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Last week we talked a bit about veterans in or from Tullahoma, and since Veterans Day is this weekend, let’s continue that theme.

Although I’m old enough to remember a lot of things of the past, that doesn’t help me a lot in Tullahoma. Not originally being from here, I have to rely on photos, old maps, magazines, newspapers, and the memories of friends who have been here much longer than I. The two Camp Forrest gate photos here are ones that I’ve seen many times, and at first left me wondering exactly about the locations. Many of you readers probably are more familiar than I was. A couple of those aforementioned friends shed some light on the mystery for me.

Let’s start with the photo marked “Gate No. 1 Entrance to Camp Forrest; One Mile From Tullahoma, Tennessee.” I was thinking of the gates in reference to the current AEDC gates, and both main gates are way further from Tullahoma than one mile. Turns out, the Camp Forrest Gate was right where the AEDC Road starts now, just past Harton Blvd. on the right and Kilgore Funeral Home on the left.

This photo is from a very widely distributed hand-colored postcard, and there are always copies of it for sale on eBay. At the recent Tullahoma Downtown Arts Crawl, Candy Couch had a larger black and white print of this picture on display with some others at Clayton’s Shoe Store, and she gave me some insight. The photo was taken by her dad, the late Bob Couch, Jr., and he was on his way to make a delivery at Camp Forrest of some merchandise from the family’s store on Atlantic Street. His truck is just out of camera view off to the right of this picture. This postcard was sold at several stores in town, as well as at Camp Forrest.

The second photo is the entrance to William Northern Field, which was the U.S. Army Air Corps’ air field, and was a part of Camp Forrest. Until very recently, there was a traffic island where that guard shack sits in the picture, and this is the corner of what is now William Northern Blvd. and N. Jackson St. This photo and its explanation came via Sam Crimm, an accomplished photographer in his own right. I don’t know who took this picture. It may be a War Department photo.

For some perspective, off to the right in this picture are barracks and offices. Today, KFC and Family Practice Center occupy that space. In a future article, we’ll look at some aerial views of that area and show just how much infrastructure was located there.

Do you have some old Tullahoma photos and accompanying stories to share? You can contact me at alanmayes@lighttube.net.