Camp Livingston Camp Livingston was a U . S . Army military camp during World War II located on the Rapides Parish and Grant Parish line in north Louisiana , north of Pineville , Louisiana . History . Camp Livingston was open from 1940 to 1945 and was first known as Camp Tioga . It was renamed Camp Livingston in honor of Chancellor Robert R . Livingston , negotiator of the Louisiana Purchase . It was home to the 28th Infantry Division , 32nd Infantry Division , 38th Infantry Division , 86th Infantry Division , 327th Military Police Escort Guard , 93rd Engineer General Service Regiment , 7th Transportation Battalion 240th Quartermaster Battalion , 846th Tank Destroyer Battalion , 46th Field Artillery Brigade , 350th Field Artillery Group , 351st Field Artillery Group , 353rd Field Artillery Group , 1692nd Engineer Combat Battalion , 1693rd Engineer Combat Battalion , 1694th Engineer Combat Battalions , 527th Antiaircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons Battalion , 510th Ordnance , Heavy Mechanized Field Artillery Company , and others during the war . In 1941 there was an aviation squadron of 250 African American men in the Army Air Corps performing service function . Camp Livingston was designated as an infantry replacement training center , as well as a garrison for these infantry divisions . The 38th Division was known as the " Avengers of Bataan " and the 86th Division was the first American unit to cross the Danube River into Germany . Over 500 , 000 troops trained on the base during the war . On some old concrete walls in the site , beautiful artwork and graffiti has been discovered and is thought to have been drawn by Italian POWs . In 1941 , prior to the United States declaring war , the camp was part of the Louisiana Maneuvers , a 400 , 000 - man training exercise involving two imaginary countries fighting each other . The two armies faced each other across the Red River , over of land , including part of East Texas . During World War II , thousands of Japan ese , German and Italian prisoners of war were kept in internment camps at Camp Livingston and Camp Claiborne . In 1942 , the first Japanese POW of the war , Kazuo Sakamaki arrived at Camp Livingston . Sakamaki was the only surviving crewman of a mini - submarine used in the attack on Pearl Harbor , and was captured by Corporal David Akui after abandoning his sub , which had run aground . The internees at the camps were used to supply logging and farm labor in the area . There was a P . O . W . cemetery located within Camp Livingston and in 1947 the headstones were relocated to Fort Sam Houston and the bodies of the P . O . W . s were left in the ground unmarked where they remain today . Camp Livingston was deactivated in late 1945 and is now part of the Kisatchie National Forest . Today . The U . S . Forest Service manages the property where the camp was previously located , and most of the original concrete streets can be accessed and some are used on a daily basis for traffic passing through the camp . The footings from many of the buildings are still in place as well as most of the original parking lots and parade areas . At least two of the swimming pools can be located and one of those up until recent years was used as an unauthorized civilian shooting range . The U . S . Forest Service also maintains the Little Creek and Hickman Trails , which are multiple - use trail systems utilized by ATV enthusiasts throughout the area . The original water treatment plant that was built to serve the camp is still in operation today , and now is operated by Water Works District No . 3 in Rapides Parish .