Camp Cooke and Vandenberg Air Force Base, 1941-1966: From Armor and Infantry Training to Space and Missile Launches by Jeffrey E. Geiger

Author:Jeffrey E. Geiger
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Published: 2014-02-27T00:00:00+00:00

The U.S. Branch Disciplinary Barracks

One of the more notable events at the disciplinary barracks occurred in July 1953 when, after some four months of confinement, thirty-seven Puerto Rican soldiers were released and restored to full active duty. They were part of a larger group of 103 Puerto Rican enlisted members of the 65th Infantry Regiment charged with disobeying the lawful orders of an officer while on duty in Korea, misbehavior before the enemy, and desertion. The incidents happened at two different locations between October and November 1952. Multiple courts-martial for groups of soldiers ended with five defendants being acquitted and eight others having charges against them dismissed. Ninety-one soldiers, including one junior officer, received sentences with varying degrees of punishment.14

New construction at USDB began in late 1954 on several permanent facilities for staff personnel. The first of these projects consisted of two three-storey barracks to house 526 soldiers, and a connecting mess hall building. The Army’s District Engineer Office in Los Angeles awarded the project to the Edward R. Siple Construction Company in October. At the dedication ceremony for the mess hall on January 20, 1955, the keynote speaker was Maj. Gen. William F. Dean, deputy commander of the Sixth Army and recipient of the Medal of Honor, earned as a prisoner of war in Korea. The two barracks were completed four months later and replaced the temporary quarters which were moved from Camp Cooke when the USDB was first activated. That same year the main road between the prison and Santa Lucia Canyon Road was named Klein Boulevard in honor of Lt. Col. Raymond E. Klein, who was the deputy commandant in charge of operations at USDB. Klein died at his home in Lompoc on September 23, 1955. Born in Brooklyn, New York, the 45-year-old Klein served in the European Theater of Operations during World War II.15

Between 1956 and 1957, several additional construction projects were initiated on the installation, beginning with family housing that went up across from the prison on the east side of Santa Lucia Canyon Road. E. H. Moore & Sons, of San Francisco, built 36 two- and three-bedroom units in January 1957. Two years later additional homes were constructed behind the first 36 units. In July 1956 the Lake Canyon recreational area opened at Camp Cooke for USDB staff. It featured an artificial lake approximately 100 yards long and stocked with warm-water fish. A year later, in July 1957, a red brick chapel with a seating capacity of 175 opened at USDB near the new mess hall. The last major construction project at USDB during this period was a 10,000-square-foot gymnasium. The project began in February 1957 and was completed around the end of the year.16

By the mid–1950s the inmate population at USDBs across the United States, including the one at Camp Cooke, was on a downward trend. No longer did the Army require the prison at Cooke, and on August 1, 1959, it transferred the facility to the U.S. Bureau of Prisoners to house civilian inmates.

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