Merry Christmas from Camp San Ramon, 1943

When Intent and Execution Don't Quite Match Up

A front-page graphic from “Our War,” a U.S. Army Special Training Units newspaper delivered to troops at Camp San Ramon, and many other locations, in December 1943.  (Courtesy of the Museum of the San Ramon Valley.)

Playing with history sometimes means you come across unusual things.  This year it was the timely discovery of a 1943 Army newspaper issued to troops at a local base.  Inside was a comic designed, I presume, to make the troops detailed to a remote temporary Army base a little less homesick during the holiday season.

The “Christmas in Camp” comic on pages 6 and 7 from “Our War,” a U.S. Army Special Training Units newspaper, December 1943.  (Courtesy of the Museum of the San Ramon Valley.)

It’s obvious that the writers at headquarters didn’t have Camp San Ramon (Danville, California) in mind when they designed this holiday missive.  There is nothing in the comic that looks even remotely like the temporary camp amidst the barren agricultural land miles and miles away from San Francisco.  And headquarters didn’t get the memorandum that snow in Contra Costa County is a pretty rare event.  Or that great food and spontaneous Christmas caroling would not likely occur routinely at remote Army installations.

A circa 1940 view of the Civilian Conservation Corps camp that became Camp San Ramon.  (Courtesy of the Museum of the San Ramon Valley.)

And after close review of the comic, I’m not even sure the writers were in the same Army I’ve read about over the last forty years of military history research.  However, in the same newspaper the comic appeared in, headquarters did at least attempt to connect the 101st Anti-Aircraft Artillery Brigade Special Training Unit at Camp San Ramon to the larger war effort.  But it still seems that the headquarters troops had a somewhat uninformed idea of how G.I Joe felt about being in the Army and away from home.

The “Army Christmas” graphic on pages 4 and 5 from “Our War,” a U.S. Army Special Training Units newspaper, December 1943.  (Courtesy of the Museum of the San Ramon Valley.)

Nonetheless, I have this record that the Army, even in the middle of the largest war it had ever fought, had the foresight to try and make life a bit better for the troops.

So, Happy Holidays to you, your family, friends and to all service members, no matter where they are (or when).

---