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Camp Coxcomb
(Coxcomb Divisional Camp)
 
Part of the Desert Training Center's California-Arizona Maneuver Area, it was located east of Indio and occupied, at different times, home to the 7th Armored, 93rd Infantry and 95th Infantry Divisions. Camp Coxcomb, located at Freda, California, was established at this site in the spring of 1942. It was one of twelve such camps built in the Southwestern deserts to harden and train United States troops for service on the battlefields of World War II. The Desert Training Center was a simulated theater of operations that included portions of California, Arizona and Nevada. The other camps were Young, Granite, Iron Mountain, Ibis, Clipper, Pilot Knob, Laguna, Horn, Hyder, Bouse and Rice.

A total of 13 infantry divisions and 7 armored divisions plus numerous smaller units were trained in this harsh environment. The training center was in operation for almost 2 years and was closed early in 1944 when the last units were shipped overseas. During the brief period of operation over one million American soldiers were trained for combat.

There is a monument is dedicated to all the soldiers that served here, and especially for those who gave their lives in battle, ending the Holocaust & defeating the armed forces of Nazi Germany, fascist Italy and imperial Japan.
 
The camp was 15 miles north of Desert Center. To reach the site take California Highway177 northeast out of Desert Center. After 177 makes a 45 degree turn to the left watch for a ranch house on the right, then a hard surface road soon afterwards on the left. Take that road westward to its end which is the southern perimeter of the old camp.
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