New stop on historic Shelby trail highlights WWI trench warfare training

CAMP SHELBY, Miss. (WDAM) - A new stop on the Camp Shelby Historic Trail is helping visitors learn more about how soldiers trained at the post during World War One.

The site focuses on trench warfare training from 1917 and 1918 and includes an ADA-compliant ramp and viewing deck.

Several markers placed in the area indicate how the trenches were built and used.

A grant from the National Environmental Education Foundation funded work at this site.

Visitors can take a driving tour of this location and 14 others on the post’s historic trail.

“We’ve still got some more replicas to put in there,” said Rita McCarty, manager of the cultural resources program for the Mississippi National Guard. “We have sandbags that we’re going to stock and also, some replica barbed wire and the stakes that will go in alongside the barbed wire, so hopefully in the future, we might actually recreate a section of the trench.”

McCarty says Camp Shelby has more than 250 acres of land that was used for World War One trench training.

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