Upstate volunteers work to preserve WWI history with memorial park

GREENVILLE COUNTY, S.C. (FOX Carolina) – After three years of pushing for change, a group of Upstate volunteers is one step closer to creating a memorial park to honor the legacy of a lesser-known division in WWI, proving the past is continuing to shape Greenville County’s present.

“This is where the trench warfare training was,” Jan Willis said while pointing to a piece of grassy land.

“We didn’t even have enough weaponry to properly train. Many of our soldiers were working with wooden guns,” Meg Hunt added.

What is now an abandoned golf course in Taylors, was once a training camp for soldiers from the Southeast in WWI. Camp Sevier started at the base of Paris Mountain and covered nearly 2,000 acres across the county.

“They came here, they built the camp, they endured a horrible winter and summer; and then they trained for trench warfare, which was a new thing in WWI,” Brenda Buchik said.

Buchik, Hunt and Willis are now in their own fight to preserve the piece of land in order to pay tribute to the troops who bravely served. The three are members of the Camp Sevier Legacy Park Committee, which is working with the county to secure the future park.

“They’re still here, even though they aren’t here. And we should recognize it. Many people in Greenville don’t know anything about it,” Buchik said.

In 1918, things weren’t going so well for the Allies, as the Germans had a stronghold in Belgium at the Hindenburg Line near the Western Front of France. While many troops turned away, the 30th Infantry Division from Camp Sevier pushed forward.

“They just said, ’We’re not going back,’ and they pushed and they pushed and they broke through,” Hunt said. “What was learned here at Camp Sevier for the 30th Division truly helped change the course of history.”

Besides two small markers on Wade Hampton Blvd. and Pine Knoll Drive, there are no memorials dedicated to the soldiers who trained at Camp Sevier and helped shape WWI. The Camp Sevier Legacy Park Committee hopes to change this.

The committee created renderings of the future park, and it’s currently pushing to purchase 24 acres of land in Taylors from a developer. Members said the land is significant to honor not only those who served, but those who helped spark Greenville County’s growth.

“Rutherford Road was one of the first paved roads in Greenville County, and that was because of Camp Sevier,” Buchik said.

Camp Sevier also propelled the start of a popular product.

“Eugenia Duke made sandwiches for the soldiers, and that was the start of her business for Duke’s mayonnaise,” she continued.

Now, the committee is hoping their efforts in the present will honor the impact of the past.

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