[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 111 (Wednesday, June 28, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3833-S3834]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




SENATE RESOLUTION 205--HONORING THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF FORT CUSTER IN 
                           AUGUSTA, MICHIGAN

  Mr. PETERS (for himself and Ms. Stabenow) submitted the following 
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs:

                              S. Res. 205

       Whereas 2017 marks the 100th anniversary of a military 
     installation operating in Augusta, Michigan;
       Whereas Fort Custer is named after Major General George 
     Armstrong Custer, a native of Monroe, Michigan, and a 
     prominent Civil War cavalry commander;
       Whereas the United States Army purchased 130 parcels of 
     Michigan farmland to begin constructing Camp Custer in 1917;
       Whereas more than 100,000 soldiers from Michigan and 
     Wisconsin trained at Camp Custer before serving in Europe 
     during World War I as part of the American Expeditionary 
     Forces;
       Whereas Camp Custer became the district headquarters of the 
     Civilian Conservation Corps for Michigan's Lower Peninsula 
     during the Great Depression;
       Whereas Congress officially designated Camp Custer as Fort 
     Custer on August 17, 1940, recognizing it as a permanent 
     military training base;
       Whereas, in preparation for World War II engagement, Fort 
     Custer expanded to 16,000 acres with accommodations for 
     nearly 1,300 officers and more than 27,500 troops;
       Whereas more than 300,000 troops were trained at Fort 
     Custer throughout World War II, including the 5th Infantry 
     ``Red Diamond'' Division that left for combat in Normandy, 
     France, in June 1944;
       Whereas Fort Custer served as a prisoner of war camp for 
     approximately 5,000 German soldiers during World War II;
       Whereas approximately 17,000 troops were trained at Fort 
     Custer during the Korean War in the 1950s;
       Whereas the United States Air Force established the Custer 
     Air Force Station in 1956, which served as part of the North 
     American Air Defense System for a decade beginning in 1959;
       Whereas Fort Custer offered free education and vocational 
     training to youth between the ages of 16 and 24 as a Jobs 
     Corps Training Center from 1965 to 1967;
       Whereas the 770-acre Fort Custer National Military 
     Cemetery, established in 1981, honors thousands of the brave 
     men and women who served the United States; and
       Whereas Fort Custer continues to serve as a state-of-the-
     art training facility for the Michigan National Guard and 
     other branches

[[Page S3834]]

     of the Armed Forces, including Reserve Officers' Training 
     Corps students: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) honors Fort Custer in Augusta, Michigan, on its 100th 
     anniversary;
       (2) commends the thousands of men and women who have worked 
     and trained at Fort Custer; and
       (3) commemorates the tens of thousands of members of the 
     Armed Forces and their families memorialized at Fort Custer 
     National Cemetery.

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