy’s accident toll continued to climb this week with one Soldier killed and five injured in three motor vehicle mishaps.

Pfc. LeRoy H. Peterson, Battery C, 194th Field Artillery Battalion, was fatally injured early Monday morning when the car in which he was riding crashed into a tree two miles west of Sparta on Highway 16.

Two other Soldiers from the same unit were injured, in critical condition in St. Mary’s Hospital, Sparta. Sgt. Gordon Ostlund, driver of the auto. He received a fractured skull, multiple fractures of the arm, a fractured leg and internal injuries. The other passenger, Cpl. George R. Schaffer, is in the post hospital suffering from internal injuries and broken ribs on the left side.

Two McCoy Soldiers also were hurt and two others escaped injury early Monday when their car rolled over on Highway 14, south of Janesville, Wis.

FROM THE AUG. 17, 1951, EDITION OF THE REAL MCCOY NEWSPAPER: Butler greets 34th Division troops he led in World War II (By Newspaper Staff) - There was a double significance in the welcome given Monday by Brig. Gen. Frederic B. Butler, Post Commanding General, to troops of the 34th Infantry (Red Bull) Division who arrived here for two weeks summer encampment.

It marked the first time the division has trained at this post. It also marked the reunion of the general with officers and men of the 168th Infantry Regiment which General Butler commanded during World War II.

“I owe a debt of gratitude to many of you officers and men here who served me well in the last war,” said the general, addressing a mass formation of the division.

“I am paying particular reference to my 168th Regiment from Iowa,” he added. “I am happy to note in the lineup of troops that it was on the right of the line. I hope they shall ever be on the right of the line.”

In closing his welcome to Iowa-Nebraska troops comprising the 34th, General Butler termed the personnel “the Minute Men of this era.”

FROM THE AUG. 4, 1961, EDITION OF THE REAL MCCOY NEWSPAPER: Air Guard here in ‘Wolverine’ (By Newspaper Staff) - The time could be any minute, any moment...pilots of the Wisconsin and Missouri Air National Guard pace the squad rooms in Milwaukee, Madison, and Volk Field near Camp Douglas. Their fighter jets stand in the runways gassed and ready.

Cigarettes are dashed out; helmets and gear quickly donned. Airmen hop in their jets and zoom off to intercept the simulated aggressor, B-57 bombers of the Michigan Air National Guard from Battle Creek, whose target area might be anywhere in the state of Wisconsin.

The motivation for such bustling and hustling is triggered by exercise “Wolverine.” This combat simulated exercise is a part of this year’s two-week training for Air National Guardsmen.

One of the three Air Force radar units who “Scramble” and control the interceptor jets is the 133rd Aircraft Control and Warning Flight from Fort Dodge, Iowa, presently at Camp McCoy for the training exercise.

The self-sustaining mobile unit, commanded by Lt. Col. Elroy H. Novak of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, detects, locates, and identifies aircraft with long-range radar equipment. When an “aggressor” is identified, a message is quickly flashed to the waiting pilots in Milwaukee, Madison, and Volk Field. On the word, “Scramble,” pilots hurry to their planes with one objective... to become airborne. Once in flight, they receive the plan of attack.

The 133rd, a part of Tactical Air Command, would in the time of emergency travel as a mobile unit to troubled areas for the purpose of controlling high speed jet fighters. The 239 Citizen-Soldiers of the unit are, in the words of their commander, “a most vital link in air defense, or for that matter, in the total defense of our country.”

Last year the 133rd participated in an exercise similar to “Wolverine,” “Operation Pinecone” at Fort Lee, Va. The unit was organized in June 1948 and placed on active-duty November 1, 1951, to serve in the Korean War. They will leave Camp McCoy on the 12th of August.

FROM THE AUG. 11, 1961, EDITION OF THE REAL MCCOY NEWSPAPER: 103rd Infantry Division arrives Sunday (By Newspaper Staff) - Climaxing the summer training period for 1961, over 15,000 Citizen-S0oldiers will arrive here during Aug. 12-19. This will be the largest number of troops entering two weeks training at Camp McCoy for 1961.

The 103rd (Cactus) Infantry Division, from Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa, with over 9,000 men, will be the largest single unit to train here this year. Commanded by Maj. Gen. Louis D. Burkhalter, Jr., the 103rd Headquarters is located in Des Moines, Iowa.

Infantry Battle Groups of the 103rd are made up of manpower from the metropolitan areas of Madison, Wis.; Council Bluffs and Iowa City, Iowa; and St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minn.

Other units which will boost the Camp McCoy population during the final two big weeks are the 5063rd U. S. Army Garrison and 5091st Reception Station from Milwaukee; 395th Evacuation Hospital and 446th Medical Detachment from Gary, Ind.; 289th Ordnance Company (Direct Automotive Support), Waterloo, Iowa; 258th Quartermaster Company (Bakery), Fort Snelling, Minn.; and the 463rd Quartermaster Battalion, Headquarters & Headquarters Detachment from Camp McCoy.

The 463rd is the only U.S. Army Reserve unit having its headquarters at Camp McCoy throughout the year. Personnel of this unit come from the Tomah and Sparta area.

FROM THE AUG. 18, 1961, EDITION OF THE REAL MCCOY NEWSPAPER: Army Vice Chief of Staff visits post (By Newspaper Staff) - Gen. Clyde D. Eddleman, Vice Chief of Staff, United States Army, made a short visit to Camp McCoy, Thursday.

General Eddleman and party: Mrs. Eddleman; Lt. Gen. Bernard H. Leman, Deputy Chief of Staff of Operations, Department of the Army; Brig. Gen. William T. Ryan, Deputy Chief of Staff of Operations for Research and Development, Department of the Army, arrived at Volk Field, Camp Douglas, Thursday morning. The party then transferred for the remainder of the journey here.

On his arrival here he was welcomed by Maj. Gen. Lloyd B. Moses, Deputy Commanding General, Fifth U.S. Army; Maj. Gen. Louis D. Burkhalter, Commanding General, 103rd Infantry Division, and Col. W. H. Thomes, Post Commander, Camp McCoy.

Forty enlisted men and two officers from the 586th Signal Company formed an honor guard while the 103rd Infantry Division Band provided music for the ceremonies in which the general received a 17-gun salute.

This was the first time in more than six years that Camp McCoy has been host to the Chief of Staff.

General Eddleman is a native of Orange, Texas, and was graduated from West Point Military Academy in 1926. During World War II, the general served with the VI Army, South Pacific Theatre and received the Silver Star for valor in the operations at Biak, Leyte, and Manila.

The general was promoted to his present four-star rank in 1955, and given command of the United States Army in Europe. He assumed his present position as Army Vice Chief of Staff in October 1960.

The visit at Camp McCoy was part of an inspection tour of Reserve Training Installations and Civilian Defense facilities in Wisconsin and Michigan.

FROM THE AUG. 13, 1971, EDITION OF THE REAL MCCOY NEWSPAPER: The God Squad (By Chaplain Spencer M. Nygaard) - Not long ago I saw a quotation that has impressed me for each time I’ve reflected upon it. It suggested a trio of man’s needs. We often live by cliches and slogans, even though we may do so unconsciously. I hope it is not too oversimplified, but I’ll pass it on to you for what it’s worth.

There are three basic things in life that everyone needs. They are: (1) something to do, (2) something to love, and (3) something to hope for.

Something to do. Man was made for work. In the opening chapters of the Bible we are told that in a garden. He was a caretaker of that garden and his work was enjoyable. We often think of our work as a job or as a toil. People speak of the old “sweat shop.”

It can be a real drudgery, and can sap us of all our energy. But for Adam, work was part of his nature, and his activity gave him fulfillment. It was not until the fall into sin that work became difficult. God said to Adam, “Cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life … In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread.” (Gen. 3:17-19).

Since that time, man has felt most fulfilled and relaxes best after a tough day on the job. He gets restless if he has nothing to do.

The child of God - who has learned of God’s love, redemption and true purpose for him - now turns to his work and considers it his vocation, literally, his “calling.” He is called to serve. Those in the military should reflect upon their “call” into the “service” and defense of their fellow man.

Unhappy is the man who trains merely for a high-paying job, rather than for work which he likes. I have often defined a successful man as “one who does what he wants to do and still gets paid for it.”

Something to love. Another of man’s basic desires is something or someone to love. He needs a treasure. He must have something of value, something which appeals to his aesthetic nature. He will not be satisfied with the mere practical or everyday side of life. He needs something beautiful and something of quality. Here he confronts his greatest danger. He may pursue that which he loves to the point of idolatry (worship of idols) and may turn worship of the true God and Creator into worship of the creature. He will have to establish priorities for his love in harmony with the Ten Commandments, namely to love God above all and to love one’s fellow man with the same degree as he loves himself.

Something to hope for. Man is a spiritual being and as such he needs something beyond himself and beyond this life. A man who has a goal that lifts him a few steps forward, keeps him moving ahead. The same is true of the man who has a hope beyond this life. There is no thrust to his life without hope.

FROM THE AUG. 20, 1971, EDITION OF THE REAL MCCOY NEWSPAPER: Army Under Secretary tours camp facilities (By Newspaper Staff) - The Under Secretary of the Army visited Camp McCoy from Aug. 12-13 to tour post facilities and to observe reserve components undergoing annual training.

Thaddeus Beal arrived at Camp McCoy on Thursday afternoon and was given a briefing by Col. Richard A. Crecelius, camp commander, as to the mission and scope of the camp’s operation.

His tours began with a visit to the 652nd Engineer Company and to the Squaw Lake Recreation Area. Mr. Beal was joined Friday morning by Lt. Gen. William Peers, Chief of Reserve Components, and Maj. Gen. Ward Ryan, deputy commanding general of northern area reserve forces, in a visit to the 205th Infantry Brigade (Separate), where they were briefed by the brigade commander, Col. John McKee.

Following the briefing, Mr. Beal, Lt. Gen. Peers and Maj. Gen. Ryan were given a tour of six of the brigade units, starting with the 205th Support Battalion. Direct fire training by the 3rd Battalion, 14th Artillery and retrograde movements by the 1st Battalion, 410th Infantry were observed by the secretary and the generals until mid-morning.

Demonstration of airmobile operations by the 1st Battalion, 409th Infantry, field fortification training by the 492d Engineer Company and movement to contact training by the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Infantry completed the morning’s activities.

FROM THE AUG. 7, 1986, EDITION OF THE TRIAD NEWSPAPER: TMP in tune with vehicle needs; keeps fleet up and running (By Julie Smith) - Keeping Fort McCoy on the go is a bigger job than many people think.

The Transportation Motor Pool (TMP) in building 2173 is responsible for approximately 420 vehicles. Half are on post while the rest are strung out across a five-state area including North Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

“It takes a lot of coordination with everyone because vehicles are hand-receipted off-post,” said Eddie Rudolph, motor officer of the TMP. Those who check out vehicles have to keep track of their maintenance and utilization of the vehicles as part of the agreement, she said.

“We also support any of the training units on post year-round along with meeting the installation’s day to day needs,” Rudolph continued.

The TMP is divided into two parts, the Commercial Vehicle Repair Section (CVRS) which is part of the Consolidation Maintenance Division (CMD), and the Dispatch office.

“Without close coordination between the CVRS and TMP, it would be impossible to keep all this going. One depends on the other,” said Rudolph.

The CVRS, under Capt. Paul Medina, services the installation’s commercial fleet of vehicles such as four-ton vans, buses, carry-alls, pick-ups, sedans, station wagons, and semis. According to Henry Paulin, maintenance foreman, about 60 vehicles a month come through the CVRS. Four permanent and one temporary mechanic replace mufflers, tune engines, and do scheduled maintenance. The CVRS also employs an inspector and a supply clerk.

The garage, built in 1940, can hold 15 vehicles and has a tire shop, wash rack, lube rack, battery room, a tire alignment section and a supply area.

“The garage is busy all year around and it gets hectic at times. But we have some hard-working boys,” said Paulin.

Across the lot from the CVRS is the Dispatch Office. John Berens, dispatch supervisor, explained that the TMP also has three over-the-road drivers who deliver vehicles, equipment and personnel in the Fort McCoy support area.

“It’s like having a personal trucking service around here!” he said.

Berens also does a lot of coordinating with units. If anything goes wrong, they come to him first. Although most of the planning is done in advance, some things get overlooked. If people don’t get a vehicle or don’t get one far enough, they often get angry and start yelling, said Berens.

“Sometimes you have to bite your tongue and explain things nicely, but we usually are able to support them in some way. Units have to remember I only have so many vehicles and I will help them out as much as I can,” he said.

According to Rudolph, “The only time we get a new vehicle is when the Army makes money available and contracts for a new one. TMP has no input of when or how many it will get.”