Nestled among the lost pines of Central Texas is the small town of Bastrop, home to approximately 4,000 people. Life is slow and easy here, with people meeting and talking on the downtown streets and children playing baseball in the Little League lots.

It was not always thus, however. During World War II, Bastrop was the home of Camp Swift, an army infantry base which housed, at its peak from 1942 through 1946, over 44,000 U. S. servicemen. It served as a focal point for the patriotic energies of Central Texans during the war and was considered one of the finer infantry training areas by the U. S. War Department.

Camp Swift, officially designated as the 1849th Unit, Eighth Service Command, Army Service Forces, served five combat divisions, as well as scores of both combat and service-type support units. The camp of 2,750 buildings offered particularly realistic training opportunities for all types of combat engineer troops. In addition, it served as a German prisoner-of-war camp with 4,500 prisoners captured in North Africa from Rommel's Afrika Corps and at Normandy during the invasion of Europe.

Life in Bastrop was radically different because of the the influence of Camp Swift. It is the intent of these pages to recreate that time so that people everywhere may know the pivotal role this small, rural town played in the "war to end all wars."