Historic California Posts, Camps, Stations and Airfields:

Camp Pinedale

(Pinedale Assembly Center, Fresno Army Air Forces Specialized Storage Depot)

 

 

The Main Gate

 

History

by Sgt Maj (CA) Daniel M. Sebby, Military Historian, California Military Department

 

This assembly center was located 8 miles north of downtown Fresno on vacant land near an existing mill-workers housing area. The area is now within the Fresno city limits, north of Herndon Road 1 mile west of Blackstone Avenue.

 

The Army officially acquired the site on 24 March 1942. At the time of acquisition there were 21 warehouses and 11 other buildings which had been used to store cotton, sugar, and machinery. From 7 May 7 to 23 July 1942, the Pinedale Assembly Center housed a total of 4,823 evacuees, with a maximum of 4,792 at a time. The evacuees were from Sacramento and El Dorado counties, and Oregon and Washington. Ten barracks blocks, each with 26 buildings, were constructed for the evacuees, and a separate block was built for the military police and administration.

 

Pinedale Assembly Center 1942

 

The large industrial/warehouse complex visible in the 1942 aerial photograph, above, is still present, which provided confirmation of the assembly center location. However, the site of the assembly center is now a subdivision; the architectural style and mature vegetation suggest the housing development dates to the 1950s or 1960s. Subdivision roads appear to generally follow the assembly center roads.

 

Established on August 1, 1942, on the site of a Pinedale Assembly Center became Camp Pinedale began receiving soldiers selected for training as Army Air Forces signal technicians in December of that year. The proposed use was for the Air Service Command to store clothing, parachutes, equipment, office supplies, and salvage material. In July of 1944 Camp Pinedale became the home of the 840th Army Air Forces Specialized Depot. The Fourth Air Force decided to concentrate all unit and team training of certain Signal companies used by the Army Air Forces.

 

The Signal units organized and trained at Camp Pinedale were:

 

• Signal Companies, Aviation
• Signal Companies, Wing
• Signal Companies, Radio Intelligence
• Signal Construction Battalions
• Radio Squadrons, Mobile

 

The Fourth Air Force was made responsible for the administration of the Training Center, and was to supervise the training, subject to the requirements to be specified by the
Directorate of Communications, Army Air Forces.

 

By war's end, the post had trained 25,000 soldiers as electronic specialists and for allied army assignments, clerks, truck drivers, chemical warfare specialists, camouflage specialists, ordnance technicians, and cooks. The camp was deactivated in February 1947, when the Corps of Engineers assumed custody of the sprawling base and began preparations for the disposal of the post's building and other installations.

 

Camp Pinedale was a busy and populated area. Records indicate that approximately 10,000 officers and enlisted men were stationed there in 1944. The number decreased to 4500 by the end of 1944. Records are sketchy for 1945, but further research indicates that 3600 soldiers were left at the installation during the period 1 January 1946 to 30 June 1946. Prisoners were kept at Camp Pinedale also, averaging 46 in the stockade one month. Besides troops and prisoners, there were civilian personnel on duty, but total numbers
of personnel are unknown.

 

The 840th AAF Specialized Depot used their approximately 190 acres for storage, salvage, and a reconditioning depot. The Western Signal Aviation Unit Training Center used their approximate 380 acres for a signal training center. A rifle range and railroad facilities were also located at the site.

 

During the period June to December, 1946, Camp Pinedale's operations were rapidly drawing to a close. Effective 3 December 1946, approximately 380 acres of the installation were declared surplus. The remaining 190 acres occupied by the 840th AAF Specialized Depot were declared surplus effective 1 March 1947. On October, 1947, the property reverted to its owner, the Pinedale Compress and Warehouse Company (formerly Valley Compress). Four years later it was sold to the California Cotton Cooperative Association Ltd (Calcot).

The industrial area later occupied by the 840th AAF Specialized Depot

 

Monuments to the Pinedale Assembly Center and Camp Pinedale

There is an historical marker just east of Blackstone Avenue on the site of the railroad stop where the Japanese were brought to Fresno. The tracks were removed and are now a bike trail. The granite maker is on the side of the trail below an overpass of Freeway 41.

 

 

Additional Online Histories

 

Wikipedia

Densho Encyclopedia

 

 

Army Units Assigned to Camp Pinedale and Fresno Army Air Forces Specialized Storage Depot

 

Data Source	Date(s)	Unit(s)
Army of the United States Station List	1 June 1943	Army Air Forces Western Signal Aviation Unit Training Center Fourth Air Force Replacement Depot, Detachment 11 301st Signal Company, Wing 310th Signal Company, Wing 313th Signal Company, Wing 321st Signal Company, Wing 324th Signal Company, Wing 326th Signal Company, Wing ( 332nd - 337th Signal Companies, Wing 339th - 347th Signal Companies, Wing 349th - 350th Signal Companies, Wing 387th Signal Company, Wing 388th Signal Company, Aviation 391st Signal Company, Aviation 394th - 399th Signal Companies, Aviation 406th Army Air Forces Band 411th Signal Company, Aviation 421st - 422nd Signal Companies, Aviation 424th Signal Company, Aviation 432nd Signal Constuction Battalion, Aviation 433rd Signal Construction Battalion, Aviation (less Company B) 515th Base Headquarters and Air Base Squadron Detachment 11, 854th Signal Service Company, Aviation 951st - 958th Signal Radio Intelligence Companies, Aviation 1203rd Guard Squadron 1301st - 1302nd Signal Operations Training Companies, Aviation 1304th - 1305th Signal Operations Training Companies, Aviation 1351st - 1356th Signal Companies, Wing 1357th - 1370th Signal Companies, Wing (to be activated)
Army of the United States Station List	7 April 1945	Army Air Forces 840th Army Air Forces Specialized Storage Depot 4840th Army Air Forces Base Unit (Specialized Depot) Western Signal Aviation Unit Training Center Signal Company, Aircraft Warning Service XVI Fighter Command 2nd Radio Squadron, Mobile 49th - 53rd Signal Aircraft Warning Detachments 55th Signal Aircraft Warning Detachment 95th Fighter Control Squadron 562nd Signal Aircraft Warning Battalion 571st Signal Aircraft Warning Battalion 661st Signal Aircraft Warning Company 714th Signal Aircraft Warning Company 721st Signal Aircraft Warning Company 765th Signal Aircraft Warning Company 462nd Army Air Forces Base Unit (Signal Aviation Training) Womens Army Corps Detachment
9th Service Command Station List	1 March 1946	Army Air Forces 840th Army Air Forces Specialized Storage Depot Army Air Forces Communications Unit Training Center Central Assembly Station 18th Tactivcal Air Communications Squadron 327th Signal Company, Wing 414th Night Fighter Squadron 425th Night Fighter Squadron 426th Fighter Control Squadron 426th Signal Heavy Construction Battalion (Colored) 434th - 435th Fighter Control Squadrons 435th Signal Heavy Construction Battalion, Aviation 462nd Army Air Forces Base Unit (Signal Aviation Training) Womens Army Corps Detachment
Army of the United States Station List	7 May 1946	Army Air Forces 840th Army Air Forces Specialized Storage Depot Army Air Forces Communications Unit Training Center Central Assembly Station 18th Tactivcal Air Communications Squadron 327th Signal Company, Wing 435th Signal Heavy Construction Battalion, Aviation 462nd Army Air Forces Base Unit (Signal Aviation Training) Womens Army Corps Detachment

 

 

 

Extract, War Department Inventory of Owned, Sponsored and Leased Facilities, December 1945

Western Signal Corps Aviation Unit Training Center

• Capacity:
  • Enlisted:
    • Permanent:
    • Mobilization (Quartermaster Corps 700-Series or Corps of Engineers 800-Series):
    • Theater of Operations: 2,733
    • Hutments: 2,074
    • Tents:
    • Total: 4,807
  • Officers: 291
  • Station Hospital: 40
• Acreage
  • Owned: 40 acres
  • Leases: 379 acre (one lease)
  • Total: 419 acres
• Storage:
  • Covered: 130,992 sq ft
  • Open: 2,487,000 sq ft
• Cost to Government Since 1 July 1940:
  • Annual Lease Payment(s): $96,000.00
  • Land Purchase: $17,293.00
  • Construction: $2,190,426.00
  • Total (Less Lease Payments): $2,207,719.00
• Remarks: Lease payments includes land used for the Fresno Army Air Forces Specialized Storage Depot (see below). 40 acres transferred from Wartime Civil Control Administration (former Pinedale Assembly Center for Ethnic Japanese)

Fresno Army Air Forces Specialized Storage Depot

• Capacity:
  • Enlisted:
    • Permanent:
    • Mobilization (Quartermaster Corps 700-Series or Corps of Engineers 800-Series):
    • Theater of Operations:
    • Hutments:
    • Tents:
    • Total:
  • Officers:
  • Station Hospital:
• Acreage
  • Owned: 432 acres
  • Leases: 1 acre (7 leases)
  • Total: 433 acres
• Storage:
  • Ammunition Igloos and Magazines:
  • Covered:
    • Heated: 254,684 sq ft
    • Unheated: 939,390 sq ft
    • Total: 1,994,074 sq ft
  • Sheds:
  • Open:
    • Surfaced: 219,884 sq ft
    • Unsurfaced:
    • Total: 219,884 sq ft
  • Total Depot Storage Capacity: 1,413,918 sq ft
• Cost to Government Since 1 July 1940:
  • Annual Lease Payment(s): $7.00
  • Land Purchase: $34,995.00
  • Construction: $3,488,745.00
  • Total (Less Lease Payments): $3,523,740.00
• Remarks: Leases included with Camp Pinedale

 

 

 

 

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Updated 3 July 2017