Camp Van Dorn

The 41,543-acre Van Dorn Army Training Camp is located approximately two miles south of Centreville, Mississippi in Amite and Wilkinson counties.  The former CVD was originally established as a basic and advanced divisional infantry training camp.  Troop training included use of bayonets, mines, booby traps, bazookas, grenades, rifles, machine guns, and field artillery. Additionally, chemical familiarization training was conducted. The camp was used by the US Army between 1942 and 1946 and was declared surplus in October 1945. A de-dudding certificate was issued in 1950 following unexploded ordnance (UXO) clearance activities that were completed by 1947. The certificate restricted two impact areas, the East and West Impact Areas, to surface use only.

Munitions and explosives of concern (MEC) historically found throughout the 41,544-acre site include 37mm, 57mm, 81mm, 105mm, and 155mm projectiles; 2.36-in. high explosive (HE) and practice rocket bazooka rounds;  practice and fragmentation grenades; and dynamite.  

The site is currently owned by many private individuals and most of the land is used for pasture and timberland, with scattered private residences. Land use is changing, with oil and gas development and small residential ranches becoming more common. Besides open pasture, land cover is predominantly loblolly and shortleaf pine forest with interspersed oak and hickory trees. Wetlands and surface water are scattered throughout the site.

Since the 1990’s, the CVD site has undergone several phases of investigation, culminating most recently in the completion of the RI in March 2019.