Camp Glenn

Camp Glenn was a training area for Fort Ben soldiers, and later served as a site for the post-World War I Civilian Military Training Corps (CMTC) program. This program which was instituted to train a corps of ready army officers ran each summer for three months. CMTC cadets would come each summer for four years and at the end of this period were awarded a reserve officer commission in the Army. There are 360 concrete pads here in Camp Glenn which was the platform used for the 6 to 8- man tent that the cadets lived in during this time each summer. Who has seen the movie Saving Private Ryan, with Tom Hanks playing the fictitious role of Captain Miller? In real life, officers like Captain Miller would have been graduates of the CMTC program, which had sites all over the US, and who would have been called up for active duty service for the war.

During the 1920s, the Army’s 11th Infantry Regiment would annually march from Fort Ben to Fort Knox, Kentucky for maneuvers. It took seven days to get there, marching through Indiana towns and countryside with streets and roads lined with citizens to witness the mass movement of men and equipment.

When World War II broke out, this area was converted to a prisoner of war camp, and by 1943 was one of several sites in Indiana receiving and housing German and Italian POWs. The POWs were put to work doing maintenance around the base.

May 1944 rolled around, and 300 proud German prisoners arrived at the fort. The German prisoners who came to Fort Ben were members of Rommel’s Afrika Corps. When they arrived, most were still wearing the uniforms they were captured in The Germans were put to work doing maintenance jobs and working in the kitchen. During a task to repair the roof of the canteen, the prisoners separated two shades of shingles and organized them in the shape of a swastika on the roof. When it was discovered by the American officers, the Germans were called back for a do-over. Other than that, “records indicate the Germans were pretty well behaved.”

Several Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) detachments were quartered at the Fort from 1933 to 1938. In February 1936, CCC Company 3550 arrived at Fort Ben from Fort Knox, Kentucky. It was a racially segregated all-black outfit that specialized in reforestation and soil conservation work. They spent hours in the wooded areas of the post cutting timber and converting it into lumber at the saw mill constructed for this use. One CCC worker recalled how they would “snake” lumber by Army mule out of the woods to go to the saw mill. Company 3550 also constructed an Officers’ Golf Club House that stood high on a bluff overlooking the first hole of the Fort Harrison Golf Course. The Club House resembled a log cabin. In 1960, the golf lodge was relocated to a new building also designed to look like a log cabin.

Interpretive Sign

In the 1990s, the Department of Defense was seeking to reduce costs and consolidate military bases across the country. This was known as the Base Re-Alignment and Closure, or BRAC, which ultimately resulted in the closure of Ft Ben in 1995. Today, the military maintains a strong presence at the Fort with about 10% of the base still under federal control. In addition to an Army Reserve enclave on the eastern boundary of the base, there is the Defense Finance and Accounting Service building that we saw earlier.

Perhaps the most interesting story about Fort Harrison relates to an event that occurred in 1945. In late 1944, a Midwestern branch of the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks was established at the post in the former reception center to house hundreds of American servicemen convicted of various offenses by the military court system. This was located close to the Billings General Hospital which was on the eastern side of the fort grounds. By June 1945, about 2,700 men were incarcerated there, all performing work and receiving vocational training. On the evening of May 31, 1945, a riot started at the prison with prisoners throwing rocks at the electric lights and at prison guards. Two separate fires broke out. Prisoners rushed the barbed wire fences surrounding the compound. Prison guards fired machine gun bursts at the feet of the rioters. After four and a half hours, the prison guards regained control of the situation. Two men were found died; an Indianapolis fire fighter died of a heart attack and a prison guard was fatally wounded by ricocheting machine gun fire. Three prisoners had bullet wounds. The fire destroyed nine buildings in the prison compound with damages estimated at $100,000. The flames could be seen for ten miles.

All civilian vehicles were searched for loose prisoners trying to escape. The driver of a milk truck failed to honor the roadblock and accelerated his truck past the security guards. One guard turned his Thompson submarine gun on the truck, perforating the side of the tanker and causing milk to spew out the bullet holes, emptying most of the driver’s load. The whole event became a public relations nightmare for the Army in the local Indianapolis community which had not been very happy when the disciplinary barracks first opened. To appease the local Chamber of Commerce, the Army agreed to move the part of the Disciplinary Barracks that was closest to Billings General Hospital to another area of the post. Three prisoners were ultimately found guilty of starting the riot and fires.