Camp Atterbury Camp Atterbury , near Edinburgh , Indiana , USA , is a training base of the Indiana National Guard . It was planned just months before the U . S . entry into World War II . Originally surveyed and researched by the Hurd Company , the present site was recommended to Congress in 1941 . Construction commenced shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor . More than 1 , 500 wood frame buildings were constructed , sized to hold more than one army infantry division . It also contained the 47 - building , ( concrete block , 2 - story ) Wakeman General and Convalescent Hospital , the largest hospital of its kind in the US in the 1940s . It was known for its progressive plastic eye replacements . During World War II , the U . S . 39th Evacuation Hospital , the 101st Infantry Battalion ( Separate ) and four U . S . Army infantry divisions , the 30th , 83rd , 92nd , and 106th , trained here . The 106th left Camp Atterbury on 9 October 1944 and two months later was on the front lines , crossing into Belgium on 10 December 1944 . Spread over a front , they bore the brunt of the Battle of the Bulge with more than 7 , 000 total combat - related casualties ( combined missing , killed , or wounded in action . ) The camp was named for William Wallace Atterbury ( 1866 – 1935 ) , an executive of the Pennsylvania Railroad who ultimately became the railroad ' s president . Upon American entry into World War I , Atterbury , then a PRR vice - president , was commissioned into the U . S . Army as a Brigadier General to oversee the construction and operation of U . S . military railways in France , between August 1917 and May 1919 . During World War II , Camp Atterbury was also used as a prisoner of war camp , housing German and Italian soldiers . A small Roman Catholic chapel was built by the Italian prisoners , which was restored and dedicated in 1989 . Shortly after the end of World War II , the base was put into mothballs . At the onset of the Korean War , it was once again activated with the arrival of the 28th Infantry Division in 1950 . The 28th left for Germany , to be replaced by the 31st Infantry Division . When the 31st left in 1954 for Camp Carson , Colorado , the base once again was mothballed . It was later given to the Indiana Army National Guard . Serving as a National Guard training facility , it again gained importance following the September 11 , 2001 attacks . The Camp Atterbury Joint Maneuver Training Center ( CAJMTC ) was activated in February 2003 . Thousands of regular and reserve forces have received training here just prior to deployment to Afghanistan and Iraq . It is one of two Guard bases with this mission , Camp Shelby in Mississippi being the other . Camp Atterbury has also trained thousands of civilians ; from the Inter - Agency and DOD ( Department of Defense ) as they prepare to mobilize in support of stability operations in Iraq , Afghanistan , and Kuwait . Originally 43 , 000 acres ( 170 km² ) , it is now reduced to approximately 30 , 000 acres ( 120 km² ) , with the remaining being leased to the Atterbury Job Corps , the US Department of Labor , the Hoosier Horse Park and the Johnson County Parks Department . Plans are under way to reclaim some of the area . In 2005 , it gained the former Muscatatuck State Hospital grounds , composed of some 3 , 000 acres ( 12 km² ) with several permanent buildings , including 5 - story buildings with underground tunnels ( view ) , to be used as an urban training facility . Troops and civilian emergency management organizations are transported from Camp Atterbury Joint Maneuver Training Center to Muscatatuck Urban Training Center ( MUTC ) via air or ground means for training in urban warfare and operations other than war . The Civil Air Patrol ' s National Emergency Services Academy ( NESA ) is held at Camp Atterbury each summer . On 3 June 2008 , a tornado hit Camp Atterbury , damaging 50 buildings , power lines , and vehicles . No injuries were reported . Only four days later , soldiers and Marines at Camp Atterbury were widely utilized in response to the June 2008 Midwest floods .