Along Highway 97, near the quaint resort community of Sunriver in central Oregon, stands a highway sign erected in 2009. It reads: “World War II Veterans Historic Highway.” Some of the freeway vehicles pass the signal and then turn onto Sunriver, while most traffic continues quickly. Many of the drivers passing the sign are unaware of the exact location of Camp Abbot or its historical significance. However, the Camp Abbot trainees formed the largest military training exercise in Pacific Northwest history.
Construction of Camp Abbot began in late 1942. Less than two years later it closed. Nestled in a cathedral of pines, Camp Abbot was a hive of activity while it was a training center for the United States Army. Thousands trained here. The distance did not dampen their enthusiasm to become combat engineers, they were an elite group.
The afternoon sun burns through the treetops in the clearing of what is now the Sunriver community and the Deschutes National Forest. It takes a bit of imagination to understand what life must have been like for those who trained in this now silent forest.
Needing a rapid combat engineer training facility, the War Department established and developed Camp Abbot along the Deschutes River near Bend, Oregon, within five months. Unlike Army forts, which were built as permanent installations, Camp Abbot was built simply as a temporary facility. It was one of only three World War II combat engineer training centers in the United States, the other two being Fort Belvoir, Virginia and Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.
The first trainees arrived in March 1943. Ten thousand soldiers trained in cycles of 17 weeks. More than 90,000 combat engineers trained at Camp Abbot before the base closed in 1944. Infantry, armor, artillery, air force, engineer, and support units were trained in specific combat problems, such as attacking and defending a line of river and assault. and occupation of defensive positions.
Before training began, Army engineers had to complete infrastructure projects such as the construction of airfields, supply depots, and a Signal Corps battalion as a communication network in the maneuver area. Army fighter planes were used to support ground forces. These exercises simulated actual combat and lasted for several days, often throughout the day.
Civilian highways such as U.S. Highways 97 and 395 and Cascade Mountain Highways occasionally needed to be used during exercises. Residents are warned to be careful and obey the instructions of the military police when traveling anywhere in the staging area. In November 1943, the army declared that it would repair the roads damaged by the tanks and other heavy vehicles used in its operation.
The exercise baptized as “Oregon Maneuver” was considered a success. With the participation of more than 100,000 US soldiers and airmen, it is considered the largest military training exercise in the history of the Pacific Northwest. Once completed, the participants were sent to North Africa to organize themselves before participating in combat operations in Italy. One division went to Hawaii to prepare for the invasion of the Philippines and to fight on Okinawa. Another division landed in France and took part in combat operations in northern France, the Rhineland, and central Germany.
Camp Abbot, located in the High Desert just north of the small town of La Pine and south of Bend, served only one function during its 14-month existence: to serve as a World War II Corps of Engineers training facility. Some of the former army camp land was sold for development in the mid-1960s and turned into an upscale resort community. One building remains from the original camp. The still-beautiful officers’ club of record is now known as the “Great Hall” and is rented out for events such as conventions and weddings. Some guests know instantly that they have entered a page in history.