Situated on Hempstead Plain in Long Island, New York, Camp Mills was the primary training ground of the 42nd Rainbow Division. The camp was swiftly constructed in the summer of 1917 and soon 27,000 men and 991 officers of the Rainbow Division began arriving at the camp to begin preparing for the war in Europe.
General John J. Pershing was already leading the American Expeditionary Force in France, and the war was not going well. It was clear that the only thing that would turn the tide of the war was more men – and fast. Pershing informed the war department that places like Camp Mills should focus on turning out physically fit men who could shoot. As a result, Colonel Douglas MacArthur, Chief of Staff of the 42nd Division, later noted that “no frills and fancy gadgets were employed” at Camp Mills. The training was difficult and often boring for many of the men, but in the end, Camp Mills was the anvil on which the 42nd Rainbow Division was forged.
