FEATURES

CAMP ATTERBURY: Dale Parmalee

America's entry into World War II brought many changes in the lives of this small group of northeatern Indiana farmers who were asked to give up homes and farms, many of which had been in the family more than a hundred years.

The Army's announcement that a training camp large enough to house 30,000 men would be built, came from Washington on Jan. 6, 1942, --- less than a month after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

The Army moved swiftly to start construction of the camp, and by April, 1942, more than 15,000 civilian workers were employed. The camp was built on the northern part of more than 40,000 acres purchased from farmers in Johnson, Bartholomew and Brown counties.

The first headquarters for Camp Atterbury were established June 1 on the second floor of the Dale Parmalee farmhouse, right, the red-brick building on Hospital Road, north of Edinburg Street.