YPG and the Heritage Center

Dry and dusty, windswept and hot, the area near Yuma, Arizona was deemed perfect for testing military weaponry, vehicles and munitions that would be used in desert conditions in other countries after World War II. Prior to this new weapons were simply given to men in battle without a lot of field testing with sometimes catastrophic results, so the government decided to use areas with three different climates to test military equipment and train their troops; tropical, arctic and desert. Thirteen hundred square miles of land allows the military to test equipment without interfering with civilian life and towns just a few miles away. Each day hundreds of tests are on-going while the world outside goes on about their business oblivious to it all.

The Yuma Proving Grounds has had different names but operated under the name of Yuma Test Branch when men were first stationed here in 1943. The original intent in coming to the area was to use the Colorado River to test moveable bridges to be used by heavy military equipment to ford rivers and possibly to cross rice paddies. Since the Colorado River was controlled by the nearby Imperial Dam, engineers could use the hydraulic system of the dam to control the conditions of the river, making it as calm or as wild as needed to test the strength and durability of the steel treadway bridges the military was creating. Testing was successful and the Test Branch continued to be used after the war. Eventually it was closed, but reopened with the advent of the Korean War where the emphasis was placed on testing weaponry and vehicles.

twin concrete tracks leading up the hillside that is the test track for military vehicles and you'll probably see the dust tracks of a tank or two blasting full bore across the desert floor. Once you've driven about 4 miles or so you'll see signs for church services and the travel pThe Heritage Center at the Yuma Proving Grounds is a pictorial history of the area and the men and women who trained here. Finding the Heritage Center is a bit of a challenge as there is no sign pointing to the turn off leading to the center. You enter the Yuma Proving Grounds off US 95 northeast of Yuma and turn left onto the grounds between the huge cannons. You'll pass theark (campground) on your right and that is where you'll turn. The guard will point you in the right direction and you'll park on the street in front of a smallish, nondescript building with a dark red roof that is the Heritage Center. You walk through the propped open doors and meander through small rooms filled with photographs, models and memorabilia from the beginning of Camp Laguna to the present day usage of the grounds. And if you are very, very lucky you will bump into Bill N., the director of the Heritage Center who is the most valuable commodity there as he is a veritable font of information not only about the Heritage Center but of the Yuma Proving Ground itself. Bill guided us from room to room, explaining the pictures and even a little of the people who donated the pictures, as well as where he would like to take the Heritage Center in the future. While Denny and I would have learned a lot just reading all the descriptions and information given at the Center, Bill fleshed out the bare bones and made the history of the area come alive for us. I could just point at a picture and Bill would give us a story or the background or the purpose of the test the picture portrayed. Bill has plans for adding on to the building to create new displays and perhaps to add vocal histories from those who worked and trained here in the past. There is a film clip available that explains more about the current use of the Proving Grounds.

After I asked about a striking shot of a huge cannon, Bill told us to search for the video clip online of the atomic cannon test conducted in 1953. One of the seven remaining atomic cannons sits at the entrance to the Yuma Proving Grounds today. While you cannot go into any of the testing areas for obvious reasons, the Yuma Proving Grounds web site has a great deal of information and history about the grounds and what they do there. However your best source of information is that friendly man wandering the halls of the small building behind the gas station. Stop by, look for Bill and be prepared to walk out of there knowing one heck of a lot more than you did when you walked in.


These twin tracks are used to test large vehicles for speed, agility and durability.


Can you see the tank in front of that large dust cloud?


Obviously, we weren't this close to the training area; I used the zoom feature on the camera.


Not only were American troops stationed here at the Yuma Proving Grounds, but there were also Italian prisoners of war who served as cooks and wait staff for the people stationed here. Of course there were stone masons among them so they were asked to build an underground vault for paint and supplies kept on the grounds. There was a serious danger of the paints and thinners exploding from the heat of the desert, so an underground storage area was required. However, the castle-like structure above the vault was purely an invention of the stone masons who were bored with their life here. The remains of the "castle" still stand, although the conditions of the desert climate are slowly destroying the walls of the structure which is now secured behind a locked gate.