Killeen went from a railroad and farming town to a military town thanks in part, to the Japanese.

Once the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, America was thrown into a World War, and the folks from Texas stepped up in a big way. Including changing one of its towns.

Killeen was known as a railroad town with plenty of farms around, but once we were in the war, we needed a new place to train people. Turns out the Pentagon thought the Central Texas terrain was perfect for training tankers. Seek. Strike. and Destroy was coming to town.

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Anyone who has been in the military knows the motto... Hurry up and wait. But, once the Army makes the decision, things can move pretty fast, and that's what happened when "Camp" Hood came to Central Texas.

Suddenly, the people from Central Texas were not only giving up their sons to the war effort, but now they were being asked to give up their homes, farms, and land for the sake of the country. Killeen went from a town of 1,200 residents to over 30,000 darn near overnight.

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