Fort Wolters, located in Palo Pinto and Parker counties, traces its history to “Old” Camp Wolters, created in 1925 as a National Guard training area under General Jacob F. Wolters. On October 13, 1940, the U.S. Army activated Camp Wolters as an infantry replacement center with support from Mineral Wells community leaders, and local residents bought or donated additional land to expand it to more than 7,500 acres. In less than four months, more than 100 buildings were constructed. The original buildings of “Old” Camp Wolters were converted into a P.O.W. camp for German prisoners from North Africa, and that prison camp closed on August 15, 1946, when the last prisoners were returned to their homeland. At its peak, Camp Wolters housed more than 30,000 soldiers per training cycle, and notable war heroes who passed through included Lt. Jack Knight and Audie Murphy, both awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. After World War II, Fort Wolters was deactivated as an army training facility and reactivated in 1951 as Wolters Air Force Base. In 1956, it was designated Camp Wolters Army Base and used for helicopter flight training, with more than 1,000 helicopters stationed at three different heliports. The base expanded to nearly 722,000 acres for flight training, was designated Fort Wolters in 1963, also became the site of a Nike missile installation, then reverted again to the National Guard after the Vietnam War. Fort Wolters officially closed for military service on February 1, 1973.