45th Infantry Division at Camp Barkeley

The camp the Thunderbirds called home carries a misspelled name. It honors David B. Barkley, a Texan awarded the Medal of Honor in World War I. Building began in December 1940 and took seven months, and the 45th's 19,000 soldiers arrived under Maj. Gen. William S. Key on February 23, 1941. Bill Mauldin served on its division paper's staff. By 1945 the reservation covered a ninth of Taylor County, and the War Department put its cost at $27,332,000. The Handbook of Texas credits the camp years with helping Abilene win Dyess Air Force Base.

What the plaque says

The 45th Infantry Division, comprised of National Guard units from Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Oklahoma, was one of the first four divisions ordered into federal service by Congress' joint resolution in 1940. Initially stationed at Fort Sill in Oklahoma, the 45th was relocated to Camp Barkeley in early 1941. The "Thunderbirds" found Abilene's citizens welcoming, but Camp Barkeley was as yet little more than a tent city on undrained prairie. The new arrivals nicknamed their quarters "Camp Smokey Okie" and began rigorous training at once. In April 1942 the 45th was ordered to Fort Devens, Massachusetts. After another year of training in three more states they departed for North Africa and Sicily. World War II took the 45th far from Taylor County. They saw fierce combat in Sicily, Italy, France, and Germany, culminating in the liberation of the concentration camp at Dachau in April 1945. After 511 days in combat and 3,650 men lost, the 45th Infantry was one of the most distinguished military units of the war. Eight Congressional Medals of Honor were awarded to its members, who won the admiration of Allies and Axis powers alike. The division was released from active duty in November 1945. Hundreds of 45th Infantry soldiers came back to Abilene to marry and make their homes, their love for the city recorded in their letters and their lives. The 45th was again called to active duty during the Korean conflict, suffering 834 casualties. One "Thunderbird" was posthumously awarded a Congressional Medal of Honor for his Korean service. (1998)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Frontier Texas! — 0.4 mi
  Abilene's multimedia museum of the frontier as the settlers told it, beside the Texas and Pacific tracks the town was built on, and the official visitor center for the Texas Forts Trail.
• Buffalo Gap Historic Village — 12 mi
  The 1880 stone courthouse and jail of the county seat Abilene took away, with about twenty old buildings from around West Texas gathered around it since 1956.
• Fort Phantom Hill — 14 mi
  A field of lone stone chimneys north of Abilene, left by the fire after the Army left in 1854, later a stage stop and a buffalo-hide town of more than 500 people.
• Abilene State Park — 17 mi
  A pecan-shaded park on Elm Creek in the Callahan Divide south of Abilene, with red sandstone CCC buildings, a summer pool, a bird blind and yurts under the trees.

More markers nearby

• Taylor, Edward, James, & George — steps away
• The Texas & Pacific Railway: First Railroad Across West Texas — 0.2 mi
• Abilene Reporter-News — 0.3 mi
• James Harrison Parramore — 0.8 mi