{{Short description|Training camp in Georgia during World War II}} {{for|the children's camp of the same name in Toccoa, Georgia|Camp Fire (organization)}} {{Use American English|date=July 2025}} {{Infobox military installation |name=Camp Toccoa |location= [[Stephens County, Georgia|Stephens County]], near [[Toccoa, Georgia]], U.S. |image=[[File:Camp toccoa sept 42 500.jpg|border|270px]] |caption= Camp Toccoa in 1942 |type=Military training base |coordinates={{coord|34.5504|-83.3973|display=inline,title|region:US-GA_type:landmark}} |gridref = |image_map = |image_mapsize = |image_map_alt = |image_map_caption = |pushpin_map = USA#USA Georgia |pushpin_mapsize = 270 |pushpin_map_alt = |pushpin_map_caption = Location in the [[United States]]##Location in [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] |pushpin_relief = y |pushpin_image = |pushpin_label = |pushpin_label_position = bottom |pushpin_mark = |pushpin_marksize = 6 |built=1940 |materials= |used=1941 – ca. 1946 |controlledby=[[United States Army]] |garrison= |commanders= |battles= }} '''Camp Toccoa''' (formerly '''Camp Toombs''') was a [[Recruit training|basic training]] camp for [[United States Army]] [[paratroopers]] during [[World War II]], located in northeastern [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], {{convert|5|mi|0|spell=in|sp=us}} west-southwest of [[Toccoa, Georgia|Toccoa]]. Among the units to train at the camp was the [[506th Infantry Regiment (United States)|506th Infantry Regiment]]. The regiment's [[E Company, 506th Infantry Regiment (United States)|Company E]] ("Easy Company") was portrayed in the 2001 [[HBO]] miniseries ''[[Band of Brothers (TV miniseries)|Band of Brothers]]''. The camp site's approximate [[elevation]] is {{convert|1150|ft}} [[Height above mean sea level|above sea level]].
==Construction== The training camp known as Camp Toombs was conceived in 1938. The [[Georgia National Guard]] and the [[Works Projects Administration]] (WPA) began construction on 17 January 1940, with the site being dedicated on 14 December 1940. Initially it was known as Camp Toombs, after [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] [[American Civil War|Civil War]] General [[Robert Toombs]]. During the national emergency preceding American involvement in World War II, the site was taken over by the [[United States Department of War|War Department]], and was intended to be returned to state control after the emergency passed.
==Wartime operations== {{multiple image | align = right | direction = horizontal | image1 = Richard Winters.jpeg | alt1 = | image2 = Sgt Blithe at Toccoa.jpg | alt2 = | footer = [[Richard Winters]] {{small|(left)}} and [[Albert Blithe]] {{small|(right)}}, of [[E Company, 506th Infantry Regiment (United States)|E Company]] of the [[506th Infantry Regiment (United States)|506th Parachute Infantry Regiment]], pictured here at Camp Toccoa, {{circa|1942}}. | footer_align = center | width = 140 }}
[[Colonel (United States)|Colonel]] [[Robert Sink]], commander of the [[506th Infantry Regiment (United States)|506th Parachute Infantry Regiment]], one of the first units to train there, did not like the name. He thought it would prompt [[superstition]]s among the arriving young recruits, who after traveling down Route ''13'' would pass the Toccoa ''Casket'' Company and arrive at Camp "Tombs". Sink persuaded the War Department to change the name to Camp Toccoa.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~gasteph2/histinfocmprbttmb.html|title= historical information camp Robert Toombs|accessdate=18 October 2021}}</ref>
Permanent barracks only became available after the first trainees had begun to arrive. [[Parachuting#Jump training|Jump training]] was initially done at the nearby [[Toccoa Airport|Toccoa municipal airport]]. Following a training accident, the airport was considered to have a runway too short for safe [[Douglas DC-2|C-39]] and [[C-47 Skytrain|C-47]] take off and landings. All further jump training was relocated to [[Fort Benning]], Georgia. Camp Toccoa also lacked a rifle range, so trainees were marched {{convert|30|mi|round=5|spell=in}} to [[Clemson University|Clemson Agricultural College]], a military school in South Carolina, to practice at the college's shooting range.
All paratrooper trainees were required to regularly run up [[Currahee Mountain]] ([[Elevation|elev.]] {{convert|1735|ft}}), which overlooked Camp Toccoa. This arduous task was memorialized in the HBO series, ''[[Band of Brothers (TV miniseries)|Band of Brothers]]'', with the shout "{{convert|3|mi|0|spell=in}} up, three miles down." Members of the [[506th Infantry Regiment (United States)|506th Parachute Infantry Regiment]] refer to themselves as "Currahees" (it is anglicized name derived from the [[Cherokee]] word ''gurahiyi'', which may mean "standing alone").<ref>"Curraheee Mountain" in [http://www.kenkrakow.com/gpn/c.pdf ''Georgia Place-Names'' by Kenneth K. Krakow]</ref> Currahee Mountain is on the distinctive unit insignia of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, in recognition of the peak's importance in the formation of the regiment.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.506infantry.org/library/|title=506th Infantry Website :: History|website=www.506infantry.org|access-date=17 January 2019|archive-date=17 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190117070625/https://www.506infantry.org/library/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Notable units that underwent training at Camp Toccoa were: * [[501st Infantry Regiment (United States)|501st Parachute Infantry Regiment]]: attached to the [[101st Airborne Division]] * [[506th Infantry Regiment (United States)|506th Parachute Infantry Regiment]]: attached to the 101st Airborne Division * [[507th Parachute Infantry Regiment (United States)|507th Parachute Infantry Regiment]]: attached to the [[82nd Airborne Division]] and the [[17th Airborne Division (United States)|17th Airborne Division]] * [[511th Parachute Infantry Regiment (United States)|511th Parachute Infantry Regiment]]: attached to the [[11th Airborne Division (United States)|11th Airborne Division]] * [[517th Parachute Regimental Combat Team|517th Parachute Infantry Regiment]]: attached to the 17th Airborne Division and the [[13th Airborne Division (United States)|13th Airborne Division]] * 457th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion: attached to the 11th Airborne Division * 295th Ordnance Heavy Maintenance Company: completed basic training at Camp Toccoa, from July 21, 1943, through November 24, 1943. * 296th Ordnance Heavy Maintenance Company: completed basic training at Camp Toccoa, from July 21, 1943, through November 24, 1943
In 1943, comedian [[Bob Hope]] visited Camp Toccoa.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Thunderbolt |url=http://517prct.org/documents/1943_aug_thunderbolt/1943_aug_thunderbolt.pdf |website=517PRCT |accessdate=30 January 2020}}</ref> He told the recruits, "You guys are so rugged, you look like [[Wheaties]] with legs."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Estep |first1=Tyler |title=Camp Toccoa reborn: Reviving one of Georgia's greatest WWII legacies |url=https://www.ajc.com/news/local/camp-toccoa-reborn-reviving-one-georgia-greatest-wwii-legacies/aWm1RCCJRJ2iigaCPApg4I/ |website=AJC.com |publisher=Atlanta Journal-Constitution |accessdate=30 January 2020 |archive-date=30 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200130144458/https://www.ajc.com/news/local/camp-toccoa-reborn-reviving-one-georgia-greatest-wwii-legacies/aWm1RCCJRJ2iigaCPApg4I/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> After the [[Surrender of Japan|defeat of Japan]], the War Department returned Camp Toccoa to state control in 1946.
==Post-war use== In the late 1940s, it became a satellite camp of [[Georgia State Prison]], which primarily housed young offenders. However, after repeated escapes, the unit was moved in the 1950s to a [[Arrendale State Prison|new facility]] at [[Alto, Georgia]]. Part of the site was eventually occupied by a manufacturing company. {{cn|date=November 2025}}
== Preservation == Just one WWII building remains: the training camp's PX.
In 2012, the Camp Toccoa at Currahee not-for-profit foundation was formed to celebrate the lives and contributions of the Airborne paratroopers who trained at Camp Toccoa. A plan was set forth to restore the facilities at the camp site.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Clark |first1=Heather |title=Camp Toccoa to live on: Historical society to preserve 506th birthplace |url=https://www.army.mil/article/106952 |website=Army.mil |publisher=United States Army |accessdate=5 July 2016 |date=3 July 2013}}</ref>
The route run by paratrooper trainees is now the [[Robert Sink|Colonel Robert F. Sink]] memorial trail, which follows Currahee Mountain Road from the site of former Camp Toccoa to the summit of Currahee Mountain.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Col. Robert F. Sink Trail - City of Toccoa|url=https://www.cityoftoccoa.com/col.-robert-f.-sink-trail.cfm|access-date=2020-08-08|website=www.cityoftoccoa.com|archive-date=2020-10-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201016160107/https://www.cityoftoccoa.com/col.-robert-f.-sink-trail.cfm|url-status=dead}}</ref> The start of the trail is marked by a commemorative plaque dedicating the trail to "Col. Bob" Sink from the Five-O-Sinks ([[506th Parachute Infantry Regiment]] Association). The trail is currently the venue for the [[Toccoa, Georgia#Annual Currahee Challenge|Annual Currahee Challenge]], a three- and six-mile race on the mountain that occurs in the fall.<ref> {{cite web | url = http://www.runningintheusa.com/Race/View.aspx?RaceID=12008 | title = Currahee Challenge | accessdate = 2015-02-06}}</ref>
==References== <references />
==External links== * [http://camptoccoaatcurrahee.com/ Camp Toccoa at Currahee Project]
[[Category:Former installations of the United States Army]] [[Category:Landmarks in Georgia (U.S. state)]] [[Category:Buildings and structures in Stephens County, Georgia]] [[Category:Forts in Georgia (U.S. state)]] [[Category:1940 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state)]] [[Category:1946 disestablishments in Georgia (U.S. state)]] [[Category:Military installations established in 1940]] [[Category:Military installations closed in 1946]]