Camp Davis: The First Antiaircraft Base

Just north of Holly Ridge sat Camp Davis, the first antiaircraft training base in the United States. Built starting in December nineteen forty on nearly forty-six thousand acres straddling Onslow and Pender Counties, the camp was named for Major General Richmond Pearson Davis of Statesville, a World War One artillery commander. Within a few years, Camp Davis had grown to more than three thousand buildings, with miles of paved roads.

At its peak in nineteen forty-three, more than one hundred thousand soldiers and civilian workers trained here in antiaircraft gunnery, seacoast defense, and barrage balloon operations. The tiny town of Holly Ridge virtually became a city overnight. The Army closed the camp in February nineteen forty-six.