Camp Forrest, named after Civil War cavalry Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest, was originally named Camp Peay. Camp Peay was named after the Tennessee Governor Austin Peay and built near Tullahoma as a National Guard Camp in 1926. Camp Peay covered 1,040 acres. Camp Forrest covered 85,000 acres located just beyond the old Camp Peay. The camp was a training area for infantry, artillery, engineer, signal organizations, and cooks. It also served as a hospital center and temporary encampment area for troops during maneuvers.

Camp Forrest officially became a prisoner-of-war camp on May 12, 1942. The camp housed Italian and German POWs. Prisoners became laborers at Camp Forrest in the hospitals and on farms in the local community. The camp also held Japanese, German and Italian American civilians who were arrested at the outbreak of the war under a program called "Alien Enemy Control". In 1945, the U.S. government implemented an Intellectual Diversion Program to educate Germans on the American way of life. This program used educational and recreational media to change views of POWs, and the government claimed success with many prisoners. 

In 1940, the population in Tullahoma was 4,500. By the end of the war, the population had grown to 75,000. Many military people who moved in for construction and operation of the camp remained after the war. In 1942, the completion of the William Northern Army Airfield completed- located in Tullahoma, Tennessee. The Army airfield was named after William Northern, Jr., who was the first Tennessean to parish during WWII.

In 1946, the war was over - Camp Forrest and William Northern Army Airfield was declared surplus property. Buildings were sold, torn down and carted away. Water and sewage systems and electrical systems were sold as salvage. All that remained were roads, brick chimneys and concrete foundations. Soon after the close of the camp, instead of reverting ownership of the land back to the original owners. In 1951, the center was dedicated by President Harry Truman and renamed the Arnold Engineering Development Center in honor of General of the Air Force Henry H. "Hap" Arnold. General Arnold was World War II Commander of the Army Air Corps and the only air force officer to hold 5-star rank. 

Arnold Air Force Base is now considered one of the most prestigious aeronautical developmental and testing facilities in the United States. The city of Tullahoma received the Great Defense Communities designation in 2022.  Arnold Airforce Base is now under the command of Colonel Randel J. Gordon.

To learn more about Camp Forrest visit our online gift shop!