Fort George G. Meade: The First 100 Years

Centennial History of Fort Meade
FORWARD
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The past few years here in Maryland we have been caught
up in commemorations of the bicentennial of the War
of 1812 and the sesquicentennial of the Civil War. These
were heralded events that drew people to historical sites
in great numbers to see re-enactors, hear park rangers
and historians lecture, and just feel part of something big.
Other major milestones creep up on people, surprising
them that so many years have passed since something
first began. One hundred years has a certain heft to it. It
calls for a pause. A centennial is a time for remembrance,
reflection, and renewal. For those of us who have a
connection to Fort George G. Meade, this is such a time.
We remember our beginnings in 1917, when in less
than six months, 7,000 acres of truck farms in western
Anne Arundel County were transformed into the second
largest city in the state, Camp Meade. Draftees from
Pennsylvania, Maryland, and the District of Columbia
flowed into the fledging cantonment area to form the 79th
Division and parts of the African-American 92d Division.
The Army’s first significant induction of women into the
force brought hundreds of telephone operators to train
here–the Hello Girls.
We remember Camp Meade becoming the home
of America’s tank corps in the days after the Great
War. Here two lives were joined when Lt. Col. George
Patton, commanding a brigade of the Tank Corps, met
Maj. Dwight D. Eisenhower, his deputy. Over the next
several years on this post, a lifelong friendship was forged
between the two men, a friendship that was instrumental
to Allied success in WWII.
We remember the decision taken in 1927 to make
the installation permanent, giving it the name of Fort
George G. Meade. In the subsequent building boom that
extended over the next 15 years, the stately brick barracks,
hospital, post headquarters, theater, chapel, and houses
were constructed. The last building under the original
construction plan was completed just before the post’s
next major test. The outbreak of WWII.
We remember the millions of GIs who passed through
Fort Meade on their way to war and on their return. Some
trained here to prepare for combat and others to provide
By Ken McCreedy
the morale boost the warriors would need–people like
Glen Miller and Joe Louis who passed through Fort
Meade to receive training before shipping out in Special
Services units. We remember the German and Italian
Prisoners of War who were
housed at Fort Meade and
throughout the region;
some are buried here, far
from home.
We remember that in the
post-war reorganization,
Fort Meade became
headquarters to first, the
Second Army, then the
First Army. An armored
cavalry regiment became a
permanent fixture of the
post, with units rotating between here and Germany; later
these units would add a rotation to Vietnam to its cycle.
With its proximity to the National Capital Region, Fort
Meade was selected as the headquarters for the first Nike
Hercules brigade.
Most of all, we remember the decision made in the
1950s to move America’s codemakers and codebreakers to
Fort Meade and the rise of the National Security Agency
as a linchpin of the intelligence establishment. And with
the dawn of the computer age, Fort Meade took on still
another role: the home of the nation’s cyber warriors.
What staggering changes over such a relative short
time! It certainly calls for reflection. Training for trench
warfare gave way to training for armored warfare. Cold
War formations protected the airspace over the capital
and trained to fight at the Fulda Gap. An obscure signals
collection and analysis organization became the tip of
the spear in a new domain of combat in cyberspace.
One hundred years in this place has captured the arch of
military history over the same period.
We reflect on the continuity of change and the
preservation of tradition. The sound of Taps still floats
over the silence of the evening as it did in 1917. Men and
women still answer the same call to service the doughboys