Camp Young

Headquarters. Patton chose this summit in 1942 and the Army named the post for Samuel Baldwin Marks Young, its first Chief of Staff, a cavalry officer who had campaigned in this desert during the Indian wars. The base for a war in North Africa took its name from those. It became the largest army post in the world and ran an eighteen-thousand-square-mile training ground out of tents. Patton bought commercial radio equipment with his own money and broadcast from here, music and news until he wanted to talk.

What the plaque says

The D.T.C. was established by Major General George S. Patton, Jr., in response to a need to train American combat troops for battle in North Africa during World War II. The camp, which began operation in 1942, covered 18,000 square miles. It was the largest military training ground ever to exist. Over one million men were trained at the eleven sub-camps (seven in California).

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Joshua Tree National Park — 21 mi
  Where the high Mojave meets the low Colorado, among monzogranite piles and a yucca that is not a tree.
• Bombay Beach — 21 mi
  The lowest town in America: a drowned resort turned open-air art colony, 223 feet below sea level.
• Cholla Cactus Garden — 22 mi
  Ten acres of teddybear cholla that look soft and are anything but, at the seam between two deserts.
• Salton Sea — 24 mi
  California's largest lake, made by accident in 1905 and shrinking ever since.

More markers nearby

• Site of Contractor's General Hospital — steps away