NEW BOSTON, Texas (KTAL/KSHV) – What was supposed to be a small wartime storage facility west of Texarkana found itself at the center of training, munitions, and maintenance for the U.S. Army during WWII.
Robert Maxwell, the Red River Army Depot‘s (RRAD) “founding father,” said in a 1985 interview, “We were thinking in terms of a wartime plant that would employ a few hundred people for the duration of the war and then shut down once treaties were signed.”
In 1939, Maxwell worked with four members of the Texarkana Chamber of Commerce and Sen. Morris Sheppard to secure some of the growing defense funds for the site, originally named the Texarkana Ordnance Depot.
By the time plans were set in place, what was initially an ammunition depot became a large Army installation with a new mission and a new name, the Red River Ordnance Depot. Large maintenance shops, general storage facilities, and an expansive training center for soldiers were included in the site. The Under Secretary of War endorsed the plan in June 1941, and the depot was officially established under the Secretary of War in August of that year.
Bowie County’s population jumped from 50,000 to over 70,000 in just a few weeks, while the population of New Boston, TX, tripled from 1,500 to 5,000 during the depot’s construction in 1941.
Brown and Root building Red River Army Depot igloo November 1941 (Source: Red River Public Affairs Office) 
Brown and Root Steel workers asurrounding new construction facility at the Red River Ordnance Depot Aug 7, 1942 (Source: Red River Public Affairs Office) 
1943 photo taken in Hooks, TX looking east on Hwy 82 (Source: Red River Public Affairs Office)
The company that received the contract for building the depot’s infrastructure, Brown and Root, Inc., built 100 igloos in only two weeks in March 1942. More than 22,000 construction workers moved to the area to tackle the job.
Within eight days of completion, the first shipment of ammunition arrived. Radial tank engines roared in the base shops, and production repair lines were in operation by midwinter. The depot was ready to begin filling requisitions for combat vehicle parts.
Red River Ordnance Depot employee transporting 500lb bombs in 1944 (Source: Red River Public Affairs Office) 
Red River Army Depot shop in 1944 (Source: Red River Public Affairs Office) 
Employees at the Red River Army Depot working on a line of tanks in 1944 (Source: Red River Public Affairs Office) 
Red River Army Depot in 1943 (Source: Red River Public Affairs Office) 
Red River Army Depot in 1944 (Source: Red River Public Affairs Office) 
Nut-Bradding Machine, Reclamation in 1943 (Source: Red River Public Affairs Office) 
Tire repair shop in 1945 (Source: Red River Public Affairs Office) 
Crates stacked inside the Red River Army Depot in 1944 (Source: Red River Public Affairs Office) 
Red River Army Depot shop in 1944 (Source: Red River Public Affairs Office) 
Red River Army Depot shop in 1944 (Source: Red River Public Affairs Office) 
Officers visit Red River Ordnance Depot for a warehouse and magazine conference April 23-30, 1943 (Source: Red River Public Affairs Office) 
A view of the .30 cal machine gun shop showing the assembly line from start through final inspection. (1945) (Source: Red River Public Affairs Office) 
Paper measuring and cutting table built in packaging unit, Supply Division, 1944 (Source: Red River Public Affairs Office) 
Employees operate a battery lifting device for changing electric forklift batteries in the ammunition area in 1945 (Source: Red River Public Affairs Office) 
Transmission Overhaul Stand, 1943 (Source: Red River Public Affairs Office) 
Valve and clutch section of the Cadillac engine overhaul line (1945) (Source: Red River Public Affairs Office) 
Jig for Reboring Radial Engine Bushings (Source: Red River Public Affairs Office) 
Ordnance Unit Training Center, Training Aids Department (1945) (Source: Red River Public Affairs Office) 
Enlisted Men of the 304th Battalion and Women Mechanics in the Tank Shop, 1943 (Source: Red River Public Affairs Office) 
Electrical Department, Tank Shop in 1943 (Source: Red River Public Affairs Office) 
Machine for pressing on rubber bushings, 1943 (Source: Red River Public Affairs Office) 
Reading Room at Ordnance Training Center in 1945 (Source: Red River Public Affairs Office) 
Prepackaging material with use of Mobile Unit in 1945 (Source: Red River Public Affairs Office) 
Employees seen wrapping with grease-proof and waterproof paper (Source: Red River Public Affairs Office) 
Tire repair shop in 1945 (Source: Red River Public Affairs Office) 
Control clerks initiating packaging instructions in 1945 (Source: Red River Public Affairs Office) 
Crankshaft and piston reconditioning shop in 1945 (Source: Red River Public Affairs Office)
According to the Red River Public Affairs Office (RRPAO), “By March 1943, Red River was supplying some 78 posts, camps and stations. Twelve thousand tons of general supplies were shipped to the depot that March. More than 2,000 tons were sent out, and more than 2,000 ordnance vehicles were shipped to the depot for storage.”
The RRAD posted a tribute to the 12 men and women instrumental in developing the depot in its early years. You can learn more about them here.
The Ordnance Unit Training Center was activated in Nov. 1942 and received its first troops the following January. Over the next few years, 250 barracks, maintenance buildings, and a theater were built to support the over 10,000 troops who trained there during WWII. The soldiers there learned combat skills and gained expertise in various ordnance.
A mock village named “Kochville,” named for training director Lt. William J. Koch, gave trainees experience in infiltration and house-to-house fighting. It included a schoolhouse, courthouse, hotel, saloon, and numerous other buildings and structures.
Soldiers training at Red River Army Depot in WWII (Source: Red River Public Affairs Office ) 
Soldiers training at Red River Army Depot in WWII (Source: Red River Public Affairs Office ) 
Soldiers training at Red River Army Depot in WWII (Source: Red River Public Affairs Office ) 
Red River Army Depot Ordnance Unit Training Center in 1943 (Source: Red River Public Affairs Office )
Soldiers would participate in mock battles that gave them first-hand knowledge of the disturbing sounds of battle. The battles also helped familiarize them with the use of personal weapons.
In March 1945 they remodeled the “Italian town” and changed it into a “Japanese village.” The Field and Special Training Division repainted the course and outfitted buildings with furniture for booby trap classes.
The center reached its peak of 4,358 soldiers in June 1944, when the Allied forces invaded the beaches of Normandy and began to push back the Nazi forces in Europe. Base officials said the RRAD was one of many installations that provided support for the massive operation.
During WWII, transportation was needed to accommodate massive numbers of workers going to and from the ordnance plants. The Lone River Bus Company and Dixie Motor Coaches ran more than 25 buses daily. The Lone River Company carried 108,400 passengers to and from both plants during one peak month in 1942.
But the job wasn’t done once the war ended in 1945.
In a Facebook post, the RRPAO said, “World War II had ended, and Red River became home to over 58,000 battle-weary combat vehicles. Some of the tanks and trucks were too destroyed to carry on any longer, while others needed repairs before they could return to help in other combat operations. The vehicles that received repairs made their way through the maintenance shops at Red River and returned to “like new” conditions. Many of the vehicles again saw combat service in the Korean War.”
Post WWII vehicles at Red River Arsenal (Source: Red River Public Affairs Office) 
Post WWII vehicles at Red River Arsenal (Source: Red River Public Affairs Office) 
Post WWII vehicles at Red River Arsenal (Source: Red River Public Affairs Office) 
A combat tank vehicle is driven to the paint shop in 1946 after being mechanically rebuilt (Source: Red River Public Affairs Office) 
Post WWII vehicles at Red River Arsenal (Source: Red River Public Affairs Office) 
Post WWII vehicles at Red River Arsenal (Source: Red River Public Affairs Office) 
Post WWII vehicles at Red River Arsenal (Source: Red River Public Affairs Office) 
Post WWII vehicles at Red River Arsenal cir 1950 (Source: Red River Public Affairs Office) 
Post WWII vehicles at Red River Arsenal cir 1950 (Source: Red River Public Affairs Office)
After North and South Korea signed an armistice in 1953 and brought an end to the Korean War, the operation tempo at the depot began to wane. The ordnance training center closed its doors in March 1956.
The base was selected for deactivation twice, once in 1995 and again in 2005, but its maintenance support services were deemed integral to the Army. Instead, it was designated as a center for industrial and technical excellence. It remains one of the U.S. Army Materiel Command’s largest supply and maintenance installations.
Today, the depot receives, stores, and issues gun-motor carriages, ammunition, explosives, supplies, and equipment for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. In the late 1950s, RRAD became a center for guided missile assembly and maintenance. It also serves as an army maintenance point for general purpose and maintenance vehicles.
Soldiers at RRAD continue to deploy to Southwest Asia to maintain various vehicle systems. The RRAD is also responsible for over 5,000 civilian deployments to Kuwait, Afghanistan, and Iraq to support forces there.