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The Early Days of Fort
Sherman
Panama Canal Zone
Page 2
Construction at the
Gun Battery sites attached to Fort Sherman consisted of
temporary housing for 100 officers and 846 enlisted men,
temporary warehouse ammunition facilities of 9,688 sq. ft., bulk
fuel storage for gasoline (1 tank 3,000 gallons) and diesel oil
(3 tanks 11,500 gallons) and 55 miles of gravel rock access
roads.
Anti-Aircraft
Artillery searchlight (SAL) positions considered sub-posts of
Fort Sherman, included: SAL II 1, 143, 151, 161, 163, and Aid
Stations 71 1 and 713 located on the Fort Sherman Military
Reservation; SAL 101, 103, 105, 117, 191, 193, and CP-7
located in the Canal Zone; SAL 137,145, 155 and 177 located in
the Republic of Panama. Each installation with the exception of
the two aid stations, was the site of anti-aircraft artillery
searchlights and had details of 10 men stationed at each
position. The total areas occupied were these approximate sizes;
on Military Reservation was 35 acres. The sizes of the sites
within the Republic of Panama were: No. 137, (31.4032 acres);
No. 145, (9.02 acres); No. 155, (24.194 acres); and No. 177,
(72.8798 acres).
The
four positions located in the Republic of Panama were leased by
the United States with indefinite renewal privileges, under
provisions of the agreement signed May 18, 1942. Leases on
Positions 137 and 145 were dated from May 1941 and April 1941
respectively. All positions except No. 137 were on land owned by
the Government of the Republic of Panama and were leased to the
United States without cost. Approximately three-fourths of
position No. 137, (9.5137 hectares), belonged to an individual,
and annual payment of $475.50 was made by the United States to
the Republic of Panama for the use of this land.
The cost of the
Anti-Aircraft Artillery searchlight positions attached as
sub-posts to Fort Sherman was given as $130,177 as of July 31,
1945. By January 1946, only positions 101, 191, 193, and 195
were manned. Since that date, these were declared surplus and
were razed or salvaged. Construction at the attached
Anti-Aircraft Artillery searchlight positions consisted of
temporary housing for seven officers and 2,865 enlisted men and
11.2 miles of gravel access roads.
Harbor Defense
Searchlight Positions, included five searchlight positions
located within the Fort Sherman Military Reservation occupying
approximately 14 acres. A detail of eight men was stationed at
each of these positions. The cost of the five searchlight
positions as of July 31, 1945, was $29,275. All had been
abandoned by 1945. Construction at these Searchlight positions
attached to Fort Sherman included temporary housing facilities
for 200-500 men and 3.5 miles of gravel access roads. The cost
of the automatic weapons positions to the United States was
listed as $474,583 as of July 31, 1945. By September 1945, only
five of the positions had been evacuated by military
personnel, by December 1945, 12 of the total 21 stations were
not manned and by June 1946, 11 of the positions were also
declared surplus. The buildings on the locations declared
surplus were razed and/or salvaged, but the sites were retained
for possible future emergency use. Construction for the attached
anti-aircraft automatic weapons positions consisted of temporary
housing for 75 officers and 705 enlisted men and 4 miles of
gravel, stone access roads.
Artillery units
stationed at Fort Sherman during the war years included the 1st
Coast Artillery (Type-C) Regiment, the 343d Anti-Aircraft
Artillery Searchlight Battalion, the 1st Provisional Artillery
Battalion, the 37th Coast Artillery Battalion, the 761st
Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion and the 763d Anti-Aircraft
Artillery Battalion.
Mobile Force
Positions attached as sub-posts of Fort Sherman included:
Infantry Camp Piña -- located in the Canal Zone
Engineer Camp Piña -- located on the Fort Sherman Military
Reservation.
Charges River Pontoon Bridge -- located within the Military
Reservation
Infantry Camp Piña (Spanish for pineapple) was approximately 26
acres in size located 7 to 10 road miles south of Cristobal,
Canal Zone. It was the station for an Infantry Battalion and
served as a jungle training area for these troops while Engineer
Camp Piña, approximately 12 miles southwest of Cristobal, was
used principally as a civilian housing area for the Engineer
employees. The Charges River Pontoon Bridge was used as a means
of getting across the river at this point and required only a
detail of eight troops for manning. The combined area occupied
by the two installations on the Military Reservation was
approximately 75 acres.
The cost of the three
Mobile Force positions, as of July 1945, was $537,192. By
September 1945, Engineer Camp Piña had been abandoned by Army
forces, the Charges River Pontoon Bridge was manned by a detail
of only six men and Infantry Piña Camp was reduced to 200
troops. By December 1945, the Pontoon Bridge position was not
manned and Infantry Camp Piña had been further reduced to 73
men. On September 24, 1945, Engineer Camp Piña was formally
declared surplus by the Department Engineer, Panama Canal
Department. By then all installed equipment had been removed and
slated for salvage. Construction for the three attached Mobile
Force positions consisted of temporary housing for 128 officers
and 696 enlisted men, bulk fuel storage for gasoline (I tank,
750 gallons), diesel oil (I tank, 1,000 gallons), and 20 miles
of gravel, rock access roads.
Following
World War II, the large coast defense guns at Fort Sherman (as
well as at those at several other sites near the Atlantic and
Pacific ends of the Panama Canal) were dismantled, removed from
the area and scrapped between 1946 and 1948. (The mortars had
already been dismantled in 1943). As a result, Coast Artillery
personnel were reassigned outside Panama.
In the interim years
between 1948 and 1960 anti-aircraft automatic weapons at Fort
Sherman constituted the Atlantic defenses of the Panama Canal.
These were supplanted by a battery of HAWK missiles in 1960.
The missiles were removed in December of 1968.
During the period
1948 to 1951, Fort Sherman was used primarily to billet troops
assigned to the Atlantic side of the Isthmus. On January 1,
1959, Fort Sherman was designated as inactive sub-installation
of Fort Gulick. However, on September 1, 1961, it was
reclassified as an active sub-installation of Fort Gulick, and
later obtained separate status.
In April 1951, the
Department of the Army assigned the U.S. Army Caribbean Command
the jungle warfare training mission in the Army. In compliance
with this directive a provisional headquarters was established
to conduct "Exercise Brush Bay" on the Fort
Sherman Reservation. From this small beginning grew the
groundwork for the jungle school which became known as the
Jungle Operations Training Center. Since 1957, Fort Sherman
became the center for jungle warfare training. However the
growth of the jungle school was not a rapid one. After operation
"Brush Bay" in 1953, the headquarters was
disbanded, but the 7437th Army Unit was activated to care for
the maneuver area, and was attached to the 33d Infantry
Regiment, the major tactical unit stationed in Panama at the
time and was also further charged with the mission of conducting
jungle warfare training."
A new development in
the growth of the jungle school had begun. The facilities at
Fort Sherman were improved and by the Spring of 1954, the
program was sufficiently developed to begin training units from
the 33d Infantry Regiment. The objective of this training was to
make the entire regiment completely proficient in jungle
operations. Since then, the installation has been used for
tactical amphibious training of troops.
In May 1956, the 33d
Infantry was inactivated and replaced by the 20th Infantry
Regiment, which inherited the mission of conducting jungle
warfare training. Under this regiment, reorganized in December
1957 as the 1st Battle Group, 20th Infantry, cycle training was
conducted for military personnel outside the Panama area.
On
July 1, 1963, the jungle school's mission and functions were
assumed by the Jungle Operations Committee of the newly
redesigned US Army School of the Americas, Fort Gulick, Canal
Zone. The Jungle Operations Committee successfully operated
under the School of the Americas for five years. By 1965, Fort
Sherman covered a total area of 12,171 acres.
The
Department of the Army recognized and acknowledged the
importance of the jungle school's mission of training
individuals in jungle operations and directed that the Jungle
Operations Committee be established as a separate Department of
Army school on the same priority for personnel, supplies, and
equipment as schools and training centers in the continental
United States. Thus, on July 1, 1968, the Jungle Operations
Training Center was established to carry on the mission of
training students to conduct operations in a jungle environment.
On July 1, 1970, the school was placed under the operational
control of the 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), later
re-designated as SAF, 3d Special Forces Battalion, 7th Special
Forces Group (Airborne).
In July 1975, the
Jungle Operations Training Center was again designated an
independent major subordinate command, this time under the 193d
Infantry Brigade. In 1976, the Jungle Operations Training Center
began the transition from an individual training center to a
unit training center. Finally, in January 1989, the unit which
operated the Center became designated as the Jungle Operations
Training Battalion. For its contribution to the military
operation code named Operation Just Cause against the Panama
Defense Forces in December 1989, the Battalion was awarded a
battle streamer for its participation as Task Force Sherman. In
1995, the Jungle Operations Training Battalion trained twelve
stateside infantry battalions and four engineer companies within
its 23,000 acres of unique terrain with fresh and salt water,
mangrove swamps and rolling hills.
Batteries Kilpatrick,
Mower, Stanley, Baird and Howard were used for jungle training
purposes. Battery Kilpatrick located at the tip of the Fort
Sherman lagoon, became a favorite tourist attraction for U.S.
military members. Battery Kilpatrick was converted to serve as a
zoo (formerly at Battery MacKenzie), operated in connection with
jungle warfare training conducted by the U.S. Army School of the
Americas. No.1Gun pit became a pool for caymans and
alligators, and a snake house was built over No. 2 Gun pit, with
cages for other animals scattered throughout the reservation.
During the last decade, it was demoted to a simple storage area
for ground maintenance and repair equipment.
Battery Pratt,
constructed about two and a half miles southwest of the Mower-
Stanley-Baird-Howard complex, was originally called Chagres
Battery No. 1. Battery Pratt later became a communications site.
Battery MacKenzie, known as Chagres Battery No. 2, was built
near the Spanish colonial era fortification of Fort San Lorenzo.
When the Fort Sherman Main Post was closed down in 1953, Battery
MacKenzie was used to house troops assigned to the Jungle
Warfare Training Center in temporary structures for operational
units only. At this time, Camp Pina, a tent city located on the
opposite side of the Chagres River, was designed to facilitate a
battalion-size unit for short period of time. During the 1970's,
improvements were made to the interior of Battery MacKenzie for
use as a field command post for certain phases of jungle
warfare. It was later used by the 3rd Special Forces Battalion,
7th Special Forces Group (Airborne). In September 1981, the
3/7th SFG's Airborne Training Area at Fort Sherman was dedicated
to the memory of the late General Melvin Zais by Brigadier
General K. C. Leuer, Commander of the 193d Infantry Brigade and
Lieutenant Colonel E.N. Russell, 3/7th Special Forces Group
commander."
The Jungle Warfare
Training Center maintained a zoo at Battery MacKenzie for use
during the training cycle and as a showplace for visiting
dignitaries and the general public. Personnel stationed at the
school kept a variety of animals, ranging from boa constrictors
to sloths and ocelots, for use as "training aides" in
jungle survival classes. The zoo was later transferred to
Battery Kilpatrick and from there to its present site behind the
chapel.
In 1976, Fort Sherman
also became the "home" for the local Army's
Noncommissioned Officer's (NCO) Academy providing instruction
for members in the Primary Leadership Course, the Primary NCO
Course, and the Basic NCO Course. In June 1976, the first Jungle
Air Assault Course was conducted by the Academy, followed by the
first Primary Leadership Course in October 1976, and first Basic
Noncommissioned Officers Course in January 1977. The
Noncommissioned Officers Course for Combat Arms was an
innovative approach to providing critical career progression
training to NCOs in 1 1B and 11C Combat Arms MOS. The Combat
Arms course incorporated the latest techniques in individual
training in consonance with long- term trends in the Army
training. Later, on January 30, 1984, the NCO Academy instituted
the Primary Leadership Development Course."
The
Jungle Operations Training Battalion participated in Operation
Just Cause in December 1989 as part of Task Force Sherman, which
was operationally controlled by Task Force Atlantic, 3 Brigade,
7 Infantry Division (Light). JOTB conducted successful security
and defense missions of Fort Sherman and Gatun Locks complex;
cleared and secured 27 towns and villages; eliminated the threat
from the Hunter Platoons south of the Chagres River, and
captured numerous enemy prisoners, weapons and large amounts of
munitions and military equipment. For its contributions during
Operations Just Cause, the battalion was awarded a battle
streamer.
Fort
Sherman entered into a transition period in the early 1990's as
it prepared both its facilities and personnel for the closure of
the rest of the Atlantic military community in Panama in
compliance with provisions of the Panama Canal Treaty of 1977.
The
largest modernization project during this decade was the
renovation of the Fort Sherman Troop Medical Clinic (building
210) in 1994, into an ultra-modern health clinic, with a wide
range of emergency services as well as routine health care. The
two floors were converted into bachelor quarters, This was
necessitated by the closure of the Coco Solo Army Hospital and
the closures of Fort Davis and Fort Gulick/Espinar in September
1995. Also in 1994, rotational engineers constructed a temporary
wooden pier built into the lagoon directly across from the
Jungle Operations Training Battalion boathouse. This pier was
approximately 45 feet long and between 8 and 12 feet wide.
The Ocean Breeze
Recreation Center overlooking Shimmey Beach offered a pool room,
music room, library, wood shop, fitness center. Recreational
facilities were further enhanced in 1995 with the inauguration
of the Gold Coast Suites, previously known as the Gold
Coast Inn, at Shimmey Beach, where four tropical duplexes were
remodeled as guest house facilities, with a total of eight units
available for occupancy. Each suite featured two bedrooms, a
bathroom, dinette, kitchen and living room luxuriously furnished
in contemporary fashion. Cable television, VCRs and phones were
also included. Each suite had a hammock, washer and dryer,
picnic table, chairs, barbecue grill and umbrella, and
housekeeping services."
By October 1994,
families were no longer allowed to be assigned on Fort Sherman.
With the official disestablishment of the remaining facilities
at Fort Gulick/Espinar in September 1995, Fort Sherman became
the sole Atlantic-side U.S. military installation in Panama,
except for Galeta Island.
JOTB inactivated on
April 1, 1999; Fort Sherman and Piña Range were transferred to
Panama on June 30, 1999. At that time, Panamanian authorities
were contemplating the conversion of most of the area into an
eco-tourism National Park (possibly named San Lorenzo) due to
its great ecological diversity, a housing development near the
Gatun dam, and a shipyard and other maritime facilities along
Limon Bay.
El Castillo de San Lorenzo El Real del Chagres (the Royal Castle
of San Lorenzo of the Chagres) better known simply as Fort San
Lorenzo, is among the early Spanish outposts in the New World.
The Chagres River and its guardian cliff upon which Fort San
Lorenzo was built was first sighted by Columbus during his
fourth voyage of 1502, where he actually landed and traded with
the Indians of Panama. When the city of Panama was founded in
1518, the Chagres became one of principal routes from the
Caribbean to the Pacific. Therefore, once the first makeshift
fortifications of Fort San Lorenzo were built in 1575, the
bastion influenced and affected the Spanish colonization of much
of Central and South America. Although designated as a
Panamanian National Monument since 1908, the area around Fort
San Lorenzo was originally incorporated into the Fort Sherman
Military Reservation, in
1911. During World War I, a radio
listening post was set up at Fort San Lorenzo and during World
II (1942) a searchlight and three inch anti-aircraft guns were
emplaced to prevent German submarines from sending raiding
parties up the Chagres toward Gatun Darn. The U.S. Army also
built a pontoon bridge across the Chagres just above its mouth.
The bridge and gun position was dismantled after the war and
Fort San Lorenzo again became a sight-seeing area and a picnic
ground.
In 1955, a clean-up
project of the area was initiated under the auspices of Major
General Lionel C. McGarr, U.S. Army Caribbean Command. Ten years
later, in 1965, a rehabilitation project was undertaken under
the command of Major General James D. Alger, U.S. Army Southern
Command, aimed at clearing the brush from the walls and
repairing certain areas which for many years had been hidden
from view by dense jungle growth.
Following the
implementation of the Panama Canal Treaties of 1977 between
Panama and the United States, the area returned to Panamanian
jurisdiction on October 1, 1979. - However, the access road to
Fort San Lorenzo cut through Fort Sherman. This, unfortunately,
contributed to isolate this historical Spanish colonial
fortification site. Because of its remoteness and restricted
access through Fort Sherman, this historic landmark of the
Western Hemisphere has not received the visitors or attention it
deserves.
Credits
Many
thanks for the information provided by these documents:
* Narration: "The Era of U.S. Army Installations in Panama "
Written by the Historian
Office - United States Army South, Fort Clayton, Panama
* Maps: Charles S. Small - Military Railroads on the Panama
Canal Zone © 1982
If you would like to contact Mr. Pascual, his email address is :
vap@pty.com
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