Camp Shanks was a United States Army installation in the Orangetown, New York area. Named after Major General David C. Shanks, it was situated near the juncture of the Erie Railroad and the Hudson River. The camp was the largest U.S. Army embarkation camp used during World War II. History Camp Shanks served as a staging area for troops departing the New York Port of Embarkation for overseas service during World War II. Dubbed “Last Stop USA”, the camp housed about 50,000 troops spread over and was the largest World War II U.S. Army embarkation camp, processing 1.3 million service personnel. including 75% of those participating in the D-Day invasion. In 1945, Camp Shanks also housed German and Italian prisoners of war. After the war, old barracks buildings at Camp Shanks were converted into housing for veterans with families attending colleges and universities in the New York City area under the GI Bill; the settlement, then known as Shanks Village, closed in 1954, and the land Camp Shanks once stood on was returned to civilian control. Today, the expanded Palisades Interstate Parkway passes through some of the land that was once Camp Shanks A small museum opened near the site, at the intersection of New York State Routes 303 and 340 in June 1994. Construction On the evening of September 25, 1942, over 300 Orangeburg residents met at the Orangeburg School (now the city library) to learn that their homes, lots, and farms (amounting to approximately west of the museum) were being seized for the immediate construction of a military camp. One hundred thirty families lost their homes. If the United States was to transport troops and equipment to Europe, it had to expand its military facilities around New York City. Colonel Drew C. Eberson, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, was the Chief Engineer during construction. Camp Shanks was a rush job, completed between September 1942 and May 1943 at a cost of $44,391,335. Charges of corruption, petty theft, and disorderly behavior by workmen plagued the project. In June 1946, a federal grand jury cleared the military and the contractors of charges of graft, but acknowledged major problems among some of the labor unions, primarily consisting of a gigantic kickback system. Camp Shanks officially opened January 4, 1943, under the command of Colonel Kenna G. Eastman. The barracks in which the transient soldiers lived measured 20 feet by 100 feet