A Holiday Visit to West Virginia Troops

​By Jody Brumage

In December 1961, four members of West Virginia's congressional delegation made visits to soldiers at Fort Meade in Maryland and Camp Pickett in Blackstone, Virginia. Their visit came after President Kennedy called for several West Virginia units to be moved from reserve to active duty in response to escalating tension in Germany between the Soviet Union and the western allied powers. The "Berlin Crisis" raised fears of a new explosion of violence in the Cold War when the Soviet Union ordered the withdraw of western forces from the city of Berlin in June 1961. By the end of the year, the crisis resulted in the partitioning of the city between east and west, divided by the formidable Berlin Wall.

Senator Byrd (second from right) and Congressman Bailey (in the long coat and tan hat with his back turned to the camera) meet with officers at Camp Pickett during field demonstrations in December 1961.

Senators Jennings Randolph and Robert Byrd and Congressmen Cleveland Bailey and Ken Hechler announced their scheduled visits to Fort Meade and Camp Pickett with the purpose of meeting with the many West Virginian soldiers who were training there. The rising tensions overseas and the call of reserves for active duty came at a time when many families were preparing for the holidays. At Fort Meade, soldiers from the West Virginia cities of St. Albans and Martinsburg were training with the 150th Armored Cavalry Regiment and the 351st Ordnance Ammunition Company. Soldiers in the 2nd Reconnaissance Squadron from Monongalia and Preston Counties in northeastern West Virginia were training at Camp Pickett.

Senators Byrd (left) and Randolph (second from left) help to decorate a Christmas tree in the mess hall at Fort Meade.

A news release from Fort Meade reporting on the visit of Senators Randolph and Byrd and Congressmen Bailey and Hechler in December 1961.

Arriving at Fort Meade, Senators Randolph and Byrd visited with officers and soldiers in training, having lunch with them in the mess hall and helping to decorate a Christmas tree. The following day, Senator Byrd and Congressman Bailey met with officers and soldiers and observed field exercises at Camp Pickett. Both visits were extensively photographed, the prints of which are now preserved in the archives at the Byrd Center. 

The delegation's visits of December 19 and 20, 1961 were not devised merely as a holiday greeting to boost the morale of the soldiers, however. Rumors of mistreatment, lack of leave or visitation, and poor rations were circulating among the press in West Virginia, leading constituents to write their congressional representatives. The senators and congressmen made a point to interview soldiers directly during their visits at Fort Meade and Camp Pickett to collect their first-hand accounts of life in the bases, an aspect of the trip that was captured in several photographs.

Their findings contradicted the rumors expressed in the West Virginia newspapers. Senator Byrd reassured his constituents, stating "we personally spoke with more than 200 men individually and asked questions regarding their food, morale, barracks, living conditions, equipment, and passes. The men were virtually unanimous in saying that they had no complaint regarding the quantity and quality of the food served. Several of the men said they had been personally shocked to read stories claiming that their morale was low." Once published in papers across the state, the senator's statements helped to assuage the concerns of families back home.

Click on the images below to view more photographs from the delegation's visit to Fort Meade and Camp Pickett in 1961.