Desert Training Center - Chiriaco Summit, CA - World War II Memorials / Monuments on Waymarking.com

On February 5, 1942, Lt. General Lesley J. McNair, Chief of Staff, General Headquarters, gave his approval to a plan developed to stop Germany's advance in Northern Africa. He designated Major General George S. Patton, Jr. to establish the Desert Training Center at Chiriaco Summit in the Mojave Desert in California for the purpose of training men and machines for action under the harsh conditions of the North African deserts.

In 1945, after Patton died in a freak automobile accident in Germany, the Chiriaco Family established this memorial at the Summit.

THE DESERT TRAINING CENTER
CAMP YOUNG

Maj. Gen. George S. Patton Jr., U.S. Army, selected Camp Young as headquarters site for the Desert Training Center in March 1942. Camp Young was the administrative center for a simulated theater of operations that would eventually extend from Pomona, CA to Phoenix, AZ, from Yuma, AZ to Boulder City, NV and would include a network of training facilities at Camps Clipper, Coxcomb, Granite, Iron Mountain and Pilot Knob in California, and Camps Bouse, Horn, Hyder and Laguna in Arizona.

Between 1942 and 1944, over one million men trained on the surrounding desert and participated in the most realistic war games under the harshest conditions imaginable. In a very important sense, many battles of World War II were won on these desert lands during those maneuvers.

This memorial is dedicated to the soldiers of the U.S. Army who participated in these events. The spirit which they displayed generated a spark that spread into every overseas theater in which they served.

Over the years, this memorial grew into a fully-fledged museum and became a California Historical Landmark.