Camp Barkeley was one of the nation’s largest military camps during World War II, with sixty thousand men in training at its peak. It was named for Pvt. David B. Barkeley of the 89th Division, who died on a secret scouting expedition behind German lines during the Meuse–Argonne battle of World War I. Famous units trained there included the 45th and 90th Infantry Divisions and the 11th and 12th Armored. The camp also had the country’s largest medical replacement training center, with fifteen battalions. In May 1942, the Medical Administrative Corps Officer Candidate School was activated there and graduated about twelve thousand five hundred candidates. Camp Barkeley eventually grew into a complete city unit twice the size of nineteen forties Abilene, with a two thousand three hundred-bed hospital, two cold storage plants, a bakery, four theaters, two service clubs for enlisted men, fifteen chapels, and thirty-five post exchange buildings. Military personnel lived mainly in hutments, though about four thousand were housed in barracks. Part of the post also served as a German prisoner-of-war camp, where some prisoners escaped and alarmed Abilene citizens, while others tried to tunnel under the fences. Camp Barkeley was declared surplus in 1945.