BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Telegraph Staff Writer
CAMP BLANDING—Florida National Guard officials held a ribbon cutting ceremony for Camp Blanding’s Officer’s Club during a Thursday, Feb. 2 ceremony at the post.
Cooper Hall is named after Gen. Ralph Walker Cooper, the man who led the construction of the post before World War II.
Maj. Gen. James O. Eifert, Florida’s adjutant general, hosted the event, which also included Cooper’s daughters: Gay Cooper Nightingale and Marion Cooper Stevens.
Bradford and Clay County officials attended the event, including Clay County Commissioners Jim Renninger and Alexandra Compere, Bradford County Commission Chair Diane Andrews and Vice Chair Carolyn Spooner, Clay County Manager Howard Wanamaker, Bradford County Manager Scott Kornegay, Bradford County Sheriff Gordon Smith and Starke Assistant Police Chief Col. Barry Warren.
The gem of Camp Blanding
Eifert said that in 1939, military leaders began moving Camp Foster, the current site of Naval Air Station Jacksonville, to Camp Blanding to become a World War II mobilization and training site for two National Guard divisions.
He added that the initial list of buildings included five caretaker houses, one steel garage, two steel warehouses, two administrative buildings, four officer latrines, eight battalion enlisted latrines, 32 mess halls, and one Officer’s Club.
“Even on the brink of war,” he said, “the senior leadership understood the need for camaraderie and fellowship and hence the building before you.”
Eifert said the Officer’s Club was one of the first buildings constructed on Camp Blanding in 1940. He noted that, unlike the other buildings on the post that were designed with a simple layout and built with concrete block or steel, the Officer’s Club was designed by prominent Jacksonville architect Fred Bucky.
“Mr. Bucky designed this one-and-a-half-story, Tudor Revival building to be the focal point on the post,” Eifert said.
The general added that in 2015, the 80 -year-old structure with collapsing floors and corroded wiring was no longer safe.
He said he inspected the building in 2019.
“It was bad,” he said. “It was in bad shape.”
Eifert said that after several delays, exacerbated by COVID and supply chain shortages, officials are now reopening what he called the gem of Camp Blanding.
10,000 buildings, 824,000 soldiers
Ralph Walker Cooper enlisted in the Florida National Guard in 1922 at the age of 17. After a short break in service, he rejoined the guard in the 265th Coast Artillery Battalion as a second lieutenant in 1929.
Eifert said Cooper was an engineer by trade and was appointed as the state quartermaster in 1939 with the daunting task of moving the Florida National Guard training site from Camp Foster in Jacksonville to Blanding.
“He was the chief engineer for the highly successful development, design, and construction of Camp Blanding as a World War II military training facility,” Eifert said, “and later ensured the preservation and retention of this beautiful Camp Blanding as the Florida National Guard’s primary training post.”
“It’s hard to believe now,” he continued, “but by 1940, over 10,000 buildings were constructed here to include a 2,000-bed hospital, and nearly 22,000 workers were hired from around the country for the construction, and Starke became the largest city in the state.”
Eifert said nearly 824,000 soldiers trained at Camp Blanding during World War II.
“This would not have been possible without the extraordinary planning and skills of General Cooper,” he said.
In 1944, then-Major Cooper was deployed to the European Theater, serving as a ground liaison officer with the Sixth Army Group.
After the war, Cooper returned to Florida, where he held several successive positions of responsibility culminating in his assignment as the assistant adjutant general, where he served until his retirement in 1965.
“In addition to his service in the Florida National Guard,” Eifert said, “he went on to be the chairman of Flagler Hospital, the president of the St. Augustine Rotary Club, the executive director of the St. Augustine Aviation Authority, the executive director of the St. Augustine Bicentennial Committee the commander of the Military Order of World Wars and the head engineer for the construction of the Jacksonville International Airport.”
After Eifert’s remarks, Gay Cooper Nightingale, on behalf of Cooper’s family, presented Eifert with an officer’s baton that was previously given to her father.
Cooper’s two daughters and Eifert cut a yellow ribbon at the building’s entrance to conclude the ceremony.
