[United States Army]: [Texas Photographica]:

Special Troops 2d Inf Div. Camp Swift Texas 18 March 1946 [caption title].

San Antonio: C. Ekmark Photo, 1946. Panoramic photograph, 8 x 48.25 inches. Minor staining and soiling, light creasing. Good plus. Item #2543

A vivid yardlong image capturing the "special troops" of the Second Infantry Division while training at Camp Swift, Texas in the wake of the Second World War. Seven groups of soldiers are ranged across the photograph, with the band in the middle, all posed in front of a long line of tanks, transport trucks, and half-tracks. Camp Swift, located just west of Austin in Bastrop County, can be seen in the far background. "Special troops" are a unit of the special forces designed to provide command and control of a larger Army unit, among other duties.

"During World War II, [Camp Swift] reached a maximum strength of 90,000 troops and included, at different times, the 95th, 97th, and 102d Infantry divisions, the 10th Mountain Division, the 116th and 120th Tank Destroyer battalions, and the 5th Headquarters, Special Troops, of the Third Army.  Swift was the largest army training and transshipment camp in Texas. It also housed 3,865 German prisoners of war. After the war much of the site was returned to former owners. The government retained 11,700 acres as a military reservation. That land housed parts of the Texas National Guard, a medium-security federal prison, and a University of Texas cancer research center" - Handbook of Texas online.

The photographer, Carl John Ekmark of San Antonio was a noted and somewhat prolific chronicler of military life throughout the Lone Star State.

Price: $250