Fort McDowell on Angel Island

In 1863, the U.S. Army was concerned about Confederate naval raiders attacking San Francisco and decided to construct artillery batteries on Angel Island. A military post and immigration station were also established, and it was called Camp Reynolds or the West Garrison.

Fort McDowell was very active during World War I, serving as a Recruit Depot for men entering the Army. Men drafted in the western states were sent to Fort McDowell, and held for about two weeks, during which time they would be given physical examinations, issued uniforms, and given some rudimentary military training. At the same time enlisted men returning from Hawaii and the Philippines for discharge, furlough, retirement or reassignment were being processed at the post. About 4,000 men a month passed through Fort McDowell during this period. Overcrowding became the rule—temporary tent encampments were erected at Point Blunt and on the old Camp Reynolds parade ground in an effort to ease the crush. The war-driven overcrowding was such that the newly completed Post hospital at East Garrison did not serve as a hospital when completed but became a temporary barracks instead.

After World War I military activity declined, and Fort McDowell went through a series of changes in official designations, finally becoming the Overseas Discharge and Replacement Depot in 1922. The distinctive unit insignia for the metropolis Overseas Discharge and Replacement Depot is shown at the proper. During this capacity it handled men leaving for and getting back from overseas posts. In 1926 it absolutely was reported that Fort McDowell was handling more men than the other Army Post within the country. A mean of twenty-two,000 men were processed at Fort McDowell annually between 1926 and 1938. During that very same period 106,000 men were discharged at the post. After war II began in Europe in 1939 activity on the island began to slowly increase again.

Pearl Harbor and American entry into war II in 1941 gave Fort McDowell the impetus for its period of greatest activity. During the war it served as a part of the large point of entry Port of Embarkation. The fort became a staging center for "casuals'—unassigned enlisted men—being sent as replacements to the Pacific Theater of War. Fort McDowell shipped and processed around 300,000 men overseas during the war. The quantity of men being processed reached such some extent that the most mess, which could seat 1,410 men at a time, was forced to possess three settings for every meal. The dining-room served quite 12,000 meals daily. Despite the rise in volume, veterans remember the food as being excellent.

The Immigration Service left Angel Island in 1940, following a fireplace which destroyed the Immigration Station Administration Building, and therefore the site reverted to the military. Following the beginning of warfare II a 1,600-man dining room, barracks, a guard house, a commissary, an infirmary and a recreational building were added to what had been the Angel Island Immigration Station, and also the site became the North Garrison of Fort McDowell.

Part of North Garrison performed as a Prisoner of War Processing Center for German and Japanese prisoners of war. The POWs were processed there before being shipped to permanent prison camps within the interior of the country. The primary prisoner of war captured by American forces in warfare II, the commander of a Japanese midget submarine at harbor, was processed at North Garrison.

Conservancy, Angel Island. FT. MCDOWELL (AKA EAST GARRISON). Accessed June 30th 2021. https://angelisland.org/history/ft-mcdowell-aka-east-garrison/#.

Rughe, Justin. Fort McDowell , Accessed June 30th 2021. http://militarymuseum.org/CpReynolds.html.

Weiser-Alexander,, Kathy. Fort McDowell, Angel Island, California, Legends of America. October 1st 2019. Accessed June 30th 2021. https://www.legendsofamerica.com/fort-mcdowell-california/.