First Officers Training Camp
San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The first World War came to America on April 6, 1917, when President Woodrow Wilson signed the declaration, passed by Congress, that a state of war existed between the United States of America and Germany. Immediately thereafter, eight camps were established in the U.S. to train officers for combat leadership. The first was at Leon Springs, Texas, and on May 8, 1917, three thousand volunteers assembled at Camp Funston on the Schasse Ranch (now a part of Camp Bullis near this site) for training in various branches of the army. They endured three months of intense training and 1,846 young men graduated on August 15, 1917, as second lieutenants. The length of their training resulted in the term "90-day wonders." Embodying their motto "brave men shall not die because I faltered," the members of the first officers training camp served with distinction in the war, many of them highly decorated for valor in combat. Almost 300, many highly ranking colonels or generals, returned to active duty for service in World War II. Three of those trained here later became governors: Beauford Jester of Texas, James R. Beverley of Puerto Rico, and Charles H. Martin of Oregon. Many more "first campers" were prominent leaders in business, industry and government throughout Texas and the United States. Following their training and service, the former comrades in arms organized the "First Officers Training Camp Association" in 1931. Members residing in 30 states and several foreign countries gathered for annual meetings for more than fifty years. Now succeeded by generations of modern soldiers and officers, the First Officers Training Camp veterans leave a legacy of honor, courage and service to their country. (1999)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
When the United States entered the First World War in April 1917, the army rushed to train combat officers, and the first of eight camps opened at Leon Springs, Texas. On May 8, 1917, three thousand volunteers gathered at Camp Funston, and after three intense months, 1,846 graduated as second lieutenants—earning the nickname '90-day wonders.' Many served with distinction, nearly 300 returned for World War II, and three later became governors.
Why it matters
This camp launched America's crash effort to build a modern officer corps, shaping military and civic leaders for a generation.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
On April 6, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson signed the congressional declaration that the United States was at war with Germany, and a nation that had spent years on the sidelines of the Great War suddenly had to build a modern army almost overnight. America had the manpower and the will; what it desperately lacked was trained officers to lead men into the industrialized combat already grinding across Europe.
The answer was speed. Within days, eight camps were established across the country to mass-produce combat leaders, and the very first of them opened at Leon Springs, Texas. The Texas Hill Country around San Antonio — open ranchland with room to drill thousands of men — became a proving ground for the officer corps of a war unlike any before it.
This was the Progressive era's faith in organization and training applied to the terrible new arithmetic of trench warfare. There was no time for the slow seasoning of a peacetime army. Three months would have to do.
People & events
On May 8, 1917, three thousand volunteers assembled at Camp Funston on the Schasse Ranch — land now part of Camp Bullis near this site — for intense instruction across the army's various branches. Three months later, on August 15, 1917, 1,846 of them graduated as second lieutenants. The compressed schedule earned them a nickname that stuck for a lifetime: the "90-day wonders."
Behind the nickname was a serious creed. Their motto — that brave men should not die because their leader faltered — captured the weight these young officers carried, and many went on to serve with distinction, decorated for valor in the fighting overseas. The training was brief, but the responsibility it conferred was absolute.
The reach of that single camp is best measured in what its graduates became. Nearly 300 returned to active duty for the Second World War, many as senior colonels and generals. Three became governors — Beauford Jester of Texas, James R. Beverley of Puerto Rico, and Charles H. Martin of Oregon — and many more led in business and government. So tight was the bond that in 1931 they founded the First Officers Training Camp Association, whose members, scattered across thirty states and several countries, gathered for annual reunions for more than fifty years.
Its place in the American story
This camp sits at the origin of America's emergence as a modern military power. In 1917 the country had to conjure an officer corps from almost nothing, and the crash program that began at Leon Springs was the template — proof that a democracy could rapidly train the leaders a mass army required. The lessons learned here rippled outward to the seven other camps and to the whole American Expeditionary Force.
The generational thread is what makes the site remarkable. The same young men trained in the summer of 1917 became the senior commanders of World War II a generation later. In a very real sense, the officer corps forged at camps like this one helped carry the United States through both world wars — the leadership pipeline of the American century began on ground like this.
And the graduates' later lives — governors, executives, public servants — show how military training became a school for civic leadership across the country. The camp didn't just produce soldiers; it produced a cohort of leaders who shaped American life far beyond the battlefield.
If you visit
This is a memorial marker near active military land — Camp Bullis lies close by — so approach it with the awareness that you're on the edge of ground still used to train soldiers today. There's a continuity here worth feeling: the same San Antonio–area terrain that shaped officers in 1917 still shapes them now.
Stand and picture the numbers. Three thousand volunteers arriving on a Texas ranch in May 1917; 1,846 of them walking away as officers just three months later. Let the phrase "90-day wonders" land — it carries both the pride and the sheer improbable speed of what happened here.
If you're touring the military history that saturates the San Antonio region, this marker makes a natural early stop, because it's where a piece of that story begins. Read the graduates' motto slowly before you go. It's the kind of line that explains, better than any statistic, what these young men understood they were being trained to do.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
Plan your visit
NearbyMake a day of it — museums, food, and places to stay near this marker.
Attractions
- Diane Llyod8.6 mi away
- Pirate Ship10.8 mi away
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Related people
- · Beauford Jester
- · James R. Beverley
- · Charles H. Martin
Related events
- · World War I
Themes & tags
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