Camp Cooke and Vandenberg Air Force Base, 1941-196: From Armor and Infantry Training to Space and Miss Paperback – Illustrated, 13 March 2014

I discovered Mr. Geiger’s book while researching my father’s WWII history. He was stationed there for a time between his service in the Panama Canal Zone with the Coast Artillery Corps and his reassignment to the Signal Corps for deployment in the battle of Okinawa. Very little information on Camp Cooke is available on-line or from other readily available resources. This book fills that gap very nicely.Mr. Geiger’s book is thorough and well-written. Its historical detail and its numerous photographs and maps were a great help in filling in missing pieces of my father’s wartime history. The detail should be useful to anyone doing historical research encompassing the camp. But the book was also just an enjoyable read for me, as it paints a picture of what camp life must have been like during the war. I particularly enjoyed the chapter on entertainment acts that visited the camp, including numerous well-known Hollywood celebrities.The latter chapters cover Camp Cooke’s transition to an Air Force and Navy missile base following the Korean War, finally becoming Vandenberg Air Force Base. These chapters were of less immediate use to me in my family research, but I still found them very interesting as they cover an important time of missile research. I think anyone interested in missile development during the Fifties and Sixties would find this book useful.

I was stationed at Vandenberg 1961-1963 with the Weather Squadron which our mission was for weather support not only for the airdrome but for the early missile launches...it brought back memories and experiences during my tour of duty. What I really enjoyed was the early history of the area and the establishing of Camp Cooke. Being a Californian, I was aware of Camp Cooke's roll with the Army but not it's whole history and "creation"...

Didn't have everything I was hoping for, but still packed with a lot of information!