History of the Great Place

WELCOME TO TEXAS

Past or Future the great state of "Texas."


I still hold a place in my heart for this great state, after living in San Antonio for six years my youngest son being born there and having two of my son's still living there I still love to visit. On this visit we decided to take a tour to Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas. Just one of the many places full of history and a "GREAT PLACE!"

HISTORY OF THE GREAT PLACE

• Sixty years ago minimum wage was 30 cents per hour, a gallon of gas cost 19 cents and there were only 48 stars on the American Flag.
• It was also sixty years ago that 108,000 acres of central Texas land was transformed from rural farming land into Camp Hood, home of the Tank destroyer Tactical and Firing Center.
• World War II was blazing and tank destroyers, mobile anti-tank guns on armored half-tracks, were developed to go against the Germans who were over running Europe.
• These destroyers needed space and the central Texas location could provide that needed space.
• The roughly 300 families that resided in the chosen area were relocated and replaced with nearly 38,000 troops. The number of soldiers multiplied until it peaked at almost 95,000 in less than one year’s time.
• A shift in Camp Hood’s mission brought about by the end of the war caused the number of soldiers to drop.
• Eight years after its official opening, Camp Hood became a permanent installation and was renamed Fort Hood.
• Fort Hood is now the largest active duty armored post in the U.S. Armed Services. It is home to two full divisions, 1st Cavalry Division and 4th Infantry Division (Mechanized).
• It also supports 12 additional units.  There are about 41,000 soldiers who work on Fort Hood.
• The soldiers of Fort Hood are infantrymen, cavalrymen, and tankers.  They are engineers, mechanics and health care professionals.  They are the life of Fort Hood.  Their training gives Fort Hood its purpose just as Camp Hood soldiers did 60 years ago.  They are part of what has made Fort Hood “The Great Place” for six decades.

                                            We located the Museum dedicated to the great fighting man of Ft. Hood.

WELCOME TO FORT HOOD

Like the State of Texas, Fort Hood is big and boasts of being the largest active duty armored post in the United States Armed Services. Fort Hood is nicknamedThe Great Place because of the quality of life the post and area offer Soldiers and their families. These qualities are important, especially with home-basing initiatives, frequent deployments and family stability and support.Soldiers assigned to Fort Hood can expect to have one of the highest quality of life standards in the Army. New housing, quality medical care, thriving communities, recreation and schools combine to ensure that Fort Hood is The Great Place.Fort Hood covers a total of 340-square miles and supports multiple units, a corps headquarters and a robust mobilization mission. Fort Hood also meets the training and support requirements for many smaller units and organizations, thus maintaining a vital defense force for the United States of America.Fort Hood rests in the beautiful 'hill and lake' country of Central Texas between Killeen and Copperas Cove and is approximately 60 miles north of the capital city of Austin, 50 miles south of Waco, 160 miles south of Dallas, and 150 miles north of San Antonio.For everyone who enjoys the outdoors, The Great Place is the ideal location, because of warm winters and hot summers. The nearby lakes, Belton and Stillhouse, offer year round outdoor recreation activities.

Texas:

The Lonestar State. It is the second largest state of the Union. Only Alaska the latest state incorporated is larger than Texas. Despite of being the second largest state; Texas still does things Texas style. Just some years ago Texas adopted the new motto "Don't mess with Texas". Texas became very well known because of the oil production. The oil boom may have passed; but Texas is now the leader in the petrochemical industry. Although not in the same dimension that the oil industry, Texas is also big in the cattle industry and cotton production. In the last 20 years Texas industry has been diversifying, and now the state is one of the leaders in technology. However one of the most interesting things of Texas is its history. Texas is the only state that had six flags, including the current one."Six flags over Texas". It is very common to see the Texas flag next to the American flag in many buildings. Texas also has its own capitolio building in Austin. Texas past goes back to Spain and Mexico, until Texas got the independence from Mexico, after many battles, being the most famous The Alamo (Thirteen Days of Glory), which turned out a victory for the Mexican army but a psychological victory for Texas, because of the courage displayed by the defenders who gave their lifes, and eventually lead to the independence of Texas. For a while Texas was a republic; then joined the Union. It broke away from the Union participating in the civil war taking the side of the south, and finally back to the Union.
                                                              WITH THAT LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY WE LEAVE YOU!




THIS PICTURE WAS TAKEN IN PIAZZA SAN MARCO (often known in English as St. Mark's Square) which we'll have to visit on my next post. Until than "PEACE."