Santa Ana Del Chino Grant
Camp Ayers was named for 60-year-old California State Guard Sergeant Henry B. Ayers who died at the wheel of the Army truck he was driving while hauling ammunition at the height of the panic during the "Battle of Los Angeles" (a rumored attack by Japanese forces by air during World War II on the City of Los Angeles, and included anit-aircraft fire, but was later determined to be a false alarm) on the night of 24 February 1942. Camp Ayers was a prisoner of war camp located on what is now the Chino Fairgrounds (q.v.). The military moved into the site (which had previously been a camp for housing laborers working on WPA projects in the Chino area) in early 1942 and vacated the property sometime after 1945. In October 1944, a German POW camp was established.