Camp Roberts recreation center burns

Building of World War II vintage a part of history

BY DENNIS ANDERSON
Valley Press Editor

The World War II vintage building, which served as the principal recreation center for the California National Guard troops, caught fire at approximately 1:30 a.m. and burned for more than an hour.

No one was injured.

The cause of the fire and estimates of damage were not immediately known, Lt. Col. Charles Kimmel told the Antelope Valley Press, which has a reporter embedded with the baseÕs 1498th Transportation Company.

"What can I say? The cost of the building is priceless," Kimmel said. "There are a lot of memories there."

Power to barracks in the nearly 43,000-acre installation was briefly shut down as firefighters battled the flames.

Fire companies from the nearby community of San Miguel responded for San Luis Obispo County, but all immediate information was directed through base officials.

The camp itself, like many military installations across the country, has been on a high level security lockdown because of military operations related to the war on terror.

It serves as the principal training center for the California National Guard. Troops quartered there are awaiting deployment.

The building, which housed recreation facilities, a bar and laundry machines, was part of the baseÕs original infrastructure. Base construction began in 1941.

During World War II, nearly 500,000 soldiers trained at Camp Roberts. Tens of thousands of troops again were based there during the Korean War.

At one time, the massive base, about 200 miles north of downtown Los Angeles, had a half-dozen chapels, a theater and an Olympic-sized swimming pool, but the theater fell into disrepair and the pool lies empty.

"What are we going to do now?" Sgt. Timothy Lee lamented. "There's nothing to do on this base anyway, and now we can't even do our laundry."

One group changed their platoon motto from, "You can do it" to "We didn't do it."

After the pre-dawn fire, soldiers of the 1498th Transportation Company awoke to find there would be no more nights of beer and pizza and wine and soft drinks at Club 50, and that they would not be able to do the laundry that virtually hundreds of them planned to do before going overseas.

Company commander Capt. Matthew R. Hook addressed the soldiers getting ready to go into town to do their laundry.

"I guess it seems kinda weird and kinda funny with everything that's happened to us," Hook said. But, he continued, "There was a lot of history here in that club. Think about all the GIs, all the infantry and artillerymen who drank beer and got into fights here in World War II. Think about all the guys who passed through here in Korea. Think of all those draft dodgers in the '70s. If nothing else happens to you on this deployment, you can say I was here the night Club 50 burned down."

Said Staff Sgt. Alexander Eccleston: "I stomped a lot of brain cells there; so did my dad. I've been in the military reserve most of my adult life, and you know how it is with GIs, they complain about things, but you know, we're going to miss this."