Wars Bring Names to Joint Base Lewis-McChord

Joint Base Lewis-McChord receives another name each time the nation goes to war. The pattern started when the installation was first built and will likely continue well into the future.

The big naming boom came when Camp Lewis was being built, around the time the U.S. was preparing for World War I. Since the base was the home of the 91st Division before it headed to battle, many names associated with the infantry division found themselves on street signs and maps.

The 9lst Division participated in battles at the Argonne Forest of France, for example, and the name was brought back. The large forested area between Gray Strip and the Nisqually River on the base is officially Argonne Forest.

Casualty lists also provided ample names from which military map makers drew places and street names for the growing post. Some 150 places bear the names of soldiers killed in WWI. From Blair Hill near the east gate to Kay Hill, just west of Old Military Road, the places memorialize the soldiers and units who saw action in the war to end all wars, according to the book, “Pierce County Name Origins,” by Gary Reese.

William O. Blair was a private in Company M of the 363rd Infantry when he was killed during WWI. Private Ivan E. Kay was a member of Company L of the 363rd Infantry. He received the Distinguished Service Cross for combat in a trench in Belgium. He was killed Oct. 3l, l9l8.

WWI wasn’t the only conflict that provided the fort with place names. Madigan Army Medical Center was named after Col. Patrick S. Madigan. He was a doctor who died in l944. Madigan had been a local boy, having received his degree from Gonzaga University in Spokane. Madigan is known as the "father of Army neuropsychiatry" for his work in curing shell shock and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Other WWII soldiers who had their names attached to buildings were PFC Richard Eller Cowan, who had a stadium named after him for his actions of Dec. 17, 1944. He was a heavy machine gunner attached to Comp. I, 23 Infantry in Belgium. A German offensive wiped out most of the company, leaving Cowan to defend with his machine gun. Cowan stood his post and kept wave after wave of German soldiers at bay, long enough for his comrades to retreat to safety. Only after the retreat was successful did Cowan leave his machine gun and some 100 dead German soldiers during the second day of the Battle of the Bulge. He was killed the following day.

The United State military has again found itself in battle today as local soldiers play lead roles in current missions. There is no doubt some of them will have their names on street signs once the action is over.