Military Service

In the summer of 1941, before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the US Army established a training camp at the Catoctin RDA. As a gesture of good will toward Great Britain, a half-dozen RDAs were also made available to British sailors from June to November 1941. 

Initially, the War Department was granted permission to use federal RDAs, including Catoctin, until only June 1, 1942. However, since an alternate site could not be identified, Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes agreed to grant a Special Use Permit (SUP) to the War Department on May 16, 1942 which authorized the use of the lands and facilities within the Catoctin and Chopawamsic RDAs. The permit for the Catoctin RDA did not provide an expiration date but indicated that military use could be revoked at the will of the secretary. Other provisions were included to ensure the protection of the Park’s natural and cultural resources including “that precaution shall be taken to preserve and protect all objects of a geological and historical nature… that wherever possible, structures, roads, as well as trees, shrubs and other natural terrain features, shall remain unmolested… [and] that every precaution shall be taken to protect the Area from fire and vandalism.” Second, the permit required that the military consult with the NPS before building any new structures. If approved, the location of the structure was to be determined by the park manager. Third, at the end of the War Department’s occupation, all new structures were to be removed or transferred to the NPS and the site was to be restored to its original condition. Lastly, all private lands purchased by the War Department within the bounds of the RDA were to be transferred to the NPS.

Camp Greentop hosted groups of British sailors for periods of one to two weeks. In total, some 630 British sailors stayed at Camp Greentop during the war. It was in early 1942 that the War Department began negotiating the use of the Catoctin and Chopawamsic RDAs as paramilitary training camps. The fact that the OSS, the predecessor to the Central Intelligence Agency, was using the RDAs only became public knowledge within the last decade or so.

The CIA grew out of a wartime agency, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) , which was established to help win World War II. From the onset, the OSS was intended to be a temporary agency with plans to dissolve it upon the end of the War. 

While the OSS occupied Camp Greentop and the facilities in and around Round Meadow, Camp Ritchie was issued a permit in May 1942 to use the northern portion of the park for field exercises. Colonel Charles Y. Banfill informed Park Manager Williams that to minimize damage to the Park’s resources, light vehicles or plywood mock-ups would be used to simulate tanks. There would be no firing of guns or explosives. Around the same time, the White House identified Camp Hi-Catoctin as an ideal location for President Roosevelt’s new presidential retreat, Shangri-La. Alterations and additions were made to the facilities and on July 5, 1942, Roosevelt made his first trip to Shangri-La. The Marines were charged with guarding the presidential retreat and effective June 1942, they were permitted to occupy Camp Misty Mount. Both Camp Ritchie and the Marines had provisions similar to the War Department’s included in their respective Special Use Permits.

In October 1943, Camp Ritchie’s permit was canceled because OSS activity in the park had drastically increased. However, by early 1944, the OSS had shifted its focus to the Far East and was building training camps on the West Coast. By April 1944, the last operational group had completed its training at the Catoctin RDA and by the end of May the OSS had completely vacated the Park. Camp Ritchie, which was in need of additional space for its trainees, was issued an SUP, effective June 1, 1944, for the wartime use of Camp Greentop, Camp Misty Mount, the old CCC camp, and 1,800 acres in the northwest portion of the park. The permit also placed new restrictions on weapons use and allocated additional costs to the military. General Banfill later determined the move was unnecessary, so trainees from Camp Ritchie were never housed at the Catoctin RDA.

The Marine Corps requested use of Camp Greentop in July 1945 for the physical rehabilitation of troops wounded during the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. By October 4, 1945, a new SUP, extended through May 1, 1947, had been issued. This new permit benefited the NPS as the Marines, who had made several improvements to Camp Misty Mount (e.g., the winterization of the camp and the construction of a repair garage and combination recreation hall and movie theatre), rehabilitated Camp Greentop prior to their move uphill on January 5, 1946. The improvements, which included re-staining buildings, repairing windows and doors, replacing old plumbing, installing a new power line, and clearing dead and downed timber, were necessary as the camp had been “rapidly deteriorating” since the OSS had left in May 1944. Additional improvements included the construction of a service garage and a multi-use building that functioned as a movie theatre, recreation hall, and post exchange. In March 1947 the Marines vacated Camp Greentop.