Deming, New Mexico's Camp Cody

Book excerpt: This is the history of the World War One training camp located on the edge of tiny Deming, N.M. Originally, the camp drew men from the National Guard units of Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa, North and South Dakota. Eventually draftees were needed to build the 34th Division to 30,000 men. The temporary training camp covered the desert with hundreds of tents and crude wooden structures. Imagine waves of khaki-clad men descending on Deming on a Saturday night. In the book, many stories are highlighted. For instance, the National League Chicago Cubs played an exhibition game at the camp against a team of soldiers. Jack Yellen, the local rep for the Jewish Welfare Board, helped entertain troops and turned out to be the camp's answer to Irving Berlin. Nebraskan, Major John Birkner ended up drummed out of the Army and tried for treason for expressing his opinions about the war. Many leaders from the states with National Guard units at Camp Cody were unhappy with the quality of the camp. They complained bitterly about the blowing sand - the division did go on to take on the nickname "Sandstorm Division." Meanwhile, a Minnesota congressman called Camp Cody the gateway to Hades. Others, who had experience in the trenches of France, thought the camp was just dandy. After the war, the camp disappeared almost as fast as it appeared. Deming was able to save the Army hospital at the camp and turn it into a sanatorium for sufferers of tuberculosis. In the end, Deming was a changed town - more Midwestern than similar communities in southern New Mexico.