Camp Haan (site) (Riverside, California)

 Second World War 1939-1945, military, United States Army, historic ruins

A few scant foundations are all that remain of a bustling WWII-era antiaircraft artillery training center and Army service depot. The polygon outlines some of the last visible reminders of Camp Haan in this view.


Developed in November 1940 as a Coast Artillery Antiaircraft Replacement Training Center on property adjacent to March Army Air Field, Camp Haan was opened in January 1941.The military reservation, a trapezoidal area about four miles long and three miles wide, comprised some 8,058 acres, and was named in honor of Major General William George Haan, Coast Artillery Corps, who had a very distinguished Army career during World War I and was awarded a number of American and foreign government decorations.

At first it was mostly a tent camp, but permanent wooden barracks and other buildings were added. By October of 1941, the Camp had 353 buildings, 2,459 floor tents, 6 exchanges, 5 chapels, a hospital, 18 miles of sewers, and 28 miles of streets. By November 1941 most of the men who trained here had been assigned to coastal defenses in the Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay area. When the attack came on Pearl Harbor a month later, and fears of an invasion of the U.S. west coast were at their height, it would have been these men who would have been our first line of defense had it happened.

In March 1942 Camp Haan was reorganized as an Army Service Depot and in late 1942 a prisoner of war camp was built here for 1,200 Italian Prisoners of War. The PWs worked at Camp Haan and in the surrounding citrus orchards. In April 1945, German POWs arrived at Haan to replace the Italians. Later in the war Camp Haan had an 800-bed debarkation hospital which received wounded coming in from the Pacific theaters of operation. The Southwest Branch, U.S. Disciplinary Barracks, was also authorized for activation at this post.

At its peak, Camp Haan had a population of 80,000 people. After the war the camp became a separation center and on August 31, 1946 was closed. Many of the wooden buildings were sold and moved to other locations and the land was divided. Parcels went to March Field and to create the Riverside National Cemetery on Van Buren Boulevard.

Land was also used for a housing development, Arnold Heights, named after General of the Army, "Hap" Arnold. Some of the land remains unused and a number of building foundations, streets and sidewalks can be seen from State Route 215.

Jack Benny at Camp Haan in April 1942:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqUjciB0Q80

www.militarymuseum.org/cphaan.html
www.gallagher.com/ww2/chapter3.html -- One soldier's story about his stay at Camp Haan
www.skylighters.org/forts/haan.html