History
Camp Bowie: Brown County's World War II Training Center
During World War II, a massive military training camp covering about 120,000 acres south of Brownwood trained more than a quarter million soldiers and housed German prisoners of war.
In September 1940 the U.S. War Department said a major training base would be built at Brownwood. Camp Bowie was named after Texas patriot James Bowie. It was the first major defense construction project in Texas during World War II.
By 1942, Camp Bowie covered roughly 120,000 acres, making it one of the largest training centers in Texas.
The camp was home base for the 36th Infantry Division of the Texas National Guard. That division landed at Salerno, Italy on September 9, 1943. Other units that trained at Bowie included the 4th Armored Division. More than a quarter million men trained there in total.
Starting in August 1943, a prisoner-of-war facility at Camp Bowie held more than 1,300 German prisoners. Most were veterans of Field Marshal Rommel's Afrika Korps. Prisoners could take education programs through Howard Payne College. They also published two newspapers while interned.
After the war ended, most buildings were sold and dismantled by 1946. Part of the land stayed active and later transferred to Texas as a military training facility. The city of Brownwood keeps historical information about Camp Bowie on its official website.
Source to confirm: TSHA Handbook – Camp Bowie