Letters from George

Camp Carson was established in 1942, after Pearl Harbor, on land south of Colorado Springs that the city bought and donated to the War Department. It was named for the frontier scout General Christopher "Kit" Carson. At its peak it held facilities for some 35,000 enlisted men and was home, over the war, to more than 100,000 soldiers and 125-plus activated units.

George's 49th Engineer Combat Battalion was activated here on August 25, 1942 and trained in the surrounding mountains. His earliest letters describe exactly this place — the altitude ("the camp is so high the air is thin... we run short of breath quick"), the engineers being "a good outfit" with "a better chance for advancement," nightly movies and dances, Tennessee maneuvers in 1943, and even President Roosevelt's visit to the post that spring.

He was here from his arrival in late 1942 until the battalion shipped out in the fall of 1943 — more than a year in the Rockies before he ever saw the war.