Highlights of Fort Stewart History

• In June 1940 Congress authorized funding to purchase property in coastal Georgia to build an anti-aircraft artillery training center. It was to be just outside Hinesville, Georgia, some 40 miles southwest of Savannah. The coming of the anti-aircraft training center to the area adjacent to the sleepy little community of Hinesville would forever alter its lifestyle. Hinesville, the county seat of Liberty County, was populated by barely 500 people.  Liberty County was rich in history, though, having provided two of Georgia’s three signers of the Declaration of Independence. The area had always stood proudly for the cause of "Liberty."
• On 1 July 1940 the first 5,000 acres were bought, and subsequent purchases followed. Eventually the reservation would include over 280,000 acres and stretch over five counties. The large expanse of property was required for the firing ranges and impact areas that an anti-aircraft artillery training center would need for live fire training.
• In November 1940 the Anti-Aircraft Artillery Training Center was officially designated as Camp Stewart, in honor of General Daniel Stewart, a native of Liberty County who had fought with Francis Marion during the Revolution and became one of the county’s military heroes.
• As World War II progressed, Camp Stewart’s training programs continued expanding to keep pace with the needs placed upon it. Units were shipped out promptly upon completion of their training and new units received in their place. The camp provided well-trained soldiers for duty in Europe, the Mediterranean, North Africa, and the Pacific theaters.
• By late 1943 Camp Stewart assumed a new responsibility as one of many holding areas designated in this country for German and Italian prisoners of war who had fallen into Allied hands during fighting in North Africa. These men were held in two separate prisoner-of-war facilities on post and used as a labor force for base operations, construction projects, and area farms.
• With the end of the war, Camp Stewart came to life briefly as a separation center for redeployed soldiers, but on 30 September 1945 the post was inactivated.
• With the outbreak of hostilities in Korea in June 1950, the U.S. once again needed to update training and prepare new soldiers to meet the crisis in Korea. Camp Stewart was reopened on 9 August 1950, its facilities repaired and National Guard troops brought in for training.
• On 28 December 1950 Camp Stewart was redesignated as the 3rd Army Anti-Aircraft Artillery Training Center. Intensive training of soldiers Soldiers destined for service in Korea began. On 21 March 1956 it was redesignated as Fort Stewart.
• In 1959 Fort Stewart was redesignated as an Armor and Artillery Firing Center because its old anti-aircraft ranges and impact areas were better suited for this purpose than for the new age of missiles.
• During the late 1960s another developing situation would bring about yet another change in Fort Stewart’s mission. With tensions growing in the divided country of Viet Nam, the U.S. found itself was becoming increasingly involved in that conflict.  This brought about a need for more aviators.
• In response to this need, an element of the U.S. Army Aviation School at Fort Rucker, Alabama, was transferred to Fort Stewart in 1966. Helicopter pilot training and helicopter gunnery courses became Fort Stewart’s new mission. In an ironic twist, instead of learning how to shoot down aircraft, Soldiers were learning how to fly them.
• When the Air Force closed its base at Hunter Field in Savannah in 1967, the Army promptly assumed control and in conjunction with the flight training being conducted at Fort Stewart, the U.S. Army Flight Training Center came into being. The helicopter pilot training was rapidly accelerated and pilots were trained and soon sent to duty all over the world, with a large percentage seeing active duty in Viet Nam.
• On 1 July 1974 the 1st Battalion, 75th Infantry Regiment (Ranger), parachuted into Fort Stewart and was reactivated the following month. This was the first Army Ranger unit activated since World War II. Hunter Army Airfield was once again reopened to support the training and activities of the Rangers.
• In October 1974 the Headquarters, 1st Brigade of the 24th Infantry Division was activated at Fort Stewart. This historic unit, which had seen active and arduous service in the Pacific during World War II and in the Korean War, had been inactive since 1970. The "Victory" Division, as it was known, was going to make Fort Stewart its home, and it was perhaps fitting that the layout of the main post itself is "V" shaped. The 24th Infantry Division would make Fort Stewart uniquely its own.
• On 1 October 1980 the 24th Infantry Division was designated a mechanized division and assigned as the heavy infantry division of the newly organized Rapid Deployment Force. This designation was the fruition of that potential first realized by those who served at the post during the Cuban missile crisis.
• In August 1990, Iraq invaded and overran neighboring Kuwait and threatened to do the same to Saudi Arabia. Fort Stewart saw a growing influx of National Guard and Reserve units that were being mobilized to support the operations in Saudi Arabia and to assume the tasks at the post that had formerly been accomplished by Division personnel. In many ways, Fort Stewart appeared to be almost a ghost town, as never before has the entire Division been deployed from the post at one time. Within eight months the crisis in the Persian Gulf had concluded and the 24th Infantry Division triumphantly returned to its home in coastal Georgia.
• On 25 April 1996 the 3rd Infantry Division was activated at Fort Stewart. This began a new chapter in the history of Fort Stewart, one that continues to this day.
• After many years of up and down cycles of activity and inactivity, Fort Stewart has become a permanent post providing important training to its soldiers and assistance to its neighbors in coastal Georgia. In its years of service it has provided support for four of America’s conflicts and looks confidently to the future to continue serving its nation, its people and its soldiers.

For more information, contact the Fort Stewart Museum, Bldg T904, 2022 Frank Cochran Drive, Fort Stewart, GA 31314, 912-767-7885.