This cache is another of my caches to celebrate the history of
San Carlos. Before all the homes on Club Drive and Crestview Drive
were built the area was mostly untouched by humans. Just a few
homes lined Club Drive back in the 40's.
Shortly after the start of World War II The Ground Observer
Corps came into being. It was a series of Civil Defense programs in
the United States to protect against air attack. First begun in
World War II by the Army Air Force, the 1.5 million civilian
observers at 14,000 coastal observation posts used naked eye and
binocular searches to find invading German and Japanese aircraft.
The program ended in 1944. I can remember well when I was a little
kid my mother taking me with her when she drove up Club Drive for
several years to the Ground Observer Corps observation building. I
was only four years old when she started doing this but I do
remember a little bit of it. At that time there was the very
popular Devonshire Country Club located on the hill almost at the
end of Club Drive. Shortly after the start of the war the army took
over the country club.
New military training facilities during World War II were seldom
considered unusual. But this one, headquartered in Belmont's
Devonshire Country Club that opened late in 1942, was. It was
considered among the Army's more important but lesser-known
installations, the War Dog Reception and Training Center,
"Dogtown," as it was more commonly known. No peewee operation,
Dogtown was staffed by 550 enlisted men and 53 commissioned
officers. Professional dog trainers were recruited from around the
nation. Many were European immigrants. Manuals for training were
based on previously published World War I French, English, Belgian
and even German models. In the hills of Belmont and San Carlos,
combat, sentry and medical dogs were trained for all branches of
the armed forces. Use of canines in warfare was nothing new; they
had been used since antiquity. Even before the advent of guns and
explosives, dogs had fought alongside soldiers engaged in
hand-to-hand combat. In medieval times, dogs were even outfitted
with chain mail. Americans soldiers had used dogs during World War
I, but these had been lent from other allied armies.
After Pearl Harbor, a patriotic organization, Dogs for Defense
Inc., of New York City, encouraged all loyal Americans to enlist
their pets for the duration of the war. Soon newspapers were
publishing patriotic photos of young boys turning over their
cherished canines for military service. Before the war's end, dogs
by the thousands, a veritable army of animals, had joined. At San
Carlos alone, 4,500 received diplomas. Training was rigid. All
animals were required to demonstrate calm under fire and
tranquillity riding in bumpy military vehicles, boats or airplanes.
Most also learned the technique of wearing gas masks. Dogs assigned
to airborne units were required to practice parachuting out of
airplanes. Facilities for canines at Dogtown were considered cushy.
Handlers claimed the dogs lived better than they did. Each animal
was provided his own one-room pine shack to live in, in addition to
a personal outdoor run. Regulations were clear. Every dog's health
was carefully monitored. Dogs were brushed, cleaned and dried
before being bedded down for the night. If necessary, they were
bathed in a fluid that handlers referred to as "Shampooch." Any
large "sound and sane" dog ranging in age from 1 to 4 years old was
given consideration for enlistment. Barking dogs, notably collies,
shepherds and elkhounds, were schooled as sentries. Setters and
pointers, normally less noisy dogs, were trained to attack, scout
and carry messages on the battlefield. Doberman pinschers and other
aggressive dogs that had already received training in fighting were
rejected. Families willing to give up their cherished pets were
assured that few would ever actually be required to engage in
combat.
Except for animals that were specifically trained to attack and
others trained as Seeing Eye dogs, the government promised that all
would be returned to families at war's end. Dogs, previously
trained for the vaudeville stage, usually smart critters, were
welcomed, but required to unlearn all tricks. French poodles, with
GI haircuts, became unrecognizable, and Dalmatians, used as
messengers, were died black or brown so as not to stand out on a
battlefield. Specialty education included techniques in bomb and
mine detection, wire laying and sniffing out wounded soldiers on
darkened battlefields. Those trained as messengers were issued
distinctive collars with metal waterproof capsules attached. These
capsules would hold maps, orders or requests for reinforcements and
ammunition. Dogs ran both between fighting units and from the front
line back to headquarters. They were used routinely when radio and
telephone communications were not available. Some carried messenger
pigeons on their backs, assuring two-way communication. Most
animals functioned flawlessly under battlefield conditions. There
were no better messengers. Dogs were strictly trained never to
pause and fight, chase cats or accept food from strangers, lest
they be poisoned. Oblivious to dangers, dogs ran through gunfire,
hopped trenches, jumped obstacles and, if necessary, crawled
beneath barbed-wire entanglements to complete their missions. In an
effort to protect Signal Corps personnel from being exposed to
enemy fire, some dogs were trained exclusively to drag telephone
wire across battlefields at night. Most wore packs with pockets
carrying tools and batteries. Others dogs, outfitted with
specialized packs for heavy loads, hauled ammunition and even light
machine guns. Great Danes and Newfoundlands carried as much
equipment as small mules. Many dogs never went overseas but were
assigned to protect coastal beaches. Up to 12 hours per day, they
patrolled, soon sustaining cuts to their feet as a result of
walking on rocks and broken seashells. Dogs were issued boots that
were especially ordered, not in pairs but in "sets of four." Dogs
seeing duty in the desert were also outfitted with sets of leather
boots to protect their pads from cactus thorns. The Army, good to
its promise, returned thousands of dogs to their families at the
conclusion of the war, many with appropriate medals.
(This info taken from the San Mateo County Daily News article
titled: Matters Historical: The tales of a few good canines)
SITE HISTORY: The 177.95 lease acre
site was established between 15 October 1942 and 7 November 1942
and was known as the Western Remount Area Reception and Training
Center. The site was used by the U.S. Army as a war dog training
center. Improvements to the site are not known. On 1 November 1944,
177.95 lease acres were declared excess. (Source: US Army Corps of
Engineers) 
If you can not read the story in the first photo
(Dog Training Center) below just email me and I will be happy to
send you a high resolution version of it.
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