Fort Gordon

At Augusta's western edge is Fort Gordon, a 56,000-plus-acre Army installation with a military population of about 12,000.

The fort has served national defense from the 1940s to the 21st century, with ever- evolving missions.

With America's involvement in the Second World War looming, a contract was set into place to build Camp Gordon on May 5, 1941, according to reports from The Augusta Chronicle.

Fort Gordon was named for Georgian John B. Gordon, one of Robert E. Lee's generals, who served the state after the Civil War as governor and U.S. senator.

One of the first units to train at the camp was the famous 4th Infantry Division.

Led by Gen. R.O. Barton, who later became a well-known Augusta real estate executive, 4th infantrymen were the first to land on Utah Beach during the D-Day Invasion of Normandy.

The fort also housed German and Italian prisoners of war from 1943 to 1945. The average prisoner population was more than 2,000, according to the fort's command historian office.

As the war ended, about 90,000 returning soldiers were discharged from Camp Gordon through April 1946. The camp became a "virtual ghost city," the command historian office writes, as the separation center, the post hospital, the disciplinary barracks and other facilities were closed.

A looming Communist threat in Korea increased military activity, and the base once again began preparing soldiers for combat. In 1948, a Signal Corps training center for Army communicators and a Military Police School for law enforcement were established. In 1956, the camp became a permanent Army installation.

In the 1970s, the Army underwent several more reorganizations. The Military Police School moved to Fort McClellan, Ala., and in 1974, all Army signal-school training was consolidated at Fort Gordon, making it the largest military telecommunications complex in the world.

As America has faced new threats of terrorism, Fort Gordon soldiers -- from signal battalions to the 513th Military Intelligence Brigade -- have played a part, from Afghanistan to Iraq.

The installation is taking a lead role in developing the "digitized battlefield," in which cutting-edge computer and communications technology unite commanders, troops and support elements instantly on the battlefield.

Military intelligence increasingly has become part of the post's critical missions, as Congress approved $230 million for an expansion of the Gordon Regional Security Operations Center by 2012, operated by the National Security Agency and the Defense Department.

Although the center's specific operations are secret, its general mission is to "conduct security operations on selected targets using remote technologies," according to the Fort Gordon Web site.

And as the military becomes a leaner fighting force, members of other service branches -- the Air Force, Navy and Marines -- also are making the Army post home, training in communications and performing intelligence duties.

The fort employs more than 2,300 civilians directly, has more than 2,000 contract employees and serves more than 27,500 military retirees and their family members.

Fort Gordon, which survived the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure process, is expected to grow in the future, because it has sufficient area to house new missions.

The community group that worked to save the base from closure, the CSRA Alliance for Fort Gordon, says it will work to attract new missions and economic development from the fort's survival.

Fort Gordon's economic impact, including pay, contracts, purchases and federal school aid, totals more than $1 billion.