I especially remember coming home to San Francisco aboard the General Anderson. It was very foggy when the pilot boarded, but all 3500, or so, troops were on deck waiting for a glimpse of the Golden Gate. And, as we steamed through the gate, the fog dispersed, as if a curtain was parting and there was San Francisco’s skyline basking in early morning sunshine. There was not a dry eye on board as the band on the pier played “California, Here I Come!” It was just great and I will never forget it.- U.S. Serviceman returning in January, 1956

The massive buildings of Lower Fort Mason, which eventually became the San Francisco Port of Embarkation, were  originally built in 1912 to warehouse army supplies and provide docking space for army transport ships. By 1898, with the advent of the Spanish-American War, the United States’ interests and responsibilities had shifted from managing internal issues to exerting the country’s new power across the Pacific Ocean. The War Department began to build new bases in Hawaii, the Philippines, and various Pacific islands and most of the material for those bases was shipped through San Francisco. The three piers, their sheds, warehouses, and a railroad tunnel running under Fort Mason were completed by 1915. With these new facilities, Fort Mason was transformed from a harbor defense post into a logistical and transport hub for American military operations in the Pacific. During World War II, Fort Mason served as the headquarters for the San Francisco Port of Embarkation, the nerve center of a vast network of shipping facilities that spread throughout the Bay Area.

From the 1920s through World War II, the San Francisco Port of Embarkation played a critical role in the movement of supplies and troops to the Pacific. During the 45 months of war, 1,647,174 passengers and 23,589,472 measured tons moved under the San Francisco Port of Embarkation into the Pacific. This total represents two-thirds of all troops sent into the Pacific and more than one-half of all Army cargo moved through West Coast ports. The highest passenger count was logged in August of 1945 when 93,986 outbound passengers were loaded.