Camp Ellis

Sargeant Michael B. Ellis,(The Lone Wolf),enlisted in the US Army on Feb 8, 1912 at the age of 17. He served along the Mexican border and at Vera Cruz and in WWI he was in campaigns through out France. In the autumn of 1918 Sargeant Ellis was operating far in advance the first wave. Flanking one emplacement he killed two of the enemy and captured 27 prisoners and two machine gun positions. The captured prisoners indicated the location of four other machine guns and he in turn captured these and all their crews. He was the only soldier in General Pershings
First Division to receive the Medal of Honor.

Early in 1942 a site of 17,800 acres in Illinois was selected as an army camp to serve the needs of WWII. The site took in farm land and the town of Bernadotte, located on the Spoon River. The site was named Camp Ellis.

All the farm and town families were forced to sell their home and property and had to move out.
The camp was 6 miles from my folks front door. The camp was open for business April 15, 1943,one month ahead of schedule.

The camp included a major hospital with 1400 beds, two dental clinics, and a 125 bed unit for prisoners of war. The hospital occupied 140 acres and provided medical and dental services and trained medics for services over seas.

The camp was built to handle 35,ooo men and 3ooo prisoners. The camp training was in the areas of combat, quartermaster, enginering, medical, and signaling. Needless to say the area around and near the camp was now very different place.

In December 1945 the camp with 28,557 military buildings and 17,455 acres was turned over to the Illinios National Guard. Effective November 1949, Camp Ellis, Illinois was declared excess and sold, with the original owners given first choice.

So you will appreciate more what I've written, this camp is the some location which Kim wrote about in her blog dated April 16 and 17, 2010 when four old people broke through a barrier to an impassable road, braved the deep mud, past a hugh firing range wall and broke the the barrier at the other end. The firing range is now put to its proper use. It is now a monument for graffiti.