Museum Exhibit
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Camp Croft, South Carolina
US Army Infantry Replacement Training Center


 The special display at the Spartanburg Regional Museum of History.
The exhibit was in honor of the 60th Anniversary of the 
Camp's opening and ran from April 6 to May 26, 2001.


 Welcome
The outside window display of the Regional Museum of History reminds visitors and passers-by of the special 60th Anniversary Camp Croft exhibit.
Also in the window, Betty Grable performing in the Croft Service Club and the cover of a publication called "A Camera Trip Though Camp Croft ..." 
The beginnings
A 1941 panoramic photo of the completed camp, images of namesake Major General Edward Croft, "benefactor" Senator James F. Byrnes and the first camp commander Colonel Louis Kunzig, a copy of the Spartanburg Herald proclaiming the arrival of the camp
Croft relocation
Images from the Jack Delano collection of local residents, mostly sharecropper families, who were relocated in order to vacate land for the camp
The completed camp ...
Several good aerial photos of the cantonment area
Photos and post card images of post buildings surrounding a plot plan of the cantonment area
G.I. equipment including a pistol belt,. canteen and cover, bayonet, entrenching tool, mess tin (meat can), practice grenade, helmet liner, and 1942 yearbook style publication of the 50th ITB.
Training Activites
Personal effects related to camp, including football program (Croft vs. Wofford), a baseball glove, overseas cap, souvenir photo tour of the camp, personal photos, letter boxes, and more
Typical uniforms and equipment
One mannequin portrays and early war trainee with blue denim fatigues, M1917 helmet, gas mask, and web equipment. The second mannequin is equipped as later war with similar equipment. Note the "P.W." jackets behind them. These were issued to German POWs housed at Croft and other locations throughout the South East. The first is a re-issued US M1941 jacket and the other is a German tunic.
The suitcase of a German POW detained at Croft. The suitcase was found in a nearby home after the war, the owner was located in the 1970's, and he was able to confirm ownership!

Click here for the Spartanburg Herald Journal article
Barracks life
Typical barracks display: complete with wooden bunk, pin-ups, clothing, headgear, shoes, and personal items in a G.I. footlocker
Souvenir Items
Many souvenir items were available at the Post Exchange and in nearby shops. This case holds several satin pillow covers and a like new sweatshirt.
E Flags
The coveted "E Flag" was awarded to mills and other industries that met particular criteria and quotas for war materials.
Home front and Women
A section of the display dedicated to home front items as well as Red Cross, Nurse, and WAC uniforms
The Famous and Infamous
Ordnance found at Croft, newspaper clippings of the on going clean up efforts, an article about how the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings were planned at Secretary of War James F. Byrnes home in Spartanburg, and a Wofford college photo of Nazi propagandist Robert H. Best, a Spartanburg county native who broadcast his radio program from Berlin.