Hillsborough’s Belle Mead GSA Depot
The Nation’s Largest World War II Era Military Supply
Depot
Early History
On January
29, 1941, The Hopewell Herald reported that residents and farmers in the
vicinity of Belle Mead, NJ had been approached by two real estate agents
looking to potentially buy thousands of acres of land adjacent to the Sourland
Mountain in Hillsborough Township. Although the agents did not disclose where
they were from, the implication was that the land was being sought by the
federal government. With war raging in Europe, it was the consensus of the
property owners that they would have no problem at all selling their land for
the purpose of “National Defense”.
The land
having been acquired, construction began on 28 April 1942, with newspapers
reporting hundreds of workers erecting warehouse buildings and constructing
miles of railroad sidings on the 1,000-acre site.
One of the
people that answered the call for “Immediate War Work for Laborers” was the future
writer and social activist James Baldwin. In June 1942, not yet eighteen, he
moved from Harlem and roomed with a friend who had also taken at a job in Belle
Mead and was living with friends in Rocky Hill. They made very good money for
the time - $80 per week plus overtime. Baldwin started out in railroad
construction, but the heavy labor proved too much, and he was transferred to
warehouse duty.
In his book
“Notes of a Native Son”, he writes powerfully about the subtle and not so
subtle racism he experienced during the one year he worked at the Depot,
culminating in a scene that played out on his last night in New Jersey. Baldwin
and some friends went to see a movie in Trenton but were refused service at a
local diner. An infuriated Baldwin walked to the fanciest restaurant in the
vicinity, demanded service, and, when refused, threw a glass water pitcher
shattering the mirror behind the bar. This was the signature moment that set
Baldwin on a four-decade crusade for social justice.
West Point
graduate Colonel R. Potter Campbell was assigned as the first Commanding
Officer on 18 July 1942. During this period the Depot went through many name
changes: Bound Brook Defense Aid Depot, Bound Brook Holding and Reconsignment
Point, Bound Brook War Aid Depot, Belle Mead Quartermaster Depot, and finally,
on 27 May 1943, Belle Mead Army Service Forces Depot – by which name it was
known until after the war when it was rechristened Belle Mead General Depot.
The Belle
Mead ASF Depot was officially activated on 10 August 1942. Between the first
inbound rail shipment in September 1942, and 30 June 1943, the Depot had
handled more than 580,000 tons and had a civilian workforce of more than 2,500
people.
The civilian
workers were the heroes of the Belle Mead Depot. Not only did they build the
facility, but they were also employed in the near entirety of its operation, with
military personnel providing supervision. As most able-bodied men began to be
drafted or enlist in the service following the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl
Harbor, the Depot employed more women in all areas of operations, including
guard duty, as shown below.
On December
6, 1942, The New York Times reported that because of a severe labor shortage
due to men being sent overseas as many as 350 Princeton University students –
and their professors – were now working at the Depot warehouses on Sundays.
First Anniversary, 10 August 1943
On August
10, 1943, the Depot held its first-anniversary celebration with distinguished
military officers from around the country traveling to Belle Mead for the
occasion. The festivities included a parade by the military personnel, the
civilian guards and their dogs, and the guard band.
New Jersey
Governor Charles Edison addressed the assembled and commended them on their
exemplary work and vital contribution to the war effort.
Within a
month of the anniversary celebration, Colonel Potter was again faced with a
shortage of civilian employees. With men constantly being taken away for
military service, he pleaded with his superiors in the Quartermaster Corps for
relief. They sent him a provisional battalion of 800 African American soldiers
– raw recruits, some with only 2 weeks of military service. While civilian
employees lived off-base, these soldiers needed to be housed and fed at the
Depot. This necessitated the construction of an enormous tent city on the base
as seen in the image below.
At a time
when segregation was the norm in many parts of the country, Colonel Potter not
only had to deal with the integration of the African American troops into the
mostly white labor force, but also ease the natural friction between the huge influx of military personnel and the 1,700 remaining civilian employees. He did
this by having everyone, civilian and military, black and white, work side by
side in all of the labor-intensive functions of the Depot, and by encouraging
the provisional battalion to participate in all of the recreational activities,
including the renowned glee club, led by Irving Washington of East Orange, NJ.
May 1944 – The Press gets a peek inside
At the end
of May 1944, on Colonel Potter’s last day as Commanding Officer – and just a week before D-Day – the press was allowed access to the Depot for the first
time.
Reporters
were wowed by the $1.2 billion (over $16 billion today) in war supplies, the 45
miles of railroad track, 5 locomotives, 550 freight cars, 14 giant warehouses,
and 7 million square feet of indoor and outdoor storage space. Cranes, heavy
trucks, bridges, portable buildings, complete manufacturing plants, spare
parts, tools, rifles and ordinance, petroleum products – 5,000 tons of
equipment was moved in and out of the Depot daily.
Captain
Staniar, in charge of the outside storage areas, showed off “the largest
concentration of cable in the world, 53,000,000 feet of it”!
The timing
of the press tour could not have been coincidental. Like a prizefighter at the
pre-bout weigh-in, our adversaries overseas must have been seriously
intimidated and demoralized by this amazing show of material strength.
Italian Service Units and German POWs
On June 21,
1944, The Hopewell Herald reported that Italian Service Units had replaced the
QM Provisional Battalion. The newspaper correctly reported that these men were
former prisoners of war who had been captured in North Africa and Sicily and
had volunteered to work for the U.S. They were allowed visits by family members
living in America, and other privileges such as “spaghetti, cheese, and other
foods” to supplement their military rations.
Italian
Service Units worked at the Depot in skilled and unskilled positions until
October 29, 1945, when they were replaced by German prisoners of war. Unlike the
Italians, these POWs were not afforded any luxuries and were kept under strict
guard. A reward of $15 was offered for the apprehension of an escaped prisoner, who
could be recognized by the letters PW emblazoned on the back and sleeves of
shirts, and on the seat and legs of the trousers.
After the war
By the end
of 1946, the army was using the Depot to dispose of military surplus. Veterans
were given the first shot at buying items such as farm equipment, office
equipment, household items, hardware, and clothing – even jeeps.
The Belle
Mead ASF Depot saw renewed operations during the Korean War, but nothing like
the intense activity from 1942 through 1945.
In 1958, 800
acres of the property was acquired by the General Services Administration, who
operated the Depot until 1991. Subsequently, the property was sold in two
portions, with the Somerset County Improvement Authority purchasing the acreage
that is now being developed as a county park.
The Future
In October
of 2014, the Somerset County Park Commission, together with local officials,
held a ground-breaking ceremony for Mountain View Park.
Although
there are very few, if any, physical structures remaining at the Belle Mead
Depot, that doesn’t mean there aren’t still opportunities for Somerset County
and Hillsborough Township to commemorate the role the Depot and its civilian
workforce played in defeating fascism by winning World War II.
