Visiting George Patton’s Museum
If you were driving on Interstate 10 in the early 1940s thirty miles or so east of Indio you probably would have seen U.S. Army tanks running over the hills. Of course, in those days it wasn’t Interstate 10, only had two lanes and probably wasn’t even a major highway. Route 66 would be to the north and U.S. 80 would be going from San Diego to Yuma to the south. (U.S. 80 became Interstate 8.)
What you would have been viewing was the Desert Training Center.
Let’s go back to January 1942 with the U.S. now a part of World War II for only a month. One of the places the British were fighting the Germans was North Africa — in a desert campaign. The British were having great difficulty because the Germans were using tanks as the tactical weapon in the desert.
United States troops were going to be sent to North Africa to engage in this desert campaign. The U.S. had no background in desert fighting and realized expertise had to be learned quickly. On Feb. 5, 1942 a plan was developed to stop the German advance, with Major General George S. Patton put in charge. He was to train men and machines for action under the harsh conditions of the African deserts.
Patton flew over the desert regions of Southern California and parts of Arizona and Nevada. He also covered much of the area on horseback. Finally, he chose 18,000 square miles of desert in the California and Arizona desert. It became the largest military installation and maneuver area in the world.
The Desert Training Center became fully operational in April 1942. Can you imagine how fast all this was? They certainly didn’t have all the “bottle-necks” of today. Within 15 days, all units at the Center had been on a desert march and within 23 days Patton had conducted 13 tactical exercises including two at night. During the time the center was in operation, it trained over a million troops in seven armored divisions and 13 infantry divisions.
By the way, the first troops called the Center “the place God forgot.” And I can imagine that would have been the feeling because of the extremely hot summers and cold winters with the area ranging from sea level to 2,000-plus feet.
You’ve heard the stories about Patton and evidently they were true. Within a month after arrival, every man sent to the center had to be able to run a mile in 10 minutes, wearing a full back pack and carrying a rifle. Patton refused accommodations at an Indio hotel or at the ranch house where his wife lived. He lived with his troops in the same primitive accommodations.
Patton only was at the center for less than four months. Then he was reassigned overseas to start planning Operation Torch, the North African campaign, which you know was a huge success.
Now a digression. My father worked at San Diego State (that’s what we called it in the “old” days) and was good friends with several football and basketball players. One football player became a pilot with his first assignment flying a bomber in North Africa. The basketball player said he wanted to be safe so entered the tank corps, training at the center. Unfortunately, the basketball player was blown up in his tank; the pilot came home.
Today the Desert Training Center can be visited at Chiriaco Summit 30 miles east of Indio. It is part of the George S. Patton Memorial Museum and is well worth seeing. The entrance is the entrance to Camp Young, the command post for the Center.
Interestingly, the museum site was donated by Joseph Chiriaco whose family were residents of the area when the government decided to take it for training. He was alive at that time and remembered meeting Patton when Patton arrived. It was an experience he never forgot.
The museum itself has several exhibit halls that include the many and varied aspects of military life. There is a primary focus on the Desert Training Center and the soldiers of World War II. Outside are tanks of many varieties plus a huge area to the north which includes RV parking.
The entire complex uses volunteers — veterans and historians who feel strongly that this center needs to be retained for future generations. When we went we wondered just what we would see, then spent several hours viewing the history which had been gathered.
Thought you’d enjoy reading about a piece of history during this Memorial Day Week.