Planes, Trains & Heroes: A Story of Warner Robins and the Robins Region

Above: Most of the railroad tracks
in Houston County have been
consolidated under the Norfolk
Southern Railroad.
Top, right: An early locomotive.
Below: The historical marker at
Elberta Depot Historic Center.
83,000 troops on its 21,480 acres. Later, “On
October 12, 1940, Congressman Carl Vinson’s
office announced that Camp Wheeler would be
rebuilt and was scheduled to be ready for operation
by March 15, 1941. The camp’s first commander
was Colonel A. R. Emery for whom Emery
Highway was later named” (Maffeo). During five
years of operation, 217,878 soldiers trained on the
Camp Wheeler firing ranges and 4,700 prisoners
of war worked through camps operating under its
administration. At this same time, Cochran Field
operated near the Bibb and Houston County line
on Echeconee Creek, and the United States Army
Air Corp began exploration of a larger base establishment
in Middle or South Georgia. This was the
result of a Macon policy of offering free land for
defense installations to create jobs for the area. It
helped Macon gain a naval ordinance plant (operated
by Reynolds Metals), “an infantry replacement
camp (Camp Wheeler), and an Army Air Corps
pilot training facility (Cochran Field)” (5).
12 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES