Camp Anza was a

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

installation, in what is now

Riverside, California Riverside is a city in and the county seat of Riverside County, California, United States, in the Inland Empire metropolitan area. It is named for its location beside the Santa Ana River. It is the most populous city in the Inland Empire and ...

, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. Construction began on July 3, 1942, and was completed on February 15, 1943. The camp was named after

Juan Bautista de Anza Juan Bautista de Anza Bezerra Nieto (July 6 or 7, 1736 – December 19, 1788) was an expeditionary leader, military officer, and politician primarily in California and New Mexico under the Spanish Empire. He is credited as one of the founding ...

, an early explorer who camped near the site in 1774. The US Army purchased the 1,240-acre site from the

Willits J. Hole Willits J. Hole (October 9, 1858 – December 17, 1936) was an American businessman and real estate developer of Southern California, during the early part of the twentieth century. He was known as the "father" of the city of La Habra, Californi ...

Ranch (1910–1942), a barley and wheat farm. Before 1910 the land was part of

Rancho La Sierra Rancho La Sierra (also called "La Sierra de Santa Ana") was a Mexican land grant in present-day Riverside County, California, United States. In 1846 Governor Pio Pico issued the grant to Vicenta Sepulveda. The rancho includes the present-day ci ...

(1797–1910). The post was activated on December 2, 1942, initially designated as Arlington Staging Area and Arlington Special Training Center, and renamed Camp Anza on December 12, 1942. Camp Anza was a large army base with 512 buildings housing 20,000 troops. Over 600,000 troops were processed over the three years of use. The camp had over a hundred wood barracks. Also Built were: headquarters, recreation rooms, chapel, laundry building,

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Railroad classes#Class I, Class I Rail transport, railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was ...

station, library, fire station, newspaper print room (''Anza Zip''), 2,000 seat outdoor theater, water storage tower, motor pool, heating plant, and mess halls.

Bob Hope Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was a British-American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer and dancer. With a career that spanned nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in Bob Hope filmography, more than 70 short and ...

Jack Benny Jack Benny (born Benjamin Kubelsky, February 14, 1894 – December 26, 1974) was an American entertainer who evolved from a modest success playing violin on the vaudeville circuit to one of the leading entertainers of the twentieth century with ...

and

Eddie Cantor Eddie Cantor (born Isidore Itzkowitz; January 31, 1892 – October 10, 1964) was an American comedian, actor, dancer, singer, songwriter, film producer, screenwriter and author. Familiar to Broadway, radio, movie, and early television audiences ...

often entertained troops there. ''

The Pepsodent Show Starring Bob Hope ''The Pepsodent Show'' is an American radio comedy program broadcast during the Golden Age of Radio. The program starred comedian Bob Hope and his sidekick Jerry Colonna along with Blanche Stewart and Elvia Allman as high-society crazies Brenda a ...

'', a radio shows was broadcast from the camp one night. Most troops at the camp were shipped out at the Los Angeles Port of Embarkation at Camp Ross. Before departing troops had immunizations, gas masks training, complete a will, rope ladder climbing training, recorded personal property, and at Hole Lake ''abandoned ship'' training. Possessing took eight to ten days before shipping out to the Pacific War. On August, 1945 returning troops started to arrive at Camp Anza. To serve the troops the camp also had a camp hospital. The 8th Italian Quartermaster Service Company, one of many

Italian Service Units The Italian Service Units or ISUs were military units composed of Italian prisoners of war (POWs) that served with the Allies during World War II against Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan from May 1944 to October 1945. The armed forces of the ...

worked at Camp Anza. Camp Anza was deactivated on March 31, 1946. Philip H. Philbin Jr. purchased the camp in 1948 for $510,000. Philbin sold off much of the camp. Six local schools starting using the former camp. The street layout of the camp kept. A housing subdivision called Anza Village and Arlanza Neighborhood was built on the land. Today there remains: a few barracks, chapel, the headquarters, laundry facility, officer's club and warehouse, all reused building. The city has a Historical Resources Inventory of the buildings."Landmarks of Riverside and the Stories Behind Them", Riverside, CA: ''Press-Telegram'', 1964, by Patterson, Tom Units stationed at the camp: * 229th Military Police Company (Zone of the Interior) (ASF) * 1941st Service Command Unit (Station Complement) (ASF) * 8th Italian Quartermaster Service Company (ASF) * 385th Army Service Forces Band (ASF) * Detachment, 9206th Transportation Corps Technical Service Unit (Los Angeles Port of Embarkation (ASF) * 22nd Army Air Forces Base Unit (Army Air Forces Command Group, Non-Divisional Unit) (AAF)

References

{{California

External links

California State Military Museum page
!-- Link to homepage fixed, but site is underconstruction (Sep. 8, 2014) --> Military in Riverside County, California Military installations in California Closed installations of the United States Army Closed training facilities of the United States Army History of Riverside, California United States in World War II 1943 establishments in California

See also

References

External links