Page 139 - Historical Study of Yerba Buena Island, Treasure Island and Their Buildings

2.3.1.6 Embarkation Barracks

During WW II, the single largest function of TADCEN was ~o group servicemen into ship's
crews, train them, and then assign the crew to a ship bound for war. The final step of assembling
the troops and placing them aboard their assigned duty ship, justified the second major wave of
construction on Treasure Island. In 1943, after testing a new integrated method to assemble
servicemen for embarkation, the station decided to implement the method which involved having
everything a man would need prior to embarkation, available in one place. This included
everything from getting a toothbrush to dental work to retaining a legal advisor (possibly to clear
up any domestic entanglements). From February through April of 1944, the station set up an
"embarkation" camp for the sole purpose of easy accessibility for prossessing the troups.

The Navy constructed barracks, a dispensary, a theater, athletic field, galley and other necessary
buildings in a large area on the northeast side of the island. When construction was completed, a
fence was installed about the perimeter of the entire area. All servicemen destined for
deployment to their assigned ship were restricted to the area inside the fence unless they had
obtained a pass. Althouth the men complained that they were basically being treated as
prisoners, the Navy had its reasons for their containment. The reasons were primarily to make
the process easier to (1) quickly gather all the men assigned to a ship should the ship's sailing
schedule inadvertently change, as it so often did; and (2) pass messages, to those men they were
intended for, via the loudspeaker systems of the day, as primitive as it was. The system did serve
its function and, no matter how the men felt about their encampment, it did work well. The
Treasure Island station was able to increase the rate of loading men aboard ships from three
hundred men per hour to a thousand men per hour. This in tum raised the overall embarkation
rate from twenty five thousand men per month to a capacity of sixty thousand men per month.
See Figure 57. In all actuality, this capacity was never attained. The maximum number of men
to ever embark in one month was forty three thousand men who were processing to go home
from the war.

2.3.1.7 The Height of the War

In May 1944, Rear Admiral Hugo R. Osterhaus, commander of TADCEN and the "Patrol
Force", was relieved of his duty by Captain R. W. Cary. Captain Cary was a Congressional
Medal of Honor winner and a highly decorated veteran of the amphibious assaults on Sicily,
Salemo and Anzio. His commands had included the USS Savannah, during the first assaults on
Sicily and Salemo; and the USS Brooklyn in the assault on Anzio.

Captain Cary's first priority at Treasure Island was to evaluate the effectiveness of internal
operations and their services to the forces afloat. Preparations were undertaken to meet an even
greater demand for both training and distribution of personnel that were considered absolutely
necessary at the time. The ')ust-completed" embarkation area of the island had been activated.
In no time, it developed into a smooth, rapid, and accurate method of transferring men to their
respective commands. Further consolidation of general services and an increase in berthing,
mess, and recreational facilities found Treasure Island equipped to handle three times its
supposedly maximum capacity during the final year of the war. This held true, not only of the
embarkation rate, but also for the training programs.

September I, 1995 Historical Study of Y erba Buena Island, 2-35
Treasure Island, and their Buildings