Walerga Collection Center/Camp Kohler (sites)

 Second World War 1939-1945, military, camp, historical layer / disappeared object

A World War II Signal Corps Replacement Center, located north of Sacramento, was dedicated on December 1, 1942 It was named for Lieutenant Frederick L. Kohler of Oakland, a Signal Corps officer, who was killed in China on March 14, 1942. In incorporated what was originally the Sacramento Assembly Center (also known as the Walerga Collection Center.)

Constructed at a migrant workers camp 15 miles northeast of downtown Sacramento, this assembly center was also known as Walerga. It was occupied for 52 days, from May 6 to June 26, and held a total of 4,770 persons, with at maximum at one time of 4,739. Evacuees were from Sacramento and San Joaquin counties. Aerial photographs indicate there were 11 blocks with over 225 buildings; one block was likely devoted to the military police and administration. Today, there is a historical marker, a ramada, and a small grove of cherry trees at a small neighborhood park and playground (Walerga Park) at the northwest corner of Palm Avenue and College Oak Drive, within what once was the assembly center. The monument incorporates a small concrete slab that may be a remnant assembly center foundation.

In 1944 the depot was chosen by the 4th Air Force, even though there was no airfield here, to be an in transit depot for Army Air Forces personnel and equipment being transferred from Europe to the Pacific. The post also had a large lumber storage and distribution center under the control of the Chief of Engineers which was known as the Walegra Engineer Depot. The sudden end to the war in the Pacific made this operation short-lived.The 1945, inventory of Army installations also lists the camp as an Army Air Forces Overseas Replacement Depot. On March 1, 1946, Camp Kohler was abandoned as a Signal Corps training center. On March 19, however. it was announced that the post would he taken over by the Army Corps of Engineers. On September 26, 1947, plans were made to offer the post's buildings for sale to veterans.

In 1947, a fire started by a passing train destroyed approximately 95% of the structures at Camp Kohler. The structures that were destroyed during the fire were never rebuilt: aerial photographs of Camp Kohler from 1951 show only a few remaining buildings.

All that remains today is the firing range, the laundry facility's foundation, and radar facility.

www.corpsfuds.com/reports/INPR/J09CA7063inpr.pdf
www.militarymuseum.org/CpKohler.html