The History of Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri

In this exciting new book, author Paul W. Bass documents the 75-year history of Fort Leonard Wood, formed in anticipation for America’s involvement in WWII and still training front line defenders today! The History of Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri provides detailed information on the formation of the base in 1940 (and why it was named for General Leonard Wood), then follows base training, objectives and growth during World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Cold War, plus the War on Terrorism beginning in the 1990s through today.The most detailed account ever published about Fort Leonard Wood, this book also documents how the base has impacted the development of Pulaski and Phelps counties and the surrounding region.“For some of those who experienced basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, it became known as ‘Fort Lost-in-the-Woods, Misery.’ The choice of its location was initially questioned, but was easily rationalized. Before the creation of the interstate system, it was very dif?cult to get there from anywhere.” – Paul Bass, author “My training at FLW was tough, thorough and interesting. It was an experience I could never forget, and I would miss the men in my barracks. What I would never miss was the heat, the dust, and the Great Piney River.” – Private Roger O. Austin, 1942 “Whether it’s hazardous waste…IEDs…corrections…military police, whether it’s all engineering, this is a base that is crucial to our nation’s strength. Fort Leonard Wood is where a lot of the most important technical training that is forward looking occurs.” – U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill, April 2014

Paul William Bass was born in Independence, Missouri. He graduated from William Chrisman High School, Southwest Baptist College and Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He married Jan Smashey in 1969. He served in full-time church staff positions for nineteen years. In 1990-2007, he served at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas as director of student activities and held various adjunct teaching positions. He became the intercollegiate debate coach with OBU debaters winning three national championships. He took early retirement in 2007, and in that year received the Isocrates Distinguished Debate Coach Award from the International Public Debate Association. During that time in Arkansas, he served in several interim pastor positions and became a bivocational pastor at Anchor Baptist Church for twelve years.He began his writing career in 2007 with publication of No Little Dreams: Henry Garland Bennett, Educator and Statesman. He received the Henry Bennett Distinguished Fellow Award from Oklahoma State University. In 2008 his second book in the Bennett trilogy, Fellow Dreamers: Oklahoma, Education and the World was published. The third book in the Bennett trilogy, Touching the Dream: Point Four, was published in 2009. That year he was commissioned by Oklahoma State University to write a history of their School of International Studies, entitled Legacy, Leadership and Learning. In 2011 he published two religious works from his pastoral experience, In Jesus’ Names and Minor Characters of the Bible. In 2012 he published Robert S. Kerr: Oklahoma’s Pioneer King. For the Kerr book, he received the 2013 Missouri Writer’s Guild First Place President’s Award and the 2013 Walter Williams Major Work Award. In 2013 he published Grace through Tolerance. In 2014 he completed the autobiographical work of Me and Church. All of these works are available through NewForums-Press.com and Amazon.com.Paul and Jan are retired and living in Willard, Missouri. His email address is bassp@obu.edu.