AMU's Roundhouse needs repairs

[USAMU]

By Spc. David Foley/The Bayonet
FORT BENNING, Ga. (TRADOC News Service, Oct. 25, 2004) - What do John Wayne, Gen. George S. Patton, Capt. Hook and the pilot of the Enola Gay all have in common? The Roundhouse. The Roundhouse is located in the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit's range complex, and its history is as unique as its architecture. The only one like it on Fort Benning, and quite possibly in the world, the Roundhouse - built sometime between the late 1930s and the early 1940s - is wood-frame with a two-story rotunda connected to a one-story semicircular building below. While there has been much speculation as to the building's original function, no one has been able to provide any proof. In a quest for information about Hook Range and the man it was named after, Capt. Alfred J. Hook, who died in World War I, the AMU deputy commander, Robert Aylward, found out more than he bargained for about the building that rests on the range. The Roundhouse, which has conveniently been dubbed the Trap and Skeet Building because of its location on Hook Shotgun Range, is presumed to have been built as a classroom for officer training. It later became an extension of the Officers' Club, providing some of the military's top leaders a place to gather, tell stories and play cards, Aylward said. Aylward found proof that Patton, Gen. Omar Bradley and Air Force Brig. Gen. Paul W. Tibbets, pilot of the Enola Gay, all spent time in the building. He also puts "The Duke" at the range and says he was inside the building many times. "John Wayne was at the range filming part of the movie 'The Green Berets,' and since the Roundhouse was used as a preparation area for the movie, he was in there a lot," Aylward said. The Roundhouse has fallen into a state of disrepair, and AMU doesn't have enough funding to restore it. At one time, Aylward actually diverted the demolition crew that came to tear down an old pump house but nearly destroyed the Roundhouse because of an error in the numbers on the buildings. Rumor has it the numbers from the Roundhouse and the pump house were switched so someone could get a telephone line run into the pump house, Aylward said. The building is no longer at risk of being demolished, but those who use the range say it is imperative it be renovated. "As far as having a piece of history on the range, it's great," said Master Sgt. Rod Pinkston. "But right now, it's an eyesore. I'd like to get it remodeled so it looks as good as the rest of the buildings on the range." To say it is in need of remodeling may be an understatement. The paint on the wood siding is peeling off in silver dollar-size flakes, the floor-to-ceiling windows are boarded up, the floor sags in places, the stairwell to the rotunda was removed, and the list goes on. Even in its decrepit state, the building has a certain ambiance. The walls are lined with pictures of some of the greatest shooters in the world, dating back to 1964. Pictures of "The Duke" and other dignitaries who visited the site are pinned on a wall of fame. And, to add to the building's hunting-cabin charm, a boar's head from Russia, a turkey-like bird from Germany and water buffalo horns from Australia are mounted on the walls. What may be the building's saving grace is that the Military Marksmanship Association, a group of retired veterans, have volunteered to fund the restoration efforts with no strings attached, Aylward said. The possibility of the building's full restoration is still in the process of being approved by a group of military lawyers. "I know there is a way to do it," Aylward said. "We just need to find it."