The function of the post was to receive and rapidly process troops for overseas service by completing paperwork and updating records, arranging for last minute training, providing medical and dental care, and issuing and servicing equipment. Camp Stoneman, named after a Civil War cavalry commander and early Governor of California, had a lifespan of only 12 years, being activated on May 28, 1942, and decommissioned on August 30, 1954.

Most troops staging at the post before transportation overseas arrived aboard trains, which steamed, directly into the installation on spurs from both the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific mainlines. Although soldiers sometimes traveled to pier side at Fort Mason by truck convoy, most often they traveled by water via the Army's small ferry fleet.

The day-to-day operation of Camp Stoneman was a tremendous task. In addition to receiving, processing and embarking thousands of troops each week, waiting soldiers were housed and fed, medical and dental examinations and corrective work conducted, clothing, equipment and records put in proper order, final training provided, and numerous other odds and ends taken care of. Delays and mistakes resulted in problems at embarkation piers and overseas areas, so maximum attention was directed toward ensuring everything was done right.

Camp Stoneman consisted of more than 800 cream and khaki-colored buildings, capable of accommodating 20,000 troops at peak capacity. The average length of a stay for troops bound overseas was one to two weeks. We stayed there for three days. My Mom and brother Loren came to see me off. Because of a shortage of available housing for civilians seeing loved ones off to Korea, my Mom and brother spent the night in a jail cell through kindness of the local sheriff.