William Albert VanDerHorst

Camp Roberts is located on U.S. Highway 101, which follows the old Mission Trail. This is a highly recommended scenic drive for history buffs. The road is still referred to as "El Camino Real", which broadly translates from Spanish as "The Royal Road" or "The King's Highway". Camp Roberts is located north of the historic Mission San Miguel, which in its heyday was one of the best managed of the 21 missions established in Alta California by the Franciscans. It was one of the most productive in grain and livestock. The land which comprises Camp Roberts was, in fact, part of the original holdings of the mission that was founded in 1797.

Camp Roberts officially began it mission as a replacement training center in March 1941. At that time it ranked with the world's largest military training facilities. It may still be so in terms of training capacity, and so far as it is known features the largest parade ground (the length of fourteen football fields) on any military facility.
The main Garrison was constructed to accommodate 23,000 officers and troops. The East Garrison, across the Salinas River, could accommodate 6,000 troops. The 26th Field Artillery Brigade was the first unit to occupy the East Garrison.

436,000 World War II Infantry and Field Artillery troops passed through an intensive seventeen week training cycle. Both the Infantry and Field Artillery Replacement Training Centers achieved enviable proficiency records where it counted, in the combat zones around the world to which their graduates were sent. A peak population was reached in 1945 when 45,000 troops were quartered in large tent cities located at the fringes of the Main Garrison

Besides the two Training Centers, Camp Roberts also had a 750-bed hospital complex (also supplemented with tent cities), and internment compounds for Italian and German prisoners of war. Many of the Italian POWs joined a special Army Service Unit after the surrender of Italy, and spent the remainder of the war as workers at Camp Roberts.