Army Service Forces Unit Training Center (ASFUTC) played a role in military training related to transportation and logistics during World War II. While Fort Eustis, Virginia, later became a hub for army rail operations, training and deployment of the Military Railway Service (MRS) during the war occurred at various locations.
Specifically, in 1943:
- Railway Operating Battalions (ROBs), often comprised of experienced civilian railroaders, received training from commercial railroad companies and at Army camps such as Camp Shelby, Mississippi.
- For example, the 713th Railway Operating Battalion, composed of Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad employees, initially trained near Clovis, New Mexico before being deployed overseas.
- Other units like the 727th trained at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, and the 730th on the Pennsylvania Railroad line near Fort Wayne, Indiana.
The ASFUTC in Slidell, Louisiana, circa 1943-45, was a training center within a larger military camp. While it's not explicitly stated that ASFUTC Slidell directly conducted railway training, the overall context of Army transportation training points to the importance of such programs during the war
Army Service Forces Unit Training Center (ASFUTC)
New Orleans Port of Embarkation (NOPE)
Atlantic Coast Transportation Corps Officers' Training School (ACTCOTS)
Misc Documents
Documents originals HEREOctober 1943
December 1943
Soldiers attend a class inside a railroad car in New Orleans, Louisiana on 23 June 1943
