GAINESVILLE, Texas — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is conducting an active search for undetonated munitions on 3,735 acres of land that once made up part of Camp Howze, the World War II training installation north of Gainesville.
The search targets six Munitions Response Sites identified through a 2012 Remedial Investigation that mapped where wartime training activities were most likely to have occurred and where munitions-related items had previously been found.
Three of the six sites are currently in the intrusive investigation phase, with restoration expected to be complete by the end of this summer. The three remaining sites are undergoing Advanced Geophysical Classification data collection before investigation begins. The full project is expected to wrap up by the end of winter 2027.
"That investigation, combined with historical military records, identified specific locations where World War II training activities were most likely to have occurred and where munitions-related items were found," said Hannah Kirkpatrick, project manager with the USACE.
Camp Howze operated from August 1942 until after the end of World War II, covering approximately 59,000 acres stretching northwest of Gainesville toward the Red River and just north of Lindsay and Muenster. It served as both an infantry training facility and prisoner of war camp before closing in 1947. Cleanup efforts after the camp closed returned most of the land to agricultural use, but those efforts did not meet current environmental and safety standards.
"Those efforts did not meet today's environmental and safety standards and were not designed to identify or remove all potential munitions-related hazards," Kirkpatrick said.
Advanced Geophysical Classification mapping now allows crews to more precisely distinguish between potential munitions, munitions debris and other buried material. USACE obtained access to the search areas from property owners and is not investigating the full former camp footprint — only the areas identified as presenting elevated risk.
What to do if you find a suspected munition:
Residents living anywhere within the former Camp Howze boundary should stay alert. If you come across a suspected munition or explosive: do not touch or disturb it; mark the surrounding area (not the object itself) to help relocate it; then call 911.
More information is available at denix.osd.mil/uxo.