MAY 10, 23 (3/3) .. BOUSE, ARIZONA .. aka DURING WWII as CAMP BOUSE ..

 And now ..

The Rest of the Story about Bouse, Arizona.

This is Part 3 of a 3 part series of Bouse Posts. If you have not seen Part 2, and wish to see it, please click onto the below link..

https://bobbacaps.blogspot.com/2023/05/may-9-23-23-bouse-arizona-veterans-of.html

The above link will take you to Part 1 if you wish to see it.

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I myself am not, by any stretch of the imagination, anything even vaguely approaching being a WWII Military Buff!

On the other hand, because I was in the age range of 5 to 9 years during WWII, having been born in 1936, I have vivid memories of WWII. One, I made a wooden, Strombecker model of the U.S. Aircraft Carrier Yorktown that was sunk June 7, 1942, during the Battle of Midway, a pivotal sea battle of WWII in which we dealt the Japanese Navy a major loss. 

Upon hearing about the sinking of The Yorktown, I can vividly remember taking my small model of The Yorktown into our bathroom. I solemnly filled our bathtub and, in honor of the Yorktown, "sunk" my model.

My father served in the Coast Guard during WWII. Later my oldest son served in the Army, my youngest son in the Air Force and I was an enlisted member of the Marine Corps and a commissioned officer in the U.S. Navy CB's (aka Sea Bee's).

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BOUSE, ARIZONA

On the North side of Arizona Highway 72, as it passes through Bouse, directly across from the Bouse VFW Post 2357, is an outdoor, Military Museum.

I am not able to explain why, during our several trips over the years through Bouse, until our trip through Bouse on March the 9th of this year, I had never ever noticed either the Bouse VFW Post, or the Bouse Military Museum.

I will now "get to the point" of these three Posts.

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From Wikipedia :

Camp Bouse was built in August 1943 by the 369th Engineer Battalion. Camp Bouse was home to a secret program to see if a very bright arc lamp could be used to temporary blind the enemy in battle at night. The Desert Training Center was built to prepare troops to do battle in North Africa to fight the Nazis during World War II. When completed the camp had shower buildings, latrines, wooden tent frames, and a 500,000 gallon water reservoir. The top secret weapon was a 13 million candlepower carbon arc lamp mounted on US Medium Tank M3 Canal Defence Light (CDL). Six Tank Battalions were selected for the project. The troops at the camp were not allowed to talk about their activities with those not in the camp program. In the end, it was decided that bright light would too quickly give away the M3 tank's position and that antitank rounds would hit the M3 tanks quickly. Troops that worked with the new secret weapon CDL at Camp Bouse were from the 526th Armored Infantry Battalion, the 554th Ordnance Heavy Maintenance Company, the 9th Tank Group and the 701st. Other units that trained at Camp Bouse were: the 701st Tank Battalion, 736th Tank Battalion, 738th Tank Battalion, 739th Tank Battalion, 740th Tank Battalion and the 748th Tank Battalion (nicknamed "The Rhinos")

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Now we will look at Monument Row. A row of Memorials that is located in the outdoor Bouse Military Museum. Sandy is the name of the tank in the background of the below photo. Sandy asked me to be sure to point that out!

Above and below are photos showing only three of the nine monuments on Monument Row. Monument #155 is in the center of the three monuments shown here.

Please Oh Please! DO NOT even begin to attempt to read the below two photos. I will show you what is said after the photos.

Above and below is Marker #155 on Monument Row.

Below are the, in my opinion, stunning words, in the text of the above Monument #155. 

"The Rhinos landed in Normany on D-Day, June 6th 1944!"

Now read the total text. Please note : I chose to italicize and to high-light several portions of the below text. 

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748th Tank Battalion – “The Rhinos” – The 748th Tank Battalion, Medium was activated on 20 August 1942 at Camp Rucker, Alabama. The Rhinos headed for Fort Knox on the 15th of April 1943 for training and on 20 April 1943 were reorganized as a special battalion equipped with CDL spotlights. They departed Fort Knox on 15 July 1943 for Camp Bouse, AZ. On 30 August 1943 they were attached to the 9th Armored Tank Group and arrived at Camp Bouse 1 September 1943 as a Canal Defense Light (CDL) unit. The Rhinos landed at Glasgow, Scotland on the 6th of April, and then proceeded to South Wales. They landed in Normandy on Utah Beach on June 6th, 1944, D-Day under the command of General Bradley who was in charge of the Third Army. Shortly after D-Day, General George S. Patton took over the Third Army and the 748th was reorganized as standard tank battalion after 23 October. The Rhinos moved to the front on 20 January 1945 near Butzdorf, Germany, attached to the 94th Infantry Division near the Siegfried Line to protect an area known as the Saat-Moselle Triangle. On the 16th of March, the Rhinos moved to Saarlautern area to support 65th Infantry Division operations to break through the Siegfried Line defenses. Attached to 5th Infantry Division near Bad Kreuznach, Germany, they crossed the Rhine on 23 March 1945 near Oppenheim just south of the Rhine bend at Mainz and became the first Third Army tanks to fight on the East bank of the river. A note of extreme interest that during a period from 23rd to the 30th of March elements of the Battalion were attached to three Corps, the VIII, XII, and XX and 5 Divisions, the 5th, 26th, 80th, 87th, and 89th. Advancing with 65th Infantry Division to Danube at Gundelhausen the 748th entered Regensburg on the 27th of April. On the 1st of May along with the 261st Regiment took Passau and crossed the Inn River into Austria on the 4th of May. The Battalion gathered at the small community of Haag outside Linz, Austria and on the 5th of May the 748th ended the war. 

This memorial is dedicated to the fighting men of the 748th Tank Battalion. Monument erected by the Citizens of Bouse, the Lost Dutchman Chapter, the Billy Holcomb Chapter and John P. Squibob Chapter of the Ancient and Honorable Order of E Clampus Vitus. October 3rd, 2015.

This memorial is dedicated to the fighting men of the 748th Tank Battalion by their brother in arms, Henry Leintz, a member of the service company. Erected 2015 by Citizens of Bouse, Lost Dutchman Chapter No. 5917, No. 1853, E Clampus Vitus.

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Marker # 89 on Monument Row.

736TH TANK BATTALION (M) SP CAMP BOUSE - SEPTEMBER 1943 TO MARCH 1944 - "THE KID BATTALION" - FROM NORMANDY TO THE ELBE

Camp Bouse September 1943 to March 1944, "The Kid Battalion" From Normandy to the Elbe: •Normandy,• Northern France,•Ardennes, •Rhineland, •Central Europe. 

Erected 1998 by Veterans of the 736th Tank BN, Lost Dutchman, Billy Holcomb and John P Squibob Chapters E Clampus Vitus and the Bouse Chamber of Commerce

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Below is Marker #86 on Monument Row.

Below is what the above Monument #86 reads. Again: I chose to italicize and to high-light several portions of the below text. 

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Camp Bouse The 526th A. I. B. – Canal Defense Light Project — Desert Training Center – California – Arizona Maneuver Area

Camp Bouse was established in Butler Valley 30 miles behind this monument in Sept. of 1943. It was one of twelve such camps built in the southwestern deserts to harden and train United States troops for service on the battlefields of World War II. The desert training center was a simulated theater of operations that included portions of California and Arizona. The other camps were Young, Coxcomb, Granite, Iron Mountain, Ibis Clipper, Pilot Knob, Laguna, Horn, Hyder and Rice. 

Camp Bouse was the home of the 9th tank group which consisted of six tank battalions, one armored infantry battalion, an ordnance company and a station hospital. The group trained in absolute secrecy mainly at night. The light device consisted of a high powered search light, mounted in an armored housing on a tank. Its purpose was to temporarily blind the enemy at night. The role of the 526th Infantry was to defend the operations of the CD tanks and attack if security of the tanks was being threatened. 

The 526th AIB was separated from the 9th tank group in France, August 1944 and was assigned to the 12th Army Group HDQ under command of Gen. Omar Bradley, "C" Company became a security unit for Gen. Bradley in Luxembourg. The remainder of the battalion was heavily involved during the Battle of the Bulge, fighting the enemy in the Belgian towns of Trois-Ponts, Stavelot, Malmedy, Hedomont, Bougnee, and Geromont. After the Bulge and until VE Day the 526th became part of "T" Force. The purpose of "T" Force missions were to seize, safeguard and process enemy documents, archives and material of intelligence or counter-intelligence and capture enemy agents, military officers and key collaborators. 

This monument is dedicated to all the soldiers that served here and especially for those who gave their lives in battle, ending the Holocaust & defeating the armed forces of Nazi Germany.

Erected 1997 by Lost Dutchman, Billy Holcomb, John P. Squibob Chapter of E Clampus Vitus, The 526th Armored Infantry Battalion Assoc and the Bouse Chamber of Commerce.

Whew Huh?

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Monument #114 is another "Salute" to..

THE 526TH ARMORED INFANTRY BATTALION WORLD WAR II

IN HONORED MEMORY OF THOSE SOLDIERS OF THE BATTALION WHO TRAINED HERE AT CAMP BOUSE AND GAVE THEIR LIVES IN COMBAT TO PRESERVE THE FREEDOM OF THE UNITED STATES AND TO SET THE PEOPLES OF EUROPE FREE.

HEADQUARTERS COMPANY

"A" COMPANY

"B" COMPANY

MEDICAL DETACHEMENT

THEY DID NOT GROW OLD, AS WE THAT WERE LEFT GREW OLD, AGE DID NOT WEARY THEM, NOR THE YEARS CONDEMN, AT THE GOING DOWN OF THE SUN AND IN THE MORNING, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

DEDICATED 2/12/2005

BY THE CITIZENS OF BOUSE LOST DUTCHMAN AND THE BILLY HOLCOMB CHAPTERS OF THE ANCIENT AND HONORABLE ORDER OF E CLAMPUS VITUS AND THE 526TH ARMORED INFANTRY BATTALION ASSOCIATION. 

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Below is Marker #88 on Monument Row.

Below is what the above Monument #88 reads. Again: I chose to italicize and to high-light several portions of the below text.

Camp Bouse – The 701st Tank Battalion – Campaigns – Central Europe Northern France Rhineland – Camp Bouse – The 701st tank battalion was activated 3/28/43 at Camp Campbell, KY. Here 553 young men and officers began their journey into history. These men began their basic training and for many saw a tank for the first time. 

The 701st relocated to Fort Knox, for further training. The battalion received orders on 12/8/43 to relocate to Camp Bouse, the mysterious secret camp. The men were introduced to the Grant Tank, a WW I designed tank which now had a 13 million candlepower light, "The Gizmo" mounted in the turret. Thus began the canal defense light project training. 

The 701st left Bouse for Camp Kilmer, N. J. on 3/27/44 and then onto England aboard the R. M. S. Mauretania. The BN arrived at Liverpool on 5/1/44 and trained at Puncheston, Wales. 

The 701st landed on Utah Beach, Normandy, France on 8/24/44. Here, most of the CDL Grant Tanks were replaced by Sherman Tanks. 

The BN moved north through France and Belgium and on December 21st moved out from its positions at Heerlen, Holland and crossed the Siegfried Line into Germany at Uback. The 701st crossed the Roer River and saw its heaviest combat near Tetz, Hottorf, Viersen and Krefeld beginning on 2/25/45. The BN crossed the Rhine on 3/29/45 and pushed through Munster, Bunde and Bismark. At Gardelegen, the 701st uncovered an atrocity where 1,016 prisoners of war and political prisoners had been murdered by the enemy. As the wars end neared, orders were received to halt forward movement, finding the BN on the banks of the Elbe River, 50 miles from Berlin, thus ending the fighting of 701st. 

This monument is dedicated to all these young soldiers and officers who gave of themselves, and especially to those 48 members of the BN who lost their lives in battle for the freedom of mankind. 

Erected 1998 by Lost Dutchman and Billy Holcomb Chapters of E Clampus Vitus and the 701st Tank Battalion Association and the Bouse Chamber of Commerce.

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Now here is what is amazing to me. 

At the beginning of this Post I wrote "I am not able to explain why, during our several trips over the years through Bouse, until our trip through Bouse on March the 9th of this year, I had never ever noticed either the Bouse VFW or the Bouse Military Museum."

Where Oh Where was my mind and my eyes as, for several years, I passed by the below military vehicles parked right next to Highway 72 and did not "see nor notice them!"

It's not that they didn't identify the Museum.

"Hello Captain and Patti! Here we are! Please stop and check us out!"

"Sandy" a M60 Patton Tank, with her 105 MM main gun.

Do you see Highway 72 on the left side of the below photo of a "Deuce and a Half", the name of this type of Army Military Truck! 

In the Marine Corps, we called these trucks "Six Bys". I always wanted to drive a "Six By" but the Marine Corps had other ideas with me having completed 3-1/2 years at the University of Michigan! I enlisted in a special program that was "trying to entice College educated enlistees" to become Commissioned Officers. I eventually became a Commissioned Officer in the Navy C.B's (Sea Bees).

Below is a M109A5 Paladin Self Propelled Howitzer.

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Written with tears in my eyes ..

Now we know who is honored in the VFW Post 2357 Cemetery across Highway 72 from the outdoor Military Museum!

THEY DID NOT GROW OLD, AS WE THAT WERE LEFT GREW OLD, AGE DID NOT WEARY THEM, NOR THE YEARS CONDEMN, AT THE GOING DOWN OF THE SUN AND IN THE MORNING, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

We, all of us, Salute You who gave your all for us!

Cap and Patti