(erielack) Re: Camps Merritt & Shanks

["J.McEachen" <jmcea_@_sbcglobal.net>]

I grew up in Leonia, NJ, and often drove by "The Monument" in Dumont 
commemorating Camp Merritt. And I seem to think the Public Service (now 
NJT) buses #54 (from Dumont to the West Shore terminal in Edgewater,) 
and #166 (from Dumont to first, the Public Service terminal on 41st St. 
between 7th and 8th Aves., and second, to the Port Authority bus 
terminal) sometimes had route signs or cardboard windshield cards 
reading "Merritt Gardens."
We often took car rides around no. Jersey and I barely remember my 
father pointing out Camp Shanks to me with wooden, chain link, and 
barbed wire fences. Even in the late 1950's when Nyack was the weekend 
destination of many a Bergen county eighteen year old (NY drinking age 
was 18, the rest of the country save 3.2 beer in VA was 21) we still saw 
evidence of Camp Shanks and rail tracks entering the still quite 
extensive property.

Tompkins Cove was the location of the northeast mothball fleet, with 
many Liberty and Victory ships as well as an occasional small warship. 
My aunt took my brother and me many times on the Hudson River Day Line 
to Poughkeepsie and one thrill was seeing these gray ships. After the 
Korean War, they were taken one or two at a time to the scrappers, 
occasionally from the #166 on Boulevard East we would see a lonely tow 
heading to the ship breakers.

Troop ships were loaded mainly at Bayonne and the Brooklyn Army 
Terminal. My uncle was night manager of the St. George Hotel in Brooklyn 
and coordinated Army dependents going to Germany, staying in Brooklyn 
Heights hotels until they sailed on MSTS ships from Brooklyn Army 
Terminal into about 1960 when jet transports became viable and ending 
the passenger ships to Europe. The BAT is still there, being redeveloped 
into civilian use, and it is next to the yards and docks of the 
cross-bay rail service by car float. There was nothing at Tompkins Cove 
to load anyone or anything, just moorings of what seemed like hundreds 
of gray cargo ships.

A previous post detailed troop movements at Camp Merritt, and I remember 
tracks entering Camp Shanks property. I doubt if the "piers" at the tip 
of Piermont (and the Erie tracks) could have been used to load troop 
ships, so I would guess troops were taken by train to Bayonne (which now 
hosts Carnival Cruise Lines I believe!!!) or bus or truck to Brooklyn 
Army Terminal. I can't imagine a troop train going Erie to Maybrook, New 
Haven to Hell Gate Bridge, LIRR to Brooklyn Army Terminal. But I am sure 
there were some strange train movements in WWII.
J. McEachen


> ------------------------------
> >From Archives_@_Railfan.net
> Date: Fri, 17 Jun 2005 16:33:05 EDT
> From: "Janet & Randy Brown" <jananran_@_mymailstation.com>
> Subject: (erielack) Troop Loadings
>
> The Port of New York was a (if not THE) major port of embarkation for 
> both World Wars, and the major processing points were both in Erie 
> country.
>
> In WWI, troops destined for Europe moved through Camp Merritt, a 
> temporary but enormous Army facility in parts of Tenafly, Cresskill, 
> Bergenfield, and Dumont, in Bergen County, NJ.  The camp was served by 
> the NYC(WestShore) for the delivery of supplies and material; troops 
> came on the West Shore to Dumont or on the Erie's Northern Branch to 
> Cresskill.
>
> The camp's mission was to assemble and process complete units for 
> shipment overseas.  Many units arrived intact, while others were made 
> up from individual arrivals.  At embarkation time, units marched to 
> the trains in Cresskill or Dumont for the short trip to the piers in 
> Jersey City, Hoboken or Weehawken.  Some went up and over the crest of 
> the Palisades to board smaller vessels at the Alpine Dock for a short 
> "cruise" down the river to the larger ships.
>
> Camp Merritt was a complete Army post, with all the requisite support 
> and logistics.  Hosptital, PXs, theaters, sewers, boiler houses and 
> offices supplemented and complemented the barracks which were the 
> heart of the post.  The camp was named for a civil war general; it was 
> commanded by General Shanks.
>
> So, in WWII, the same function went to another temporary but huge 
> operation further north in Orangeburg, in Rockland County, NY.  This 
> was Camp Shanks.  It was served mainly by the West Shore but also had 
> access to Erie's Piermont Branch -- the Old Main Line.  Not 
> surprisingly, much of Camp Shanks' logistics involved motor 
> transportation, but the railroads still played a major part.
>
> Both camps played their happy part in the return of the men and women 
> from overseas.  Camp Merritt then virtually disappeared, but Camp 
> Shanks, in its turn, lived on as housing for veterens and their 
> families as the post-WWII boom in both economics and babies took hold. 
> Some of Shanks' logistical areas became distribution and parts centers 
> for, among others, Chrysler.
>
> I almost hate to mention it, but photography in both camps was 
> strictly controlled by the military during hostilities.
>
> The ships in Tompkins Cove mentioned in an earlier post were 
> mothballed Libertys, Victorys and some 4-stacker tin cans.
>
> Randolph Brown
> ------------------------------




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