Wikimedia Commons/Nauticashades
Camp Callan’s Anti-Aircraft Training at Torrey Pines Mesa
In 1940, San Diego leased 710 acres to the military for just one dollar a year.
Camp Callan soon took shape on La Jolla’s Torrey Pines Mesa, named for a Coast Artillery hero from World War I. After the German Luftwaffe bombed Britain, the camp’s focus shifted to anti-aircraft training.
From 1942 to 1944, about 15,000 soldiers cycled through every 13 weeks, learning to shoot down enemy planes. When the war ended, the camp’s 500 buildings were sold for $200,000 and turned into homes for returning vets…