Qualla: Fort Leonard Wood

Fort Leonard Wood: Introduction

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit U.S. Department of Defense Current Photos, Public domain. The mural almost disappeared. Painted around 1942 by Staff Sergeant Samuel A. Countee -- one of the few African-American artists to create military art during World War II -- it adorned the walls of the Black Officers' Club at Fort Leonard Wood, a building that had served the segregated Army's African-American officers. Decades of neglect nearly destroyed both the painting and the club. In 2019, the Army renamed the building SSG Samuel A. Countee Hall, restored the mural, and in 2021, the National Trust for Historic Preservation recognized the work with its Federal Partnerships in Historic Preservation Award. It was a fitting act of recovery for a base that has been constantly reinventing itself since December 1940.

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Image: U.S. Department of Defense Current Photos | Public domain

Fort Leonard Wood: From Infantry Camp to Engineer Post

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit D'oh Boy (Mark Holloway), CC BY 2.0. Fort Leonard Wood was born in haste. Created in December 1940 as war loomed, the post was named the following month for General Leonard Wood, a former Army Chief of Staff. It was initially meant to train infantry troops, but in 1941 the Army pivoted and established the Engineer R...

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Image: D'oh Boy (Mark Holloway) | CC BY 2.0

Fort Leonard Wood: The Maneuver Support Center of Excellence

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Challahbai15, CC0. Today Fort Leonard Wood is home to the Maneuver Support Center of Excellence, a title that reflects the base's evolution into a triple-threat training hub. It provides Basic Combat Training for most non-combat arms soldiers, One Station Unit Training for combat engineers and brid...

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Image: Challahbai15 | CC0

Fort Leonard Wood: Route 66 Runs Through It

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit U.S. Department of Defense Current Photos, Public domain. Fort Leonard Wood sits at the intersection of military mission and American roadside nostalgia. Interstate 44 slices through the area east to west, but the older highway it replaced -- U.S. Route 66 -- still winds through the surrounding communities of Devil's Elbow, St. Robert, ...

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Image: U.S. Department of Defense Current Photos | Public domain

Fort Leonard Wood: Rails, Runways, and the Ozark Hills

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Stevenrleonard, CC BY-SA 4.0. The base maintains its own 27-mile post utility railway, 18 miles of which connect to the BNSF Railway at Bundy Junction. The mainline grade reaches 3 percent in places -- so steep that only 20 cars can be pulled at a time. Two EMD GP10 locomotives and a GP40-2 handle the work, s...

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Image: Stevenrleonard | CC BY-SA 4.0