Here’s how World War I changed Columbia forever

World War I ended on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918.

Globally, ever since, Nov. 11 has been referred to as Armistice Day, or Remembrance Day. But in America, the day was recast after World War II as Veterans Day, to honor all members of the United States military.

In Columbia, Veterans Day and World War I have special significance. Without the Great War, as it was first called, this would be a very different city.

“It put us on the national map,” said Carl Blackstone, president and CEO of the Columbia Chamber.

World War I began in 1914. Americans were relative latecomers, joining in 1917.

South Carolina, like much of America, was divided in its support of the war. Many Americans were isolationists, opposed to becoming entangled in European wars.

Chief among them was President Woodrow Wilson, who grew up in Columbia and in Augusta, Ga. He had pledged to keep America out of the war.

In Lexington, Newberry, Orangeburg and Charleston counties, there was strong opposition to the war in the German and Irish-American communities, historian Walter Edgar wrote in his “South Carolina: A History.”

“Germans weren’t happy with the image of the brutal Hun,” Edgar said Friday. “Before we entered the war, we had pro-German rallies and pro-Allied rallies, sometimes going on the same day in different parts of the state.”

As for the Irish in Charleston, “they didn’t want to help the English,” Edgar said.

At the time, Ireland was on the brink of its own war of independence with Great Britain.

Charleston Mayor John P. Grace, of Irish descent and the publisher of the Charleston American newspaper, was vehemently opposed to the war. His newspapers were briefly banned from the U.S. mail because of their anti-Allied editorials, Edgar said.

But with America being pulled closer to the fighting in Europe and the country unprepared for war, officials of the Columbia Chamber pitched the Midlands as the site for an Army training camp.

They argued to the Army that land formerly owned by the late Wade Hampton — a former Civil War Confederate general and once the richest man in the United States — would be an excellent location for military training. The chamber also led a drive to raise money to buy the land.

Those efforts paid off on May 19, 1917, when Maj. Douglas MacArthur — who would go on to become the victorious commander of Allied forces in the Pacific in World War II only to be dismissed as Allied commander during the Korean War — announced that Columbia had been chosen for a training base.

“It was politics that landed it,” Edgar said. “We bought the land and there were South Carolinians peppered all through the bureaucracy.”

In just six months, 1,519 buildings were constructed at the camp, including theaters, stores, barracks, training facilities, stables and garages, according to a history of the fort. The first draftees arrived on Sept. 5, and to date more than 5 million soldiers have been trained there, even though it was mostly mothballed between the world wars.

“It was just a national guard training camp until World War II,” Edgar said.

An economic engine

And true to The Columbia Record’s prediction more than 100 years ago, the fort has become an economic engine for the Capital City. It is one of the three legs of the city’s economy, along with state government and the University of South Carolina.

“Camp Jackson was a fantastic example of a public-private partnership and a heckuva return on the investment,” Blackstone said.

Today, Fort Jackson is the nation’s largest basic training base.

More than 7,600 people work at the fort, divided almost evenly between civilians and military personnel. And nearly 70,000 soldiers train there each year.

While nearly 50,000 of those soldiers are recruits confined to the base, many others — drill sergeants, officers, garrison soldiers and instructors — live in the community. They buy groceries, clothing, cars and electronics. They eat in the city’s restaurants, and they attend community festivals and sporting events.

“Fort Jackson expanded our base,” Blackstone said. “It diversified us.”

And almost every Thursday, about 5,000 parents, friends and others from around the country descend on Columbia for graduation ceremonies at the fort. Those families fill up restaurants and hotels, visit the city’s and region’s attractions and then return home to tell others about Columbia and South Carolina.

The Columbia Metropolitan Airport estimates that 20 percent of its traffic is related to the military.

Fort Jackson’s total economic impact on the Palmetto State is estimated at $2.3 billion a year, according to a study by the University of South Carolina’s Darla Moore School of Business. In addition to the 7,600 direct jobs, it spins off another 20,000, the study shows.

Largest basic training base

But the most important impact of the fort is the soldiers it trains.

Patriotic fervor motivated more than 300,000 South Carolinians — both black and white — to sign up for the draft prior to the Great War. About 52,000 of those were actually drafted, and the vast majority were trained at Camp Jackson.

Eight South Carolinans — including the six from the National Guard’s 118th Regiment — received the Medal of Honor, a remarkable achievement considering only 78 of the nation’s highest decoration for valor in combat were awarded nationally for service in World War I.

One of those recipients, Cpl. Freddie Stowers, an African-American from Sandy Springs in Anderson County, wasn’t officially honored until a ceremony led by President George H.W. Bush on April 24, 1991 — 73 years after Stowers was killed-in-action.

Many white South Carolinians were members of the 81st Infantry Division, called the Wildcat Division, which saw action in Europe during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive.

The 371st Infantry Regiment, comprised of African-Americans, also trained at Camp Jackson and were part of the 93rd Infantry Division. On arrival in France, this unit was transferred to French command, where it received the Croix de Guerre and the Order of Légion d’Honneur medals. Stowers was a member of the regiment’s 1st Battalion.

Also, the South Carolina National Guard was called into federal service along with units from North Carolina and Tennessee. They trained at Camp Sevier in Greenville and served as part of the 30th Infantry Division (Old Hickory Division), and fought at Verdun, Metz, Ypres and the Hindenburg Line.

Today, Columbia is known as one of the most military-friendly communities in the nation. Scores of military members have settled here leaving the service, and raised their families, continuing to change the face of Columbia, and the content of its character.

All because of the Great War.

”People from all over the country come here for training, and they end up staying here,” Blackstone said. “And you can’t overlook the economics. It changed us across the board.”