Fort Gulick, Panama
As of September 29, 2009
545th
MPs Swartz and Shearon (saluting) on the Main Gate at Fort Gulick,
Panama 1956
Night Life outside the Main
Gate at Fort Gulick, Panama 1956
Chorus Line at the off Post MP
Club at Ft Gulick, Panama 1956
Hand to Hand – Close Combat
Instructor
What a show for the Off Duty
MPs! What a hardship tour! Panama 1956
Fort Gulick began with an Executive Order approved by the President
of the United States as seen here below:
EXECUTIVE ORDER 8737
FORT GULICK MILITARY RESERVATION
April 16, 1941
CANAL ZONE
By virtue of the authority vested in me by section 5 of title 2 of
the Canal Zone Code, approved June 19, 1934, and as President of the
United States, it is ordered as follows:
SEC. 1. Setting apart of reservation; boundaries. The
following-described area of land in the Canal Zone (including the
corridor hereinafter described) is hereby reserved and set apart as,
and assigned to the uses and purposes of, a military reservation,
which shall be known as Fort Gulick Military Reservation, and which
shall be under the control and jurisdiction of the Secretary of War,
subject to the provisions of section 2 of this order:
The tract of land proposed to be reserved as the Fort Gulick
Military Reservation, consisting of the main reservation and a
100-foot right of way or corridor connecting the reservation with
the Bolivar Highway, is situated southeasterly of Mount Hope on the
western shore of the Quebrada Ancha Arm of Gatun Lake, in the Canal
Zone. The tract as described contains an area of 1,608
acres, more or less.
RIGHT OF WAY OR CORRIDOR FROM BOLIVAR HIGHWAY
The right of way or corridor connecting the main reservation with
Bolivar Highway is a strip of land 100 feet in width, extending 50
feet on each side of the center line.
THE END OF FORT GULICK
Sadly, Fort Gulick, a US Army installation in the former Panama
Canal Zone, located on the Atlantic side of the Panama Canal Zone
near Fort Sherman no longer exists as a military base.
It was perhaps best known as the location of the School of the
Americas. During the 1980s, control of the fort was turned over to
the Republic of Panama who renamed it Fuerte Espinar, and the School
of the Americas was moved to Fort Benning, Georgia in 1984. The US
retook over the administration of the fort as a result of the 1989
United States invasion of Panama but kept the name of Fort Espinar.
The former site of Fort Gulick is now part of the municipal district
of Colon, Panama and is the location of the Hotel Melina.
The 545th MP Company was inactivated 15 October 1957 at Hokkaido,
Japan and relieved from assignment to the 1st Cavalry Division. Two
years prior to that a detachment of the unit was stood up Fort
Gulick, Panama where they remained until the 545th was
once again assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division in Korea
on 15 July 1963 and by February of 1964 the entire 545th
MP Company was once again reactivated at Camp Custer, Korea under
the ROAD Concept.
Present day Hotel
Melina which was converted from part of the old Fort Gulick
545th MP
Det Barracks, Fort Gulick, 1956
Post Headquarters,
Fort Gulick, 1956
(Click the button above to enter the photo album)
Sam Reinert
CPT MP USAR (Ret)
Founder
545th Military Police
Company Association
626 1/2 South 9th
Street
Richmond, Indiana
47374 USA
(765) 962 4627 phone &
FAX
http://545thmpassn.com/
