Camp Wellfleet is a former United States military training camp. It occupies about of land located along the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

in the town of

Wellfleet, Massachusetts Wellfleet is a New England town, town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States, and is located halfway between the "tip" and "elbow" of Cape Cod. The town had a population of 3,566 at the 2020 United ...

, on

Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer months. The ...

. The 548th Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion (75mm Gun) used the Camp for a firing range from 1954 to 1956. The majority of the site (1,688.8 acres) is owned and maintained by the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

, as the administrator of the

Cape Cod National Seashore The Cape Cod National Seashore (CCNS) encompasses on Cape Cod, in Massachusetts. CCNS was created on August 7, 1961, by President John F. Kennedy, when he signed a bill enacting the legislation he first co-sponsored as a Senator a few years pr ...

. The Town of Wellfleet owns a portion (49.2 acres) of the site. It was officially opened on March 19, 1943.

Military use

For almost 19 years, the former Camp Wellfleet property was used by the U.S. Government for military training purposes. The

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

also conducted several surface removal clearances prior to property transfer. The property was used by the Army as an

anti-aircraft Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface ( submarine-launched), and air-ba ...

training center from 1942 to 1944;

Camp Edwards Camp Edwards is a United States military training installation located in western Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts. It was named after Major General Clarence Edwards, commander of the 26th Division in World War I. The base is cur ...

in the western part of the cape was also used for this. By June 1944, Camp Wellfleet encompassed with a capacity of 64 officers and 1,052 enlisted personnel. In 1944, the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

obtained a permit to use a portion of the property as a temporary bomb target, and it became a sub-installation of Naval Auxiliary Air Facility Hyannis. The Navy returned the site to the Army in 1947, and after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

it was used as a training center for guardsmen and reservists.

National Park usage

In 1961, the site was declared excess and conveyed to the

United States Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the management and conservation ...

by President

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the first Roman Catholic and youngest person elected p ...

to establish the

Army Corps of Engineers Investigations

The periodic discovery of ordnance in beach areas heavily used by the general public, coupled with the potentially large volume of ordnance suspected to be at the site, resulted in the initiation of an Engineering Evaluation/Cost Analysis (EE/CA) at the site by the

United States Army Corps of Engineers The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is the military engineering branch of the United States Army. A direct reporting unit (DRU), it has three primary mission areas: Engineer Regiment, military construction, and civil wo ...

. During the EE/CA investigations of 1998-1999, geophysical surveys were conducted, and followed by intrusive investigation of geophysical anomalies, resulting in the finding of a rifle smoke grenade, inert 1000 pound Dove missiles, and one inert 250 pound bomb. The EE/CA report recommended implementation of institutional controls and clearance of ordnance along coastal areas (where the majority of ordnance was used). The EE/CA was followed by a aerial magnetic survey conducted by

Oak Ridge National Laboratory Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is a federally funded research and development centers, federally funded research and development center in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1943, the laboratory is sponsored by the United Sta ...

. The success of the survey was somewhat limited by tree cover, but 345 magnetic anomalies were identified for further investigation. Government contractor Zapata Engineering investigated the anomalies and conducted further geophysical surveys, and discovered other ordnance items. A removal action was conducted in a 5-acre area east of the southern parking lot where a rocket range had existed. A Remedial Investigation (RI) was conducted by ERT, Inc. in 2019. The report assessed the previous geophysical surveys and intrusive results but no further investigation for munitions was conducted. Fieldwork focused on munitions constituents. Incremental sampling of surface and subsurface soil was conducted, and soils were tested for select metals and explosives. No analytical results were above project screening levels or above EPA Ecological Soil Screening Levels. In the decades since the military used the property, various ordnance items, including anti-aircraft projectiles, bazooka rounds, smoke grenades, and small arms ammunition have been recovered. The majority of this was found along the beach and dune areas due to wave action and erosion.

Site today

It is not uncommon to find

bazooka The Bazooka () is a Man-portable anti-tank systems, man-portable recoilless Anti-tank warfare, anti-tank rocket launcher weapon, widely deployed by the United States Army, especially during World War II. Also referred to as the "stovepipe", th ...

and

rounds on the beach. A 14-inch long round was found in 2014 and detonated on site.Bomb Squad Detonates WWII Round On Cape Cod Beach
CBS Boston, July 23, 2014.

References

External links