Recalling the Longest Day of My Life—And Fort Holabird

I can vividly recall Fort Holabird as the place where I began what would become the longest day of my life.

It was 4:30 a.m. one May morning in 1973. I woke up to get ready for the recruiter who was scheduled to have me at Fort Holabird by 6 a.m. for my induction into the United States Air Force.

After an entire day of tests, physicals, box lunches and more, we finally boarded buses at 5:30 p.m. to take us to the airplane, which would transport us to San Antonio. Arriving at Lackland Air Force Base and receiving more tests, physicals, haircuts, clothing and barrack assignments, we actually got to bed at 3 a.m. At exactly 5 a.m., the barrack lights came on and some man was screaming some sort of military jargon about dropping something and grabbing something else that we will not get into right now. What a day!

Fort Holabird began as Camp Holabird in 1917 on approximately 96 acres near Colgate Creek. It was named after Brigadier General Samuel Beckley Holabird. The site was chosen because of its accessibility to rail, road and water modes of transportation.

It was established as a motor transport training center and depot. An intercepted letter dated January 7, 1919, written by a man named Charles L. to his “Dear Cile” described the camp as having more than 21,000 trucks on site. Many people are unaware that it was at Fort Holabird that the “Jeep Willie” was first tested and approved for military usage, a story in itself that will be discussed later.

Camp Holabird made national headlines on July 2, 1919, when a U. S. Navy C-8 blimp exploded during its landing. The blast injured 80 adults and children who were watching. It also broke windows of homes more than a mile away.

In the beginning, there were no wooden barracks at the camp. The permanent barracks would not come until much later. Instead, all personnel were quartered in canvas tents in what would become known as “Tent City." In the cold Baltimore winters, these tents were not the ideal place to live.

By 1928, a Quartermasters Corps review showed that Camp Holabird had grown to encompass 161 acres, and contained a total of nearly 7,000 military personnel. The camp was responsible for the procurement of all motor transport supplies used by the War Department, and at that time had approximately $14 million of motor transport stock on hand.

At various times, Camp Holabird also contained a Quartermaster Laundry that did the laundry for not only Holabird, but also Fort Howard, Curtis Bay and the Third Corps Headquarters. The Camp Bakery also provided baked goods to Curtis Bay.

Although Holabird played a major role in WWII, it was not until after the war that the camp saw major growth. During postwar years, Holabird almost doubled in size to approximately 350 acres with almost 300 permanent buildings. It was renamed a fort in 1950 and used as the U. S. Army Intelligence School and Counter Intelligence Records Facility. It was also used as an Armed Forces examining & entrance station (induction facility).

Many local residents forget that during the early 1970s, because of its close proximity to Washington D.C., the fort was used to guard witnesses in major federal cases. Watergate co-conspirators John Dean and Charles Colson were both held at Fort Holabird.

In 1973, the fort was closed permanently and converted into a business park.

We hope you enjoy this brief historic sketch on Fort Holabird as an introduction to a series of articles about the fort that will appear on Dundalk Patch.

Next week I hope to have the opportunity to formally introduce myself to the readers of the Dundalk Patch. In the meantime, if you have any suggestions for future columns, or have any old stories and/or pictures of a historic nature that you would like to share, please contact me at Lkeithroberts@gmail.com.